CAJE Asks and Negotiates in Public. Some CEOs and Politicians Don't Like That...

I just received a phone call from a person that attended the ACTION last night. She asked why we wouldn’t meet with the CenterPoint Officials after Senator Tomes “arranged” it.

Like Rev. Edwards explained, I told her, “We don’t negotiate our asks or commitments from officials behind closed doors. We make it public so there is no confusion, spin, or lack of transparency for our membership.”

She still did not understand why we would not “just talk to the CenterPoint officials to understand the issues.” I explained that we had already met with CenterPoint officials twice during our research phase when we were working to understand the issues and understand their positions. These back-and-forth meetings were held allowing both sides to have free discussions. We were beyond that phase and were inviting them to the ACTION to make a public commitment to our “ASKS.” We needed it to be public so it could not be easily reneged on later. She said she understood.

I also explained that Jane did a good job explaining that we invited CenterPoint to the ACTION; they countered with a smaller meeting; and we declined because that is not our process. I then reminded her that Mike Scavuzzo gave a detailed timeline of our Research Team’s actions and the previous meetings we held with CenterPoint. I empathized with her because I remember when I had limited involvement with CAJE and only attended 3 or 4 meetings. At that time, a lot of the process and rationale was not clear to me either. We talked for about 20 minutes and she said everything I said made total sense.

I don’t know what our next steps should be but she said several people had the same questions and did not understand. I reminded her that Senator Tomes “arranged” this, did not discuss it with us in advance, AND he did not give us the courtesy of letting us know he was going to ask about this meeting at the ACTION. He chose to try and discredit us publicly. She agreed and said that is exactly how it appeared. CAJE on the other hand, had given ALL officials the courtesy of knowing in advance what WE would be asking them at the ACTION. And that illustrates WHY we don’t negotiate behind closed doors on the commitments we ask officials to make. It gives officials an opportunity to discredit, renege, or refute what was said or committed to.

Vicki White
Cleaves Memorial CME Church