The Letter...

Anyone know what this is all about: TO: USA Swimming Board of Directors LSC General Chairs Member Coaches Staff and Others FROM: Bruce Stratton and Chuck Wielgus Two days ago an anonymous letter was distributed to many people within the swimming community. This letter is full of false information and malicious lies that are being promulgated in an evil attempt to discredit USA Swimming. Some have suggested that this is nothing more than the vindictive action of a single individual or small group who have an axe to grind with USA Swimming. Others have suggested that this is part of a larger strategy to embarrass USA Swimming. We do not know the source of this letter, nor can we do anything other than speculate on the motivation behind it, however, we think that EVERYONE WHO SEEKS TO CONDUCT THEMSELVES WITH INTEGRITY ought to take enormous offense at any action that is taken in such a mean-spirited and cowardly way. Our initial reaction to the letter was simply to ignore it. However, there has been a groundswell of outrage from USA Swimming members, and especially from the coaching community where people are simply becoming fed-up with these kinds of untruthful, unfair and anonymous attacks. It is impossible for us to monitor and respond to every blog posting and every anonymous accusation, but this particular letter is so full of bad information that we are compelled to step off the high road of not responding to anonymous attacks and set the record straight with the facts. Specifically: Ø There has been no settlement between Mark Schubert and USA Swimming. Ø Mark Schubert never presented USA Swimming with any incriminating information regarding Sean Hutchison. Ø USA Swimming hired an independent investigator to conduct a full investigation into the Hutchison case, which was run the same way all our investigations are run. Ø The investigator concluded that there was no evidence of an inappropriate relationship between Coach Hutchison and an adult athlete. This was the same conclusion drawn by the private investigator hired by FAST. Ø We released the findings because Sean had been vilified in the press and we felt the right thing to do was to make our findings public. Ø USA Swimming’s legal fees are publicly reported and total nowhere near the amount alleged in the letter. Ø Neither board members or staff receive any money from USSIC. Ø Senior staff salaries are publically reported. Ø Members of the USA Swimming, USA Swimming Foundation and USSIC Boards of Directors receive no compensation. USA Swimming is an organization that has been consistently recognized as among the best governed and best managed national governing bodies in all Olympic sport. The board of directors is comprised of individuals who are elected by the membership and their volunteer service has always been measured against the touchstones of accountability, openness and “doing the right thing” in support of hundreds of thousands of athlete members. Likewise, the organization’s staff is held to the highest standards of professionalism and serves under the policy direction of the board. In closing, we challenge the author of this anonymous letter to identify himself/herself and to step forward into the light so that these and any other allegations may be openly confronted in a responsible way. Respectfully, Bruce and Chuck