Bob Power was the Executive Director of AIDS Network for several years.  He resigned from that position in late 2007 to take a job at the Colonial Club in Sun Prairie.

On May 8, 2007 after many years on the job, Bob commented on the need for the board to “figure out” what they should be doing and came up with the brilliant suggestion that job descriptions be developed:

“…it is my opinion that the board needs to really work on figuring out what they really should be doing as board members.  There’s just not a lot of agreement on that with the current members and as a result, we have many frustratingly confusing meetings.  And again, I am not talking out of school, I have had this discussion with Jim and other members as well.  I have recently suggested perhaps the time has come for hard, concrete job descriptions……. I know at least two of the last few (board) resignations have been out of complete frustration.”

On May 9, 2007 Bob commented on the fact that everyone is upset, but that he has been advised to take a “que sera, sera attitude”:

“Well, unfortunately it seems like we’ve all been upset for one reason or another in the past several months.  As you well know, from my perspective,  I have strong opinions about what the board should and shouldn’t be doing, but  recently I have been encouraged to take a more que sera, sera attitude, so that’s where I’m at these days.”

On July 23, 2007 Bob admitted to the failures of AIDS Network to have a role in public policy issues.  Content to leave the lobbying to ARCW, yet quick to criticize the “men in suits” or the “evil empire”.  A trifle hypocritical, perhaps?:

“…We really don’t have a good means to take on public policy, as that has never been a priority we could get to with all the other competing priorities.  When letters like this come up, we usually rely on the larger national AIDS related groups or AFC to help lead us… I am not sure how to develop that area of work, but am open to your thoughts on it.”

On October 26, 2007 Bob responded to comments about an article that appeared in the Capital Times regarding ARCW’s Needle Exchange program and their life saving NARCAN overdose reversal protocol.

We learn in this exchange of emails that Bob was assigned the goal of keeping ARCW out of the local papers.  Additionally, we see Bob’s ignorance regarding NARCAN come shining through in this email.  His statement provided a clear example of AIDS Network’s refusal to use ARCW for technical assistance.  Did he ever considering picking up the phone and asking ARCW how AIDS Network could go about providing the NARCAN overdose protocol?:

“…One of the things that the first board of directors told me when I arrived on the job was that they didn’t want to see another article in local papers about ARCW.  Realizing that is an impossible task, as they are an agency in town providing some limited prevention services, we have overall managed to make that happen, given this exception.  Personally, I think this article stemmed from the real news event of the use of narcan in saving someone from an OD.  We have talked about this procedure and Jenny has researched how we can provide the same service.  I am not an expert on it, but I do know that we need a physician’s prescription and support.  I thought there were limitations about who can administer the injection, but will have to re-check with Jenny, who has been working with Madison Public Health on the issue…”

We learn several things from Bob Power:

• The board couldn’t figure out what they were doing and were constantly fighting;
• Board members resigned out of sheer frustration;
• Job descriptions for officers and directors were an idea; not a reality.
• Public policy is not a priority of AIDS Network;
• His job was to keep ARCW out of the press
• The agency muddled along without accurate information regarding a life saving overdose protocol due to the refusal to ask ARCW for technical assistance.

We hope Bob is enjoying his new job at the Colonial Club and are confident he is working his Executive Director magic with a whole new crop of Directors and community members.