ismokealotofpot
New Member
[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 100%, colspan: 1"][TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 1, align: left"]2. I want to apologize to all in the medical marihuana community: patients, caregivers and the leaders of other organizations and their members. The removal of Joe Cain should have been carried out long ago, and I am responsible for not acting earlier. I am accountable and responsible for all of my actions. Now that he is no longer associated with the MMMA, we are refocusing on this organization's mission - to help support patients, caregivers and supporters, and offer them a forum for an open, honest discussion.
3. To those defending Joe Cain:
I considered Joe a friend and colleague after I became involved with the MMMA, and am now deeply concerned for him. Many, if not all, of the supporting posts on our forums are by Joe himself, logging into others' accounts and speaking on their behalf. I urge those around him to offer and provide him help, as he is in need and has rejected my attempts to handle this privately, going so far as hurling personal insults to prompt a reaction.
I will vehemently defend myself, and respond to the false allegations that have been unfortunately and wrongly presented.
4. For those of you who have heard the allegations made by Joe Cain, I want to say without any equivocation that they are false, and any assertion that I stole money from the MMMA is simply not true.
As the CEO of the MMMA, Joe Cain was responsible for developing and implementing high-level strategies, making major corporate decisions, managing the overall operations and resources of a company, and acting as the main point of communication between the board of directors and the corporate operations.
In this capacity as CEO of the MMMA the last two plus years, Joe has had absolute control of the website and its functionality on every level at all times, without dispute.
This control included attempts to raise revenue via the website, by advertising. Ironically, the communication posted as evidence of alleged thievery stems from email conversations between Joe and me about advertising opportunities for the MMMA. Prior to pursuing any opportunities I consulted with Joe for discussion and approval. Additionally, the placement of any and all contracted advertisers', sponsors' or vendors' banners on the site were done by or at the direction of the CEO.
This opportunity was one of the many projects the MMMA was never able to accomplish because of failures at the CEO level.
The project referenced is MMMA TV. It was our attempt to create a media campaign highlighting the medical cannabis community in a way that would be effective in the obvious challenges brought on by our attorney general. The concept was to have a patient video on the MMMA landing page, exposing the more than 8,000 daily unique visitors to a patient story each week.
We secured a sponsor for the project, and began assisting them in branding as an MMMA sponsor and in the production of a number of videos supporting and promoting medical cannabis. Believing that a strong medical cannabis message would be a priority, we hired a professional producer, committed and paid for a professional studio, hired a camera crew, an editor, and wrote and produced content over a two- three month period of time. You can view some of those videos here, and I still have all the remaining and unedited video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBYz0XKE6hk http://vimeo.com/26874642 http://vimeo.com/26968247http://vimeo.com/25814244 http://vimeo.com/26730730
The sponsor paid by check, I deposited it into the MMMA bank account, and then paid the bills for the producer, the editor, the studio etc. Any other payments made to the MMMA via check, money orders and the like have been deposited into the MMMA bank account. And as it goes in accounting, every penny that was deposited into this account can be tracked and identified to whom it was paid. There is nothing but transparency on my end.
I have full financial and accounting records of all monies paid in and out during this time, for MMMA TV, and all monies are accounted for. I cannot say the same, however, for The Market, or any other activities and efforts that were led by our former CEO himself. If you see a response somewhere by Joe, make sure he indicates into what bank account his cash transaction goes, I would not know and neither would anyone else at the MMMA. Also make sure he understands that "go ask the doorman" is not an acceptable method of accounting that the MMMA could ever be associated with.
The MMMA TV project, as with several other efforts to raise money for the MMMA, was never fully carried out because of a lack of cooperation from our former CEO. As one of the only viable resources for revenue on the site, advertising and sponsorships are vital, in addition to the community contributions, to keeping the site viable and operational. Subsequent to the MMMA TV project disbanding, countless hours were spent trying to reconcile the relationship with the former vendor to avoid a breach of contract lawsuit for the inability of the MMMA and its CEO to perform its agreed responsibilities as part of the sponsor agreement.
We were optimistic that a strong media campaign via the MMMA website and MMMA TV could both benefit the community and assist in raising revenue for the upcoming challenges the organization and the community would have.
The assertion that $60,000 was ever paid to the MMMA for advertising or sponsorship is simply not true. While I believe that this kind of revenue should be and could be brought in via advertising or other projects, it simply was never accomplished because of a lack of performance by our former CEO. One of the MMMA's objectives has been and will always be advocating for patients, creating awareness, education and being a trusted voice of the medical marijuana community. As with any membership, some method of raising revenues is required in order to accomplish their goals. The business plan of the MMMA was to generate its revenue through advertising and sponsorship programs.
The designed plan was never facilitated the way it should have been and that responsibility falls exclusively on the CEO. Any assertion that our CEO was not compensated during his tenure is false. Joe's salaries, as well as many of the other MMMA expenses, were paid directly out of my pocket. I maintain possession of the cashed checks, standard banking procedure after they have been deposited.
Moving forward, the MMMA will continue to act as a steward for the medical marijuana community, offering advice, counsel and open forums for discussion. It has been, and will continue to be, our mission to fight for the rights and protections, and act as an advocate for patients and caregivers.
I apologize again for taking so long to respond, but wanted to address each of the allegations and provide you with a clear explanation of circumstances and outcome. I thank the other leaders in the community for their support, and promise that moving forward we will be better off with this transition, and I look forward to a more unified, productive and effective defense of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act and protecting Michigan patients and their caregivers.
Thank you for your patience, and please tune in to Planet Green Trees Thursday night and call or email with any questions you may have.
Very truly yours,
Michael Komorn
Interim CEO/ President of the MMMA
P.S.
If there remains any doubt as to anything I have said, see below and call into the show on Thursday, I would be happy to answer any questions that remain.
From: Joe Cain [email protected] Sent: Fri 3/9/2012 2:48 PM
To: Michael Komorn [email protected]
Subject: buyout
This is a confidental communication between my attorney an me. That would be you.
If you guys want to buy me out. Then make me an offer. That's the way it is done. As a officer of this corp I will always oppose Rick and Jamie being involved in any decision making capacity. They have conflicts. But if it is what you want, I would need my back pay which is $8000 and an additional $20,000 to help me transition out of state. Rick and jamie have money and that would be cheap. In return I would support the transition and post my support. This has been coming for a while. But I will not just step aside and let them inherit my hard work. Thanks
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 100%, colspan: 1"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 100%, colspan: 1"][TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 1, align: left"]Thank your customer, tell them how valuable they are to you, but don't go overboard. Insincerity is easy to spot.
Sincerely,
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 1, align: left"]
The MMMA
Michael Komorn President/CEO[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TR]
[TD="width: 100%, colspan: 1"][TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 1, align: left"]2. I want to apologize to all in the medical marihuana community: patients, caregivers and the leaders of other organizations and their members. The removal of Joe Cain should have been carried out long ago, and I am responsible for not acting earlier. I am accountable and responsible for all of my actions. Now that he is no longer associated with the MMMA, we are refocusing on this organization's mission - to help support patients, caregivers and supporters, and offer them a forum for an open, honest discussion.
3. To those defending Joe Cain:
I considered Joe a friend and colleague after I became involved with the MMMA, and am now deeply concerned for him. Many, if not all, of the supporting posts on our forums are by Joe himself, logging into others' accounts and speaking on their behalf. I urge those around him to offer and provide him help, as he is in need and has rejected my attempts to handle this privately, going so far as hurling personal insults to prompt a reaction.
I will vehemently defend myself, and respond to the false allegations that have been unfortunately and wrongly presented.
4. For those of you who have heard the allegations made by Joe Cain, I want to say without any equivocation that they are false, and any assertion that I stole money from the MMMA is simply not true.
As the CEO of the MMMA, Joe Cain was responsible for developing and implementing high-level strategies, making major corporate decisions, managing the overall operations and resources of a company, and acting as the main point of communication between the board of directors and the corporate operations.
In this capacity as CEO of the MMMA the last two plus years, Joe has had absolute control of the website and its functionality on every level at all times, without dispute.
This control included attempts to raise revenue via the website, by advertising. Ironically, the communication posted as evidence of alleged thievery stems from email conversations between Joe and me about advertising opportunities for the MMMA. Prior to pursuing any opportunities I consulted with Joe for discussion and approval. Additionally, the placement of any and all contracted advertisers', sponsors' or vendors' banners on the site were done by or at the direction of the CEO.
This opportunity was one of the many projects the MMMA was never able to accomplish because of failures at the CEO level.
The project referenced is MMMA TV. It was our attempt to create a media campaign highlighting the medical cannabis community in a way that would be effective in the obvious challenges brought on by our attorney general. The concept was to have a patient video on the MMMA landing page, exposing the more than 8,000 daily unique visitors to a patient story each week.
We secured a sponsor for the project, and began assisting them in branding as an MMMA sponsor and in the production of a number of videos supporting and promoting medical cannabis. Believing that a strong medical cannabis message would be a priority, we hired a professional producer, committed and paid for a professional studio, hired a camera crew, an editor, and wrote and produced content over a two- three month period of time. You can view some of those videos here, and I still have all the remaining and unedited video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBYz0XKE6hk http://vimeo.com/26874642 http://vimeo.com/26968247http://vimeo.com/25814244 http://vimeo.com/26730730
The sponsor paid by check, I deposited it into the MMMA bank account, and then paid the bills for the producer, the editor, the studio etc. Any other payments made to the MMMA via check, money orders and the like have been deposited into the MMMA bank account. And as it goes in accounting, every penny that was deposited into this account can be tracked and identified to whom it was paid. There is nothing but transparency on my end.
I have full financial and accounting records of all monies paid in and out during this time, for MMMA TV, and all monies are accounted for. I cannot say the same, however, for The Market, or any other activities and efforts that were led by our former CEO himself. If you see a response somewhere by Joe, make sure he indicates into what bank account his cash transaction goes, I would not know and neither would anyone else at the MMMA. Also make sure he understands that "go ask the doorman" is not an acceptable method of accounting that the MMMA could ever be associated with.
The MMMA TV project, as with several other efforts to raise money for the MMMA, was never fully carried out because of a lack of cooperation from our former CEO. As one of the only viable resources for revenue on the site, advertising and sponsorships are vital, in addition to the community contributions, to keeping the site viable and operational. Subsequent to the MMMA TV project disbanding, countless hours were spent trying to reconcile the relationship with the former vendor to avoid a breach of contract lawsuit for the inability of the MMMA and its CEO to perform its agreed responsibilities as part of the sponsor agreement.
We were optimistic that a strong media campaign via the MMMA website and MMMA TV could both benefit the community and assist in raising revenue for the upcoming challenges the organization and the community would have.
The assertion that $60,000 was ever paid to the MMMA for advertising or sponsorship is simply not true. While I believe that this kind of revenue should be and could be brought in via advertising or other projects, it simply was never accomplished because of a lack of performance by our former CEO. One of the MMMA's objectives has been and will always be advocating for patients, creating awareness, education and being a trusted voice of the medical marijuana community. As with any membership, some method of raising revenues is required in order to accomplish their goals. The business plan of the MMMA was to generate its revenue through advertising and sponsorship programs.
The designed plan was never facilitated the way it should have been and that responsibility falls exclusively on the CEO. Any assertion that our CEO was not compensated during his tenure is false. Joe's salaries, as well as many of the other MMMA expenses, were paid directly out of my pocket. I maintain possession of the cashed checks, standard banking procedure after they have been deposited.
Moving forward, the MMMA will continue to act as a steward for the medical marijuana community, offering advice, counsel and open forums for discussion. It has been, and will continue to be, our mission to fight for the rights and protections, and act as an advocate for patients and caregivers.
I apologize again for taking so long to respond, but wanted to address each of the allegations and provide you with a clear explanation of circumstances and outcome. I thank the other leaders in the community for their support, and promise that moving forward we will be better off with this transition, and I look forward to a more unified, productive and effective defense of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act and protecting Michigan patients and their caregivers.
Thank you for your patience, and please tune in to Planet Green Trees Thursday night and call or email with any questions you may have.
Very truly yours,
Michael Komorn
Interim CEO/ President of the MMMA
P.S.
If there remains any doubt as to anything I have said, see below and call into the show on Thursday, I would be happy to answer any questions that remain.
From: Joe Cain [email protected] Sent: Fri 3/9/2012 2:48 PM
To: Michael Komorn [email protected]
Subject: buyout
This is a confidental communication between my attorney an me. That would be you.
If you guys want to buy me out. Then make me an offer. That's the way it is done. As a officer of this corp I will always oppose Rick and Jamie being involved in any decision making capacity. They have conflicts. But if it is what you want, I would need my back pay which is $8000 and an additional $20,000 to help me transition out of state. Rick and jamie have money and that would be cheap. In return I would support the transition and post my support. This has been coming for a while. But I will not just step aside and let them inherit my hard work. Thanks
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 100%, colspan: 1"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 100%, colspan: 1"][TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 1, align: left"]Thank your customer, tell them how valuable they are to you, but don't go overboard. Insincerity is easy to spot.
Sincerely,
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 1, align: left"]
The MMMA
Michael Komorn President/CEO[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
