In a ballot count certified Jan. 30, incumbent Executive Council President Sheila Lindsay was re-elected, incumbent Treasurer Amy Lampkin was voted in as vice president, and Mikhail Romanov was elected as secretary of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild board for 2017-18.
American Postal Workers Union unit member Tim Fitzgerald, who had been serving as the local’s Vice President, was unopposed for the position of WBNG Treasurer. Fitzgerald, Lindsay (American Nurses Association unit), Lampkin (AFL-CIO), and Romanov (UFCW), were sworn in for the current term at the Local 32035 General Membership meeting Jan. 31.
In addition to the top four officers, the WBNG membership elects five At-Large Delegates to two-year terms. Per the local’s bylaws, nominations for the nine positions were made at the last membership meeting of 2016.
On Nov. 5, Gabe Gonzalez (AFL-CIO), Jazmin Gargoum (Working America), Matt Losak (at large), and Mark Pattison (Catholic News Service), were nominated to be At-Large Delegates and accepted the positions. Because a fifth nominee for an At-Large seat declined the position, the Executive Council will appoint a temporary officer at the next board meeting (Feb. 21).
A notice about the vacancy will immediately go out to the membership, which at its next meeting – Saturday, April 1, in Baltimore – will take nominations from the floor and fill the position by secret ballot.
In the general election, ballots were mailed to approximately three-quarters of the local’s 1,600 members. Guild members at several Washington-area shops received sample ballots and voted at their offices Jan. 25 and 26. The ballots showed Lindsay being challenged by Robert Struckman (AFL-CIO); Elise Bryant (at large) running against Lampkin; and incumbent Secretary Mark Gruenberg (at large) facing Romanov.
View the full results here: WBNG Election Results January 27, 2017