Scandal in the American Orchid Society: Treachery and Betrayal at Alamo Town

By Luis Valdez and Ken Levi

This is the explosive, true-life exposé about an orchid lover’s journey, and about the people who shot him down. It’s about me, Luis Valdez, and how I rose to become the first Hispanic President of the Alamo Orchid Society in San Antonio, Texas. It’s about how I was unanimously elected and re-elected for two terms in office, and then how the President who succeeded me kicked me out of the Club.

In a larger sense, it’s a tell-all tale about gross mismanagement in a voluntary society, and it reflects not only on the ineptitude of the current AOS leaders, but also on the culpability of the American Orchid Society, their parent organization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luis Valdez
• Release date: Aug 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005641412

Luis Valdez

I grew up in the border town of Eagle Pass, Tx. My Mom loved plants and her passion for them inspired me. After graduating from Eagle Pass High School in 1992, I moved away to go to school at A&M Kingsville. There, I took on a job as a gardener/greenhouse helper, assisting Dr. Peter Felker graft hundreds of mesquite trees. I loved that job! Then, my life shifted trajectories. I joined the U.S. Navy, and received orders for Japan, where I remained for three years. While stationed in that country, my ship, the USS Thach, took me to countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, the Philippine Islands and even Australia. I couldn't have asked for a better Navy home base. Four years later, I was back in America, I moved to San Antonio, Tx. and continued my schooling. After graduating from Our Lady of the Lake Universary, I attended my first Alamo Orchid Society (AOS) Orchid Show in 2013. I loved it. So, I joined the Society and became a very active member. Ultimately, I was elected AOS President in 2017 and again in 2018. I also became Curator of the San Antonio Botanical Gardens orchid greenhouse during that time. But in 2020, I received a shock! The new AOS Board of Directors expelled me from the Society. How and why that happened is the subject of my book.

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1. Scandal

In January, 2020, the Board of Directors (BOD) of the Alamo Orchid Society (AOS), San Antonio, Texas, voted to expel two of its members. The vote was five to one. The expelled members were me, Luis Valdez, and my partner, Ken Levi.

The expulsion of members had never happened before in the AOS, not once in its 65 year history. Stranger still is the particular nature of the members expelled. I was not just a member of the AOS. I was the immediate past President. Likewise, Ken was not just a member. He was the immediate past Vice President. Both of us had been elected and re-elected by a unanimous vote of the members.

Not only were Ken and I popular leaders during our time in office, but, significantly, I was the Orchid Society’s first Hispanic President.

Most noteworthy is the sneaky nature of the BOD action. AOS President Tom Dunlap did not issue any advance notice that the question of expulsion would be on the BOD agenda. So, neither Ken nor I was present on the day of the vote. Both of us were on vacation in Mexico. Neither of us was given an opportunity to defend himself. Neither was afforded due process. The vote was taken behind our backs.

Moreover, the motion to expel two past officers - a President and a Vice President - was never put up for discussion before the full Society. The vote was taken behind the backs of the membership. One might suppose such a momentous and precedent setting action would require full disclosure and participation. But that never happened.

The full membership was only formally notified by a small paragraph buried on page 3 of the February, 2020, newsletter. It said:

A motion was discussed and proposed to remove Louis [sic] Valdez and Ken Levi as members based on their actions detrimental to the society over the past year. The motion passed as stated by a five to one vote.

The BOD minutes were signed, Tracey Davis, Secretary.

Such revenge by a current President on the prior President is not a common occurrence in advanced, democratic societies, governed by the rule of law.

In third world dictatorships, however, such arbitrary spitefulness is a common practice. History is replete with the jailing, and even execution, in nations such as Sudan, Congo, Bangladesh, Burma, Panama, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Guatemala. Such behavior is SOP - standard operating procedure - for a Banana Republic.

In the expulsion of myself and Levi, the rule of law was notably absent. In a letter to Tom Dunlap, a lawyer, consulted by us, put it this way:

"I did not see a basis for removing members in our by-laws or in Robert’s Rules of Order - the two authorities that govern our society. The by-laws state that, upon payment of dues, a person applying for membership ‘shall be accepted as a member.’ See Bylaws Art. III, sec. 1. The only requirement for membership is payment of dues. The bylaws do not outline why or how a member may be expelled, although there are procedures setting forth why and how officers, or board members may be removed from office. See Bylaws, Art. VI, sec. 5. The bylaws thus contemplate that officers and board members may be removed - but not members.

"According to Robert’s Rules of Order, our society may ‘make and enforce its own laws and punish an offender,’ including punishment by ‘expulsion.’ See Robt’s Rules, Art XIII, para 72. Our ‘laws’ are our bylaws. We may punish an ‘offender’ who has violated our bylaws - Robert’s Rules do not provide an independent basis for expulsion of a member, including why and how a member may be removed. But, as the bylaws stand now, members may not be removed from the society" [italics mine].

In other words, the BOD acted unlawfully. They acted in contravention of their own laws, which included the AOS Bylaws and Robert’s Rules of Order. Indeed, the AOS Bylaws state in Article XI, the final article in the document,

The guide for parliamentary procedures of meetings of the Alamo Orchid Society shall be Robert’s Rules of Order, revised.

This book is about mismanagement in a voluntary society. It’s about foolish decisions. It’s about how one foolish decision after another built up over the course of a year to a disastrous blowout in the end.

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2. Historical Background

Why is the American Orchid Society (AmOS) in any way implicated in the AOS scandal? To put it simply, the AOS is part of the American Orchid Society. It’s as if a McDonald’s outlet served tainted beef. Who do you blame? Just that one outlet? Or, McDonalds as a whole?

The American Orchid Society was founded in Boston a hundred years ago, in 1921, as an offshoot of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS). A small group of orchid lovers, consisting of 35 men and one woman, launched the Society for the purpose of the education, conservation, and research of orchids. By 2001, the AmOS had grown to be the largest special interest horticultural organization in the world. Today it encompasses over 400 affiliated societies, including the Alamo Orchid Society in San Antonio.

Dating back even earlier, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, which gave birth to the AmOS, was itself founded in February 1829. This occurred during the waning days of the John Quincy Adams administration, just before Andrew Jackson ascended to the Presidency.

A signal event in MHS history came in 1901, when they constructed Horticulture Hall, an imposing brick and marble Renaissance Revival edifice, at the corner of Huntington Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue, across from the Boston Symphony. They celebrated their grand opening with a ten day floral exhibit, featuring a special display of 1000 orchids.

In 1924, the newly founded orchid society held their own, first show from May 8 to 11. Open to the public in Horticulture Hall, it was dubbed The Great Orchid Exhibition in Boston. In June of 1932, the AmOS launched their first periodical, the AOS Bulletin, which subsequently became Orchids magazine. Then, in 1946, the AmOS established the Cleveland Orchid Society as their first world-wide affiliated organization.

By 1984, however, after 60 years in residence, the AmOS had to move. Horticulture Hall was undergoing a $4 million renovation, for the purpose of commercializing the property. So, the orchid society uprooted itself, and established a new home in West Palm Beach, Florida. The local neighborhood association, however, objected to their presence, and eventually got them to move again, this time to Delray Beach.

That stay was also short-lived. Financial pressures led the AmOS to form an alliance with the Fairchild Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Florida, which is their current location. This final move was occasioned by a loss of funds, due to a steep decline in membership. It slid from 29,000 members in 2001, to 10,000 in 2011.

In 1921, the first President of the American Orchid Society was Albert Burrage, whose impressive ancestry stretched back to 1636, when his forebears arrived on American soil. Having graduated Harvard Law School, he became first an attorney and later an industrialist, founding American Amalgamated Copper. His passion for orchids made him, at the age of 61, the AmOS first President, just after serving as President of the MHS.

Burrage died in 1931, at the age of 72. His estate, at the time was valued at $6 million, the equivalent of $90 million today. Predictably, his heirs squandered the fortune.

Flash forward 90 years, and Burrage’s successor, is President-elect Robert Fuchs. In 2012, he became the first orchid grower elevated to the Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame. Before that, he graduated Florida State University, taught in Homestead Junior High School, and presided over the commercial nursery, R.F. Orchids.

Currently, the American Orchid Society has over 400 affiliates throughout the United States and the world. They range from the Acadian Orchid Society in Louisiana to to The Yakima Orchid Society in Yakima, Washington. They include such exotic outposts as the Asociacion Acostenade Orquideologia in San Jose, Costa Rica; to the Gympie and District Orchid Society in Gympie, Australia; to the Brazos Valley Orchid Society in College Station, Texas; to the Bulawayo Orchid Society in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

What are the advantages for a local orchid society to affiliate with the AmOS? Perhaps the main advantage is judging. Whenever a society holds an orchid show, participants are drawn to the show by the prospect of winning an award, which subsequently will appear on the official AmOS register, and ultimately take a place of honor in the list of the Royal Orchid Society, Kew