The Truth Revealed...

Good Morning everyone,

I want to give some clarification to a post on Horatio's Cat Blog.

Horatio states: "Intially, we had invited Pam Delabar, the President of CFA but she had cancelled her judging contract just 3 weeks before show day. This had upset my entire working committee and not forgetting the amount of money that had spent but instead of crying over spilt (bad) milk, we were very fortunate that we able to find a replacement judge in such a short notice and many thanks to Cheryl Pollock to able to make it in our show and having her is certainly fun. For your info, Cheryl Pollock had judged in Malaysia in 2006 during the MiCatz show held in Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur."

Pam and her travel agent had notified the club that she had a ticket on hold. When the club responded to the travel agent's request for payment of the ticket, the price had increase by $82. The club cancelled that reservation.

Then, without notification to Pam, the club purchased a return ticket for Pam on Christmas Eve, a day after she had reserved a ticket for her return.

This was not acceptable to Pam as she had plans for the Holidays and was not able to fulfil the contract, as the club had made a reservation that did not fit into Pam's Holiday plans.










Horatio further states: "Perhaps let me take the liberty to say this but in my opinion, as a responsible judge, he/she should not (and will not) burden a club in any way especially when it concerns monetary when they were invited
to judge. It is certainly not easy for most cat clubs to raise funds to run a cat show especially an International shows. I’d observed that some judges had their own preferred airlines so that they can accumulate that extra flyer points but that is still ok as long as it doesn’t burden the club. I had also noticed that there were some had refused to fly with other than their own preferred airline although there is a cheaper alternative."

Unfortunately judges do have to burden the clubs with the expense of our airline tickets. Yes, judges do prefer to fly on their "preferred airline" and that is not a bad thing. Many times the price difference is minimal. Many judges will pay the difference between the two fares, so that they can fly on their preferred airline. One thing that all must take into consideration, especially when we fly to an international show, if there is a problem with the flight, the preferred airline customers are rebooked before non preferred customers. So the preferred airlines will rebook their preferred customers and usually they are able to make reconnections to get those passengers to their destinations.






Horatio further states: "To clubs, just bare this in mind that you are paying for a judge for 1 sole purpose which is to judge. You are hiring them to perform a task and not paying for their expensive fares and wine and dine luxuriously with them. As long as the judges were provided with a reasonable place to stay with all the basic necessities, that is all that matters (read and understand CFA Show Rule : Article 26 - Judging Fees and Expenses and that is all you need to do!!) and please remember to have all written contracts what is covered and what is not during the duration of their stay to avoid any
miscommunication or misunderstanding."


I find these statements very offensive. Yes, our primary responsibility is to act as an agent for the club and to fulfill our obligation to judge the cats entered in the show. The show committee responsibilities are delineated in the show rules, as Horatio states. However, to imply we are all spoiled brats that over charge the clubs for airfares and charge for expensive meals and down bottles of wine is so outrageous that I could hardly believe what my eyes were reading.

It is rare for a judge to be invited that exhibits such behavior. If a judge's behavior is out of line, they are subject to have letters written to the Judging Program Chair. Also, please consider that if a judge is out of bounds with charges to clubs, their names are usually shared with other clubs, and they would rarely be invited back to judge a show for a club that they have overcharged.

The airline tickets are the most costly item for a club's budget. Judges spend a great deal of time searching for a reasonable fare to the clubs. Sometimes those tickets are dependant on which airport the judge uses for their departure. For example, a judge from the east cost will have to pay more for a ticket to Asia, than would a judge from California. This is not always true, but can be used as a general rule. If you are concerned about the price of an airline ticket for a judge, you can always go to the internet and look for the fares from the various airlines prior to inviting the judge.

You must also consider that while the rules only require the clubs to pay for room nights before and after the close of the show, sometimes the airfares to accomplish this may be much more expensive. Under these situations it might be more economical for the club to pay an additional night of hotel, than to pay for the return on the day after the show. For example, if you are having a back to back or one day show, the fare could be much lower for a Monday return, than the cost of the ticket for a Sunday return. If your club insists on paying for only strictly by the rules, just realize that you might have to pay much more for the airline ticket.

Occasionally a judge will bring a companion along on their trip. You are not obligated to pay for the food or lodging for the judge's guest. The judge should be responsible for their companion's meals and the portion that is greater than a single room for the hotel. If the judge wishes to make this a vacation and stay extra days, then that should be at their expense. However, if the judge is doing two or more shows on consecutive weekends, then that expense is between the two clubs, for the judge only.

Please, do not ever buy a ticket for a judge without checking with the judge to make sure the conditions are acceptable with the judge. If Horatio had done this, there would not have been the problem that he has complained about on his blog.

Have a happy Holiday season,

Darrell Newkirk, Chair
CFA International Division


MY COMMENTS : Horatio!..STOP ALL THIS LIES AND LEARN TO ADMIT MISTAKES!!!.