Chiropractic Chronicle Archive

ICA’s Official Response to Crisis Misses the Point: Philosophy Is at the Heart of it

Originally published: 2025-10-16

The ICA’s Attempt at Damage Control

In a video and written statement released on October 14, 2025, International Chiropractors Association (ICA) President Dr. Joe Betz formally acknowledged the resignation of CEO Dr. Edwin Cordero, offering polite thanks while assuring members that “the ICA moves forward stronger than ever.” The message, framed as an appeal to stability, was clearly intended to project confidence after the mass resignations of Cordero, several board members, Representative Assembly members, and the Georgia Council of Chiropractic (GCC).

But beneath the tone of reassurance, Betz’s response sidesteps the real issues driving this crisis: governance failures, lack of transparency, philosophical compromise, and a widening disconnect between ICA leadership and its founding principles.

“This is not about continuity, it’s about credibility.”

The Missing Acknowledgment: Governance and Integrity

Nowhere in Betz’s statement or the accompanying press release does the ICA address the underlying causes of the resignations, the ongoing questions about election integrity, the mishandling of internal complaints, or the unresolved issue of a CEO position that operated for months without any legal basis in the bylaws. The organization has continued to downplay these concerns even as disillusionment spreads among members.

This latest communication repeats a familiar refrain: generic appeals to stability, unity, and trust, while avoiding any substantive reflection on why so many long-standing leaders, Cordero included, chose to walk away.

The Hollow Promise of “Strengthening Governance”

In its official statement, the ICA insists it is “focused on strengthening governance and building transparency.” That would be reassuring, if it weren’t the same promise members and even some board officers have been hearing for nearly two years. During that time, repeated requests for clarity on finances, election procedures, and bylaw compliance were ignored or deflected. Now, in the wake of mass resignations, those same words are being recycled as if nothing happened. If the ICA were truly committed to transparency, it would not have taken public exposure, leadership departures, and the loss of affiliates like the Georgia Council of Chiropractic to prompt such language.

“Governance and transparency cannot be ‘strengthened’ retroactively, they must be practiced consistently, not promised after a crisis. You cannot move forward stronger than ever when you refuse to look back at what broke.”

Philosophy First, Not Last

Perhaps the most revealing moment in Betz’s video came when he stated that the ICA stands “for the science, art, and philosophy of chiropractic.” While seemingly benign, that sequence betrays a profound misunderstanding of chiropractic’s core identity. In chiropractic’s traditional hierarchy of values, philosophy comes first because it is the driver that gives meaning and purpose to both the art and the science.

Reversing that order, even unintentionally, reflects the deeper flaw in the ICA’s current thinking. It is not just a matter of semantics, it symbolizes the very inversion of priorities that has led the association into this governance and identity crisis. The ICA’s leadership, by treating philosophy as an afterthought, continues to drift toward a model of chiropractic that is politically convenient but philosophically hollow.

“The ICA didn’t lose its way because of politics, it lost its way because it forgot that philosophy comes first.”

A Pattern of Avoidance

The ICA’s recent troubles did not begin with Cordero’s resignation. They are the culmination of years of unaddressed dysfunction, from the 2024 Georgia election scandal to financial irregularities and the leadership vacuum created by the CEO experiment under Stephen Welsh. Despite repeated formal complaints from ICA members, including board and RA leaders, the association’s leadership has chosen silence over accountability.

When Cordero took the helm, many believed the ICA was finally poised for renewal. Instead, his tenure ended in frustration as he and several principled colleagues realized that the same entrenched forces, the same “seat at the table” mentality that led to ICA’s alignment with the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC), still controlled the narrative.

Fallout Expands: The GCC Steps Away

The Georgia Council of Chiropractic’s recent decision to withdraw as an ICA affiliate underscores how serious the situation has become. In its resignation letter, the GCC cited philosophical divergence, election integrity, and organizational direction as reasons for cutting ties. Their statement echoed the same concerns that Cordero and others had voiced for months before their departure: that the ICA had abandoned its principled roots and compromised with institutions that openly reject the subluxation-centered model of chiropractic.

The GCC’s departure marks the first official fracture at the state level, and more could follow if the ICA continues to ignore the deeper issues at play.

Stuckey’s Crossroads

Dr. Jon Stuckey inherits a difficult position. As Interim CEO, he faces the same institutional dysfunction that many of his former colleagues could no longer tolerate. The difference now is that he has both the responsibility and the opportunity to act. As a long-time board member, Stuckey had visibility into these issues but, like others, did not challenge the entrenched leadership culture that enabled them. Now, that hesitation must end.

If he has the courage to confront the very problems he once ignored, he can begin to rebuild trust and credibility. But if he chooses to preserve the same structures of silence and self-protection, then his tenure will simply extend the ICA’s decline.

“Dr. Stuckey has inherited a mess, but also a moment. Whether he becomes the leader who reforms the ICA or the caretaker who presides over its final unraveling depends on what he does next.”

The Path Forward or Further Decline

The ICA’s leadership now faces a critical choice. It can continue to issue polished press releases and videos that emphasize optics over substance, or it can confront the reality that the organization has lost credibility with many of its most dedicated members and allies.

Restoring trust will require more than words. It demands a recommitment to transparency, genuine accountability, and above all, a return to the philosophical foundation that has always distinguished principled chiropractic.

“Philosophy is not a slogan, it is the compass that guides everything else.”

Until the ICA reorients itself around that truth, every message of reassurance will ring hollow, and every resignation will bring it one step closer to irrelevance.