Nonconforming Driver: No More Bill Campbell?

In the Millard Golf World piece on Walter Driver and the USGA, I had to read this twice to make sure it said what I think it said. 

In 2004 an amendment was adopted that gave a reduced role to elder past presidents, who played a leadership role in the executive committee nomination process. Their voting power was cut from five votes to two. That has left a bitter aftertaste and, as a result, some of the game's most respected elder statesmen have been alienated.  Bill Campbell, a legendary amateur and USGA president from 1982-83, has taken a self-imposed sabbatical from any business with the USGA. Asked by Golf World for comment, Campbell politely declined. "I don't want to get in the way," he says.

Bill Campbell is to the USGA what Ronald Reagan is to the Republican party. He's their hero, the ideal amateur and the first man cited when a USGAer wants to think of a role model. And Bill Campbell has taken a "self-imposed sabbatical" from USGA business?

It looks like Ron Sirak was right in this 2004 piece when he said that the power of the more vocal past presidents would be reduced.