How many new gTLDs will ICANN approve in order to pay for Rod Beckstrom's new palace in Palo Alto?

[George Kirikos <gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

To followup on the prior comment of profligate spending by ICANN:

http://forum.icann.org/lists/3gtld-guide/msg00090.html

it is a little-noticed fact that one of the first actions of ICANN after the 
AOC was announced on September 30th was to approve on the same day a massive 
expenditure of $400,000+ PER YEAR, for up to 10 YEARS, for 5000 square feet of 
office space in Palo Alto, so that Rod Beckstrom could have office space 
fitting royalty. See the minutes (section B.2) at:

http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/prelim-report-30sep09.htm

for details of this waste of money. Only one board member had the class to 
abstain from the vote, noting "opening a new office in the US is not in any way 
a priority, and would even send a contrary message to the ICANN community 
worldwide."

For far less than the millions of dollars that will be wasted in those 10 
years, one could have installed elite Cisco Telepresence both at ICANN and at 
Rod Beckstrom's home office, see:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7060/products_category_business_benefits.html

That would be extravagant, but far less extravagant than the millions being 
wasted on the new Palo Alto palace.

So, my question to ICANN is: How many new gTLDs will ICANN approve in order to 
pay for Rod Beckstrom's new digs, and for the staff entourage that will 
accompany these new offices? Will ICANN be eliminating the Sydney office (i.e. 
Paul Twomey's palace) now that he's gone, to compensate, or will ICANN simply 
continue to add permanent offices around the world each time a new CEO is 
hired? I asked these questions to Rod Beckstrom and Kevin Wilson in an email on 
October 15th, and they've yet to make an answer.

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
http://www.leap.com/