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Re: [bc-gnso] Elections
- To: Marilyn Cade <marilynscade@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Subject: Re: [bc-gnso] Elections
- From: Liz Williams <lizawilliams@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:43:43 +0100
Marilyn
Thank you for the background on the small/large distinction. What
would be helpful was if that was made clear in our own Charter -- I
think it's a good idea to separate out the two now that I know the
background.
With respect to your suggestion about "accepting the nomination (of
Rick Anderson -- I am anxious not to be personal here but it helps to
clarify). I would suggest that your latter suggestion of a whole new
election is a good one. We do need to ask ourselves more broadly
though about why a nomination wasn't received in the first place? Are
our big business members not interested; was the position (which is
very time consuming) something that our large business members
couldn't deal with?
Lastly, I am most certainly not suggesting that the Secretariat did
anything other than run the election correctly. However, making votes
public is certainly within the spirit and the intent of being more
transparent in what we do.
Liz
On 3 Sep 2009, at 12:02, Marilyn Cade wrote:
Several interesting points are raised in the posting from Liz
Williams below.
I have some sympathy for some points raised, and do not support some
others.
For example, for over 27 years of my professional career, I worked
for a multi national
corporation; represented said company in numerous industry groups,
coalitions, and
organizations. Today, I am the owner/operator of a micro enterprise,
that provides
advisory services and policy analysis, and some other forms of
strategic planning to
large companies. However, my company is a SME. Maybe a M-SME. :-)
My point is
that many of the SMEs in the BC might be able to 'identify' with
large businesses,
but they are not actually large businesses, and there is a rationale
for the separation
of the two seats allocated to the BC.
Originally, and perhaps this history is a little useful, the Board
did not intend to give
the second seat to the BC. In fact, I was engaged in a quite
detailed debate with the
then CEO and staff who were even favoring giving the seat to the
Small Business Administration
representative of the US, who was very enthused about such a role. I
protested this
to various Board members, and spent a lot of time with ICANN General
Counsel and
CEO, detailing why the BC should assume this role.
Philip Sheppard, also an officer at that time, supported the
analysis of the BC membership
that is the basis of the analysis that appears on the BC site,
noting the number
of SMEs, and large corporations. The Board and CEO were persuaded,
and although
others objected, we were given two distinct seats, for two distinct
categories of business.
I think that we have to remember that we are blessed to have two
seats on the
nominating committee and that one is to come from small business and
one from
large business. We should not run the risk of losing the second seat
by playing
fast and loose with the principle behind the two seats. I was
engaged in the
negotiations to get the BC two seats, and this is a privilege that
others [constituencies]
do envy. We could easily lose the second seat.
I do not agree that an SME should take the seat that is intended for
large business.
Indeed, a candidate who last year was representing small businesses
for that seat on the NomComm,
really can't just reappear now as the large business seat holder,
without creating concern and perhaps
challenge to the right of the BC to have that second seat.
I am aware, as a former elected officer, that there is the option to
'second' a willing member, when no
candidate is available. However, I strongly object to the officers
approaching someone engaged in
an active election and offering them a different seat than the one
they were standing for.
That step however, was entirely unknown to the membership so did not
affect the vote of any member. In fact,
we are learning about it only now, from Liz, who has volunteered
this information to us. Of course, the
outreach should not have happened, and really, the offer deserved to
be declined as inappropriate.
I am aware that we have a volunteer who is qualified from large
business. I see two options:
The officers can accept Rick's volunteering and appoint him to fill
the large business seat, or they
can reopen a nomination period for nominations of representatives
from large businesses, and
hold a second election.
As to the communication I posted in my nomination and endorsement of
Mike Roberts, that was
certainly an option available to all three candidates. And the
candidates could have requested
a call with members to explain their interest and expertise to fill
the small business seat. I think it
is important not to discredit the election of the small business
representative in any way.
I can understand that there was probably concern by the officers
about filling the seat. But they should not
be recruiting a SME to fill the large business seat. IF it were
absolutely necessary, they should come to the
membership for agreement.
Once there were no nominations,
that should have been announced to the members, and a second
opportunity opened for nominations.
That can still happen. Or the Officers can accept Rick Anderson's
volunteering. But candidates who fit the SME
qualifications don't magically turn into large businesses -- as much
as even I might hope for such status for my
own small business.
So, I oppose having an SME -- even myself -- fill the seat for large
business in this situation.
Finally, I am under the impression that all votes are confidential,
so I don't think that they can be made
public. I am not detecting that Liz is stating that she thinks
there was election fraud, or anything of that
sort, and while the turn out was low, the BC doesn't have a minimal
number of members who must vote
on any decision, whatever it is.
I, like others, greatly appreciate the work that volunteers do for
the BC. WE all benefit. And certainly,
I appreciate the work that was done on the NomComm last year by both
Phil and Liz. In no way is that
my point.
If there need to be more detailed criteria written out for elections
such as this, and more guidance
to the officers, I would certainly volunteer to work with others,
and the secretariat, to develop such
guidelines. ICANN staff could even be part of assisting in
developing election process guidelines.
It is often good to document procedures in any case. And we have now
learned that we need more detailed
procedures.
For instance, just to give an example of the kind of procedural
details that can be helpful: if there is no nomination put forward,
close to the close of a nomination period, a renewed call for
candidates should be made. If the nomination period closes without
candidates, the secretariat can, after advising the membership, open
a second nomination period of X days. If no candidate then emerges,
the officers can announce that they intend to select a qualified
member of the constituency with a request that they volunteer.
No contacts should be made with nominated candidates to encourage
them to change their candidacy in any way.
Candidates must establish how they fit the required criteria.
In my view, these two elections need to remain separate. SO, I don't
support the idea of a 'runner up' being given the second
seat. That loses the distinct nature of the two seats, which I
advise against.
I am confident that the secretariat has fulfilled his duties with
intregrity and thoroughness. I would ask the officers to
advise the members how they plan to proceed on either accepting Rick
Anderson and 'seconding' him to this position,
or opening an election limited to only qualified large business
representatives for this role.
Marilyn Cade
> From: lizawilliams@xxxxxxx
> To: bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [bc-gnso] Elections
> Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 08:34:47 +0100
>
>
> Colleagues
>
> I am very disappointed with the conduct (not the results) of the
> elections and have set out below my suggestions for a way forward.
> The problems with the election illustrate again, despite months of
> discussion about accountability, transparency, charter improvements
> and policy development processes that we still haven't got things
right.
>
> I preface my remarks by saying how delighted I am that Mike Roberts
> has been encouraged to join our efforts -- the test for him will be
> whether he actually joins the constituency and takes an active
role in
> its operations.
>
> I am most concerned about the way in which the election process
was run.
>
> 1. No nominee for the large business representative was received.
> Three nominations were received for the small business
> representative. There was no plan from the Councillors to address
> that - either through an appointment process or whatever that was
made
> PUBLIC before the elections took place. I was asked for and I
> submitted a note to the Councillors expressing my interest in
> volunteering for the Large Business representative seat, should no
> other nominees be received. I don't know whether Waudo was given
that
> option.
>
> 2. We are now in a situation where two candidates have lost the
> election who could have been selected for the position as runners-
up.
> There is nothing in the By-laws that would have prevented that
> happening, except that the nominees may not have wanted to.
>
> 3. We now have a presumptive nominee (Rick Anderson) sending in his
> nomination AFTER the fact with a statement as to why he should be
> elected when there isn't even a nomination period open. He didn't
> nominate in the first place and shouldn't be given preferential
> treatment in any "second" round, especially where other candidates
> have spent time and effort finding nominees, submitting statements
of
> suitability, going through an election where they have to seek
support
> for their candidature. Members will recall the fuss and bother last
> year, over exactly this issue, when Rick protested about not having
> his nomination in on time and he was excluded from running.
>
> Waudo and I have been significantly disadvantaged in the choices
open
> to us -- as a representative of WITSA Waudo is qualified to
represent
> large business interests; having worked for large corporations I am
> qualified to do the same. Indeed employment with a large
organisation
> is not a requirement of this post -- sensitivity to the various
needs
> of large businesses is much more important.
>
> Having said that, I would support Rick's candidacy because he is
able,
> highly critical of the constituency and may have some influence on
> making positive changes. My issue is that the process was not public
> beforehand and candidates have not been treated equitably.
>
> 4. With respect to Mike Roberts' nomination, it was very unfair that
> neither Waudo or I were given the chance to have a detailed
statement
> of support from our nominees, in exactly the way that Marilyn did
for
> Mike. This was a decision taken by the Secretariat which, for
perhaps
> uninformed and disinterested voters, was the information that they
> needed to sway their vote. My argument is not that the statement
> shouldn't have been distributed but that each candidate would have
had
> the same opportunity. We are now in exactly the same situation with
> Rick Anderson receiving letters of support -- what other potential
> candidate would be silly enough to stand in the face of a self-
> nomination in a pseudo election by default?
>
> If we are to be taken seriously as representatives of business
> interests, we need to smarten up immediately -- not sometime in the
> future, not when a notional charter is completed, not when we get
> around to it but immediately in every action we take. I say this
> across the board in our operations -- from working on the
Credentials
> Committee assessing new member applications & being involved in
> disciplining members; in my work on developing the new charter and
> encouraging a deliberate move to a new and broader mode of operation
> and in our work on policy development process improvements. On the
> latter, no BC representative has been present on the Working Group
on
> PDP improvements for many months.
>
> I am also making an official request that the results of the
election
> are made public showing who voted for whom and how the weighted
votes
> were applied.
>
> Liz
>
>
>
>
> ...
>
> Liz Williams
> +44 1963 364 380
> +44 7824 877757
>
>
>
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