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Re: [bc-gnso] FW: [council] Confirmation of new practice at face to face open council meetings
- To: icann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Subject: Re: [bc-gnso] FW: [council] Confirmation of new practice at face to face open council meetings
- From: Liz Williams <lizawilliams@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:02:41 +0000
Hello Mike
I'm sympathetic to the issues you've raised particularly as the
weekend sessions are really working drafting sessions.
I've had some experience of this in other environments and would like
to suggest a middle ground which may help over-worked Councillors.
We have proposed an Issue Manager/Rapporteur system in the new Charter
and I suggest that anyone who volunteers to do work on issues
(whatever they are) ought to be at the table as well. This helps new
members/volunteers become experienced at dealing with a wide range of
issues in great detail. It is also a supportive position for the
Councillors. It spreads the work around and also maximises the use of
different skills in the group (for example, some are better on
technical issues than legal drafting or intellectual property or
competition).
For example, it would probably work something like (and I'll use me as
a hypothetical) this.
1. Councillors are at the table supported by me (the Issue Manager)
on ABC issue.
2. Issue Manager is responsible for the scribing/writing/presentation
of materials.
3. Councillors are there to link different issues and positions
together and take that to Council.
This strengthens our work with diverse voices and volunteers taking
responsibility who are "rewarded" with a seat the table.
Best wishes.
Liz
On 25 Oct 2009, at 01:18, Mike Rodenbaugh wrote:
Fyi below from the Council Chair, in response to the attached email
string
begun by me, and subsequent discussion of Council this morning. I
have had
these very strong feelings for a long time now, and various less
formal
efforts to remedy the situation have not been effective.
The Council appears nearly unanimous in support of the concept that
Councilors should be given every opportunity to speak at Council
meetings,
and any public comment periods within the weekend meetings will be
structured more as they are in the large public Council meetings
held on
Wednesday of the ICANN meetings. This is an effort to make Council
more
efficient, and to allow Councilors to do their jobs without constant
interruptions from non-representative individuals. Of course, there
are
many other opportunities for such individuals to voice their
comments and
questions through the GNSO's bottom-up, open and transparent policy
development practices, including the BC's internal practices.
Mike Rodenbaugh
RODENBAUGH LAW
548 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 738-8087
http://rodenbaugh.com
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
] On
Behalf Of Avri Doria
Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 5:37 PM
To: Council GNSO
Subject: [council] Confirmation of new practice at face to face open
council
meetings
Hi.
After this mornings meeting I wanted to confirm several actions that
I took
away from the meeting:
1. the seats at the table for open council meetings will be reserved
for
council members, liaisons and relevant staff. Chair, vice-chair
(s) and staff will request that others take the observers seats.
For future
meetings name placards will be requested to those to be seated at
the table.
2. the observers will be requested to queue at the microphones, and
the
chair will be responsible for giving them the floor at appropriate
points,
though precedence for speaking will be given to those around the
table.
3. any further changes to the practices at open meetings will be
discussed
by the new council at its discretion.
Please let me know if I have misinterpreted the will of that meeting.
a.
From: "Gomes, Chuck" <cgomes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 24 October 2009 23:50:08 BST
To: <icann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "GNSO Council" <council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: [council] End of the Shadow Council
Thanks Mike. Maybe we will have time to discuss this in our
breakfast meeting.
Chuck
From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
] On Behalf Of Mike Rodenbaugh
Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 5:42 PM
To: GNSO Council
Subject: RE: [council] End of the Shadow Council
Hi Chuck,
This is not a policy development issue, but instead is
administrative. I have twice been elected to represent the BC in
Council administrative matters. Specifically per our Charter
section 4.1, “[t]he representatives will act in the GNSO Council as
representatives of and spokespersons for the Constituency and will
collaborate with other members of the Council in pursuit of the
mission of the Constituency.”
I am only trying to discontinue an unwarranted privilege by which
unrepresentative persons increasingly usurp the role of
representative Councilors and Liaisons, and which unduly takes time
from the entire Council and Staff.
Do you have any reasoned argument against this?
Thanks,
Mike
Mike Rodenbaugh
RODENBAUGH LAW
548 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 738-8087
http://rodenbaugh.com
From: Gomes, Chuck [mailto:cgomes@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 2:15 PM
To: icann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; GNSO Council
Subject: RE: [council] End of the Shadow Council
Mike,
Is this a CBUC request?
Chuck
From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
] On Behalf Of Mike Rodenbaugh
Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 4:42 PM
To: GNSO Council
Subject: [council] End of the Shadow Council
Dear Colleagues,
I write again regarding the so-called “Observers” at face-to-face
GNSO Council meetings.
Of course, I fully support that our face-to-face meetings are
generally always open to true observers, both those present and
located remotely. And I fully support that all of our meetings are
generally fully recorded and transcribed. Indeed I think they
should be translated, and that our conference calls be opened in
real time to the public, with non-speaking access. I fully support
that our email list is open and archived. All of this allows the
public to see how the Council operates in practically real-time, and
to experience the information and debate first-hand. Council must
have flexibility to close its sessions and/or communicate privately,
when it deems necessary for any stated and agreed reason. But I
believe that has never happened to date, and of course the default
must be open meetings and open communications.
However, the growing trend is for GNSO “Observers” to participate in
the Council’s weekend face-to-face meetings on equal footing with
Councilors, Liasons and Staff. A small and growing group of
privileged observers, none of whom are elected or appointed to
represent anyone but themselves and/or their specific organizations,
are increasingly taking an inordinate amount of Council and Staff
time. In effect, they are a “Shadow Council” that follows the
Council from meeting to meeting, taking advantage of a privilege
they ought not have. This must stop, effective immediately.
It is not scalable as the community of interested observers grows
and diversifies. It is not fair in any way:
n Not fair to Councilors and Liasons who offer great personal
sacrifice to travel long distances away from their lives,
volunteering an overly full weekend in advance of a lengthy five-day
meeting.
n Not fair to the constituents who elected or appointed the
Councilors and Liasons, expecting that they (and only they) would
serve as those constituents’ representatives on Council.
n Not fair to the general public whose only opportunities for input
to Council are via the Constituencies, Working Groups or public
comment periods. Particularly not fair to the general public that
does not speak English, or who cannot attend the sessions, as they
have no equal ability to participate vis a vis the “Shadow Council”.
n Not fair to the Staff nor the Council as a whole, whose only
opportunity to communicate face-to-face is during these meetings.
The GNSO Council is a representative body. The representative
Councilors and designated Liaisons must be allowed to do their jobs,
which absolutely requires face-to-face interaction with Staff and
with each other -- without constant ‘clarifying questions’, ‘points
of order’, comments or questions from the public. To my
knowledge, no other SO, nor the GAC nor the Board – nor any other
council, committee or board anywhere in the world -- ever allow such
privilege to observers. Such points should be raised through
Council representatives, or during any or all of the many
opportunities for public comment into the Council processes. Indeed
this is the reason-for-being of the Constituencies themselves, of
Working Groups, of public comment periods in general, and of the
public comment periods allowed at the Council’s face-to-face
meetings (which can also be used in our weekend sessions, if time
allows).
Therefore, beginning with the newTLD session today, I request that
observers be disallowed equal access to the Council table and
microphones, just as they are disallowed such access at our larger
public meetings and in our conference calls. The material presented
by Staff in the session today will doubtless be repeated during a
public session later in the week, which is a perfect opportunity for
anyone to ask their questions or make their points directly to the
Staff, without wasting tremendously valuable and scarce face-to-face
Council/Staff time. As we have seen, too many people are abusing
the privilege of open access to raise points that they then raise
again and again at every opportunity throughout the ICANN meeting,
and/or to communicate their particular, non-representative
interests. They are abusing a privilege that they should not have
in the first place, because it is not fair.
Does anyone have an argument as to why the current privilege should
be allowed to continue? Is anyone aware of any other council, board
or committee, anywhere in the world, that allows such a privilege to
observers?
Otherwise, I hope the privilege will be discontinued immediately,
and request Avri to confirm via reply to this list. If not, my next
effort to stop this will be an Ombudsman complaint, on behalf of the
entire community, so that this practice is investigated by a neutral
party and discussed formally at the Council and/or Board level(s).
I also request that the relevant OSC team discuss this and recommend
appropriate provisions in our Council Rules of Procedure to ensure
that nobody is given undue and disruptive access to Council,
Liaisons and Staff during our meetings.
Each and every member of the community – other than the “Shadow
Councilors” and their specific organizations -- suffer from the
continuation of this unwarranted and unseemly privilege that offered
to just a few, at the expense of the many.
Sincerely,
Mike
Mike Rodenbaugh
RODENBAUGH LAW
548 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 738-8087
http://rodenbaugh.com
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