Re: [gnso-travel-dt] Chair Travel Funding

[Stéphane Van Gelder <stephane.vangelder@xxxxxxxxx>]

Chuck,

What about letting the Council as a whole know what you have been invited to 
do? I'm sure no-one would have a problem with you going as Chair, but I agree 
with Tim that the Council should be informed prior to you going.

Stéphane

Le 16 mars 2010 à 22:23, Gomes, Chuck a écrit :

> 
> Thanks for the feedback Tim.  Note my response to your question below.
> 
> Chuck 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-gnso-travel-dt@xxxxxxxxx 
>> [mailto:owner-gnso-travel-dt@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tim Ruiz
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 2:15 PM
>> To: gnso-travel-dt@xxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: RE: [gnso-travel-dt] Chair Travel Funding
>> 
>> 
>> Specifically regarding travel funding for this, I personally 
>> don't think it is appropriate. Given the RrSG views on travel 
>> funding in general, that would likely be the SG's position.
>> 
>> Beyond the travel funding issue, is it appropriate for the 
>> Chair to accept engagements representing the Council without 
>> Council approval? I would think at the least, the Council 
>> should be informed as to what the topic of discussion is and 
>> what the Chair intends to say/present to be sure it is in 
>> line overall with the Council views/opinions.
> 
> Chuck: You make a good point.  Even though I was invited because I was
> Council Chair, it would not be appropriate for me to participate as a
> representative of the Council without Council approval and I should not
> represent positions of the Council except those that were approved as
> such.  I never intended to do otherwise but it is important to make that
> clear.  My intent would be to attempt serve as an information resource
> about the GNSO that might be useful to the Russia IGF.
> 
>> 
>> Tim
>> 
>> -------- Original Message --------
>> Subject: RE: [gnso-travel-dt] Chair Travel Funding
>> From: "Gomes, Chuck" <cgomes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Date: Mon, March 15, 2010 5:51 pm
>> To: "Avri Doria" <avri@xxxxxxx>, <gnso-travel-dt@xxxxxxxxx>
>> 
>> 
>> To my knowledge, the answer to both questions may be "no".
>> 
>> Chuck 
>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: owner-gnso-travel-dt@xxxxxxxxx
>>> [mailto:owner-gnso-travel-dt@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Avri Doria
>>> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 5:57 PM
>>> To: gnso-travel-dt@xxxxxxxxx
>>> Subject: Re: [gnso-travel-dt] Chair Travel Funding
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> My questions: 
>>> 
>>> - has the GNSO ever gained funding for anyone to travel for 
>> anything 
>>> other than an ICANN meeting?
>>> 
>>> - is there any budgeted source of funding from which this 
>> could come?
>>> 
>>> a.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 15 Mar 2010, at 17:18, Gomes, Chuck wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Olga
>>>> 
>>>> I want to request guidance from the GNSO Travel DT
>>> regarding a special travel funding issue before bringing it to the 
>>> Council.
>>>> 
>>>> I have been invited to participate in the Russia IGF in my
>>> capacity as GNSO Council Chair. It is scheduled for May 
>> 13-14. Because 
>>> I will be doing this not as a representative of VeriSign, 
>> there is not 
>>> a reasonable business case to request VeriSign to fund my 
>> travel, so I 
>>> would like to get feedback from the members of the Travel DT with 
>>> regard to this.
>>>> 
>>>> First of all, let me say that I have never used ICANN
>>> provided travel funding to attend ICANN meetings and I do 
>> not plan to 
>>> do that for any of the scheduled ICANN in-person meeting scheduled 
>>> this year. The reasons for this are: 1) I do not want there 
>> to be even 
>>> a perception of conflict at those meetings when I wear my multiple 
>>> hats of Council Chair, RySG representative and VeriSign 
>>> representative; 2) the RySG consistently took a position that it 
>>> opposed ICANN travel funding except in cases of demonstrated need.
>>>> 
>>>> Second, let me say that I understand that the Travel
>>> Funding practice to date has been for ICANN sponsored 
>> events and that 
>>> the Russia IGF is not in that category. So one of the 
>> problems would 
>>> be the possibility of setting precedents for other travel needs in 
>>> similar situations. For example, Other countries or geographical 
>>> regions also hold their own IGF meetings, so what would 
>> happen if I am 
>>> invited to those as well, to represent the GNSO? I think this is a 
>>> legitimate concern. All I can say is that I was first 
>> contacted about 
>>> the Russia IGF over six months in advance of the meeting and I have 
>>> not been invited to any other country/regional IGF meetings 
>> for 2010 
>>> or after. Clearly, if ICANN funding is considered for this, 
>> it would 
>>> need to be done with the limitation that travel funds are available 
>>> and that this instance would be a one-time consideration; 
>> any similar 
>>> requests in my role as chair would have to be vetted 
>> independently and 
>>> would have to have similar advance !
>>> notice like was given with the Russia IGF.
>>>> 
>>>> I also recognize that ICANN has had to trim expenses and I
>>> would not want to negatively impact the ability of any GNSO 
>> members to 
>>> receive travel funding to the Brussels meeting as a result of my 
>>> request.
>>>> 
>>>> Any thoughts that any members of the Travel DT, including
>>> negative ones, would be appreciated. I promised both 
>> Theresa Swinehart 
>>> and Kevin Wilson that I would get back to them on this but have 
>>> waiting raising it because of the huge number of issues 
>> that we have 
>>> been dealing with in the GNSO.
>>>> 
>>>> Chuck
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>