RE: [gnso-vi-feb10] Short-term schedule

["Drazek, Keith" <kdrazek@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Mikey,

Thanks for sending the updated schedule. I'd like to push back a little
(procedurally) on your point about not being able to reach consensus on
a single position. I think we need to refer to the GNSO's definitions of
consensus and re-evaluate what's still possible, however unlikely.

According to the latest guidelines for GNSO Working Groups (forwarded by
Marika last Thursday during our meeting) we won't reach "full
consensus," but the lower threshold of "consensus" allows for a small
minority position. Here's the guidance from the GNSO's May 31
Guidelines:

- The Chair will be responsible for designating each position as having
one of the following designations:
*       Full consensus - a position where no minority disagrees 
*       Consensus - a position where a small minority disagrees but most
agree 
*       No consensus but strong support for a specific position /
recommendation but significant opposition 
*       Divergence - no strong support for a specific position /
recommendation
- In the case of consensus, no consensus or divergence, the WG Chair
should encourage the submission of minority viewpoint(s).

It's now clear we won't reach FULL consensus, but we don't yet know
whether we can or can't reach consensus on a single proposal with a
small minority in opposition. In light of this new reality (full
consensus impossible) I think it's still unclear whether WG members who
had previously worked to support one proposal or the other couldn't live
with and support the alternative in order to reach a consensus
recommendation. Anything less than a consensus recommendation from the
VI-WG will allow interpretation by the Staff and Board and lead to
uncertainty in the outcome, and that may be worse than either
alternative.

I have 2 process question for you and Roberto as we approach the end
game:

1. What constitutes "small minority" and "most" in the context of our
large Working Group with varying levels of participation?
2. How can we determine in the next 3 weeks whether we have consensus
with a majority/small minority, or no consensus on a single proposal?

These comments are submitted in my personal capacity and I welcome any
feedback.

Regards, Keith  

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gnso-vi-feb10@xxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-gnso-vi-feb10@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mike O'Connor
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 9:46 AM
To: Gnso-vi-feb10@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gnso-vi-feb10] Short-term schedule

hi all,

sorry my flights back home meant that i missed out on all the
call-confusion yesterday.  but that doesn't mean i wasn't thinking about
you.  :-)

i've attached a little short-interval schedule for you all to think
about (and comment on) before our call on Thursday.  for those of you
who missed the news, our schedule got compressed *again* when the Board
decided to try to resolve the remaining issues with the DAG at their
retreat (at the end of September).  working backwards from that date,
we've got a little less than 3 weeks to come up with recommendations in
time to hit all the advance-notice markers.  that date arithmetic is
included in the little attachment.

another thing that emerged from the Brussels meeting is that we aren't
going to arrive at a single proposal.  kudos to all -- we gave it one
heck of a try.  but there are just plain hard issues in this, and we
just couldn't get there.  so we emerged saying that we'd like to
identify those issues that we *do* agree on and forward those.  after
that Thursday meeting, people from the Board expressed an interest in
seeing the shape of the two major proposals we arrived at -- even though
we couldn't merge them.


so i'm proposing (without checking with my very-busy co-chair, so he
gets a free ticket to disagree with me) that we do both.  find the
places we agree, and sketch out the final round of the two proposals.
i've got a few pages in this attachment that describe an approach to
doing that.

i wanted you to see this stuff before the Thursday meeting so that you
have some time to review/improve it.

and now i'm going to dump my little Boston Whaler in the Mississippi and
take a day off with my sweetie.  hope you all made it home without undue
troubles.

mikey