Travel Support Comment

[Danny Younger <dannyyounger@xxxxxxxxx>]

I would like to reiterate a point first made by the GNSO Registry Constituency 
in their Statement dated 29 April 2008, namely:

"the proposal to fund GNSO Council travel emphasizes the Council’s role in 
policy development as opposed to the proper role of the community"

Although Staff has indicated, "ICANN will allocate sufficient funds so that the 
Chair and half of the remaining counselors will receive travel support (again, 
travel support could be used to support other-than-counselors)", the likelihood 
of other-than-counselors receiving travel support under this scheme currently 
lies somewhere between slim and none.

This does not comport well with the vision put forth by the Board Governance 
Committee with regard to GNSO Improvements that focuses on adopting a Working 
Group model.  

Having noted that the BGC has identified skilled WG chairs and
drafters as the "integral parts" of the development of a successful GNSO model, 
it would be much more appropriate to tender travel funding to these individuals 
rather than to the narrow community of GNSO counselors.