[Platform] [statecom] the sunset proposal

[gary hicks]

All:
   
  We should leave such moves as proposed by the co-chairs to those able to take years of previously accessible documents and, with a single stroke of a computer key, declare them off limits. My favorite candidate for such power is Homeland Security.
   
  Gary Hicks

BillCunningham <etwee at earthlink.net> wrote:
  Dear friends in GRP,

I would like to draw your attention to the "Sunset Proposal" which the Cochairs have made to the January 27 StateCom meeting. I have just posted the following response to that proposal.

This proposal refers to "party statements of policy." But it does not define that term. The GRP website contains a list of documents, on the main page and the "read more" page. Not every document is titled as "statement." Some documents are titled as "press release," "endorsement," "letter," or "platform."

The titles are not systematic but arbitrary. For example, the 2004 DNC "statement" is really more of a press release. Any reader can see that it is not current. The Palestine "statement" is a party position because it is current. Any reader can see that it refers to an ongoing situation. (Any reader who has the code to open the document, that is!)

A party position is, in effect, an addition to the party platform. The process for adopting a party position is completely different from the process for issuing a press release or endorsement of someone else's position.

If StateCom has the power or right to sunset a position adopted by Convention, does it also have the power or right to reinstate or revise such a position? This proposal assumes that StateCom does have that power and right. Is there any precedent or rule to justify this?

Does the sunset apply to every policy document on the page or only those with the formal title "statement"? If it applies to all, that would sink the existing State platform, which is more than three years old. If it applies only to formally titled "documents" then it is as arbitrary as the titles themselves.

It appears that there are only five policy documents on the GRP website which are more than three years old. They are the statements on Sudan, Palestine and Iraq (for some reason Iraq isn't actually on the page), the DNC press release "statement" and the party platform. 

I ask that the sponsors clarify their intent by clarifying the language of their proposal. 

Bill Cunningham
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