[Procedures] Immediate Appointment of Statecom Reps

[Daniel Melnechuk]

Thanks Jim... rtf is supposed to pass. I will look into that but for  
now here it is inline:

Title:         Immediate Appointment for Statecom Reps

Sponsors:         Daniel Melnechuk (manager) & ????

Contact Info:         isis AT isisdesign.com, 781-894-5544

Committee(s) Vetting:         Procedures, Structures, Meetings and  
Bylaws



Background:



At the June 29th 2008 Summer Statecom meeting, a number of grp members  
were appointed to be statecom reps but with a delayed start time to  
their appointment. These appointments are problematic in that our  
bylaws do not mention that this can be done.



Some people will say that it doesn’t say it can’t be done so we should  
allow it. This argument does not make sense in the context of  
interpreting bylaws. One must look for intent in the absence of  
explicit statements allowing it or not.



If we look at intent, one must read section 8.5.7 which says:



The first act of the State Committee at any meeting shall be to  
appoint any and all additional proportional representation  
representatives elected at properly accredited regional conventions.
This was added to make sure that the state senatorial reps to statecom  
who are elected at the presidential primaries every 4 years (this year  
it was Merelice and Daniel Melnechuk) would not be able to take  
control of the state committee by not appointing the proportional  
representation representatives elected at properly accredited regional  
conventions. But this only makes sense if there is intent for only  
immediate appointments. The worst case scenario is that Merelice and  
Dan could have appointed all the statecom regional reps but with a 2  
year delay, which would fill the seats until their terms were ended  
and also not allow new reps to take their place. Yes, this is the  
worst case scenario, but that is what could happen if we don’t close  
the hole that has been opened by the 6/29/2008 statecom meeting.

There is one reason that we might want to allow one kind of delay to  
appointment, and that is in the matter of unclear credentials. For  
instance, someone comes to the statecom meeting (which are on  
weekends), they say they registered Green-Rainbow, we have them as GP/ 
USA, Rainbow, Dem, Working Family, Socialist, or whatever in our voter  
list which would exclude them from being a member of the GRP. We might  
want to consider having them be a statecom rep pending getting their  
credentials clarified.

This brings up a question if we should also allow appointing someone  
pending their change of registration whether they thought they were  
GRP or not. We have seen registrars and clerks in cities and towns put  
people trying to register GRP into GP/USA. Should we penalize someone  
for clerk errors? What about



Summary:



This proposal specifies in part 1 to change the bylaws to add one  
sentence that all appointments by statecom to add more statecom reps  
and alternates, regional or diversity, can only be appointments to be  
seated immediately with no conditions or until appropriate credentials  
have been established. And this proposal also specifies in part 2  
separate from part 1 to allow only one kind of delayed appointment  
which is to clarify if someone is a member in the GRP.



Proposal:



Part One:            Add the following sentence to the end of section  
8.5:

All appointments of  representatives to state committee for appointed  
seats, alternates, regional or diversity, may not have any condition  
placed on the appointment and are effective immediately.

Part Two:            If Part One is adopted, change the text adoped  
above to read:

All appointments of  representatives to state committee for appointed  
seats or alternates, regional or diversity, may not have any condition  
placed on the appointment and are effective immediately, except for a  
conditional appointment effective after clarifying that someone is a  
member of the party where records available at the time of the  
conditional appointment show that the person in question is registered  
in another party or designation, or their membership in the GRP can  
not be certified.

Budget Impact

None.



Implementation

1. The procedures, structures, bylaws and meetings committee will  
modify the bylaws if either section adopted.







On Jul 22, 2008, at 2:28 AM, Daniel Melnechuk wrote:

> Dear Procedures, Structures and Meetings Committee,
>
> Attached please find a proposal in RTF format to modify the bylaws  
> to clarify that delay in appointment for state com reps is not  
> allowed. While staunchly opposed to arbitrarily setting a delay for  
> effective appointments for statecom reps as well as the bylaws being  
> clear by intent that it is not allowed, i thought of one reason that  
> we might want to allow a conditional delay; if we want to appoint  
> someone for regional or diversity who we have in our available  
> records as not able to be a member of the party (and therefor not a  
> rep to statecom) we could conditionally appoint the person pending  
> clarification of them being a member.
>
> I structured the proposal into two parts so we could pass just the  
> first or both. I am not sure about the second part but thought i  
> would present it to you all on this list to see what you thought.
>
> I am looking for a cosponsor. This is intended to be brought up as  
> an urgent matter at the upcoming statecom meeting august 21st where  
> we select the electors. It is urgent since the last statecom meeting  
> made a decision that goes against the intent of the bylaws as far as  
> delays in seating appointed reps to statecom.
>
>
>
>
> Peace,
> Dan
>
>
>
>
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