Ken Boonie <kab9(a)penn.com> wrote:
I'm around. Just want to be sure (I'm not nitpicking, just
being cautious considering the possibilities) that whatever we
do as a team abides by the bylaws. Personally, I don't know
what the formal guidelines are and even if I did, I may get a
differing opinion than someone else. Let's make darn sure that
we do things by the book so we don't have our election
overturned or disallowed.
Again, I'm not trying to get a ruckus stirred. Just looking
out for all of us.
There's really not too much in the by-laws about electing a state
coordinator. Below are the relevant sections of the by-laws:
Section 8. State Coordinators shall be elected to those positions by
the
local-level coordinators within the state.
Those State Coordinators and Assistant State Coordinators in place at
the
time these bylaws are adopted shall
be exempt from election procedures, unless he/she/they are removed,
resign,
or are unable to perform their
duties.
Basically, State Coordinators have to be elected, with the exception of
State Coordinators or Assistant State Coordinators who were already in place
before the bylaws were adopted. In other words, if Gary had appointed an
Assistant State Coordinator prior to the by-laws that person could become
State Coordinator without an election.
Note that there's no requirement for Assistant State Coordinators to be
elected in the bylaws. They can be appointed (and removed) by the State
Coordinators at will. In this regard, Assistant State Coordinators are more
like the US President's Cabinet than a Vice President. Under Section 10,
when a State Coordinator leaves, Assistant State Coordinators do not
automatically become State Coordinator (unless they were appointed before
the by-laws were adopted.) Instead they serve only until an election for the
position of State Coordinator can be held.
Section 10. If a State Coordinator is unable to perform his/her
duties, the
Assistant State Coordinator, or other
support team, shall serve until an election can take place within the
state. In the case of state projects with more
than one Assistant State Coordinator, they shall choose one among
themselves to serve in the interim.
If we want to vote on Assistant State Coordinators, we could, but it's not
required under the by-laws, and in any event, there's really nothing (other
than public outcry) to prevent a State Coordinator from removing Assistant
State Coordinators and appointing new ones if he/she desires. Assistant
State Coordinators are in the same situation as the County Coordinators. If
the State Coordinator decides to remove an Assistant State Coordinator or
County Coordinator, the person removed has the right to file a grievance
with the Advisory Board, but there's really no mechanism in the by-laws for
how to handle the grievance, and basically nothing seems to happen.
I can't see that we need to worry about running afoul of the by-laws as long
as we have a period for nominations for state coordinator, and then run an
election if needed. If we have nominations, and only one person is
nominated, there's not much sense in mailing out ballots and counting votes.
If we really want to make sure we fulfill the letter of the law in that
case, we could just have a roll call vote here on PAGEN-L, since there's no
requirement in the by-laws that the voting has to be by secret ballot. (Of
course, we should assume that an election will be necessary and be prepared
to run one. I think we'd probably all be most comfortable with secret
ballots if there's more than one candidate.)
Of course, under Section 5 state projects are able and encouraged to adopt
additional rules, etc., so we could, if we wanted to, add any additional
procedures or requirements to the fairly basic requirements in the by-laws.
Section 5. State projects are empowered to develop/adopt any
additional
rules/bylaws and guidelines, as
appropriate, for their state so long as they do not conflict with
these
bylaws. State projects shall be highly
encouraged to develop and adopt rules/bylaws that cover grievance
procedures within the state
Ed Book
Butler County