Re: [atlarge-discuss] Panel Motion Passed! On to Elections!BULL HOCKEY

[espresso@e-scape.net]

Hugh Blair wrote:
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: espresso @ e-scape . net
>> >
>> > Give the guys a break and let them do the $#$%^& job they
>> > were elected for.
>>
>> Their election has expired - gone - kaputz.

Dear Hugh,

As you may have noticed from my many postings on the subject,
what I am is an ordinary member like yourself, and no more
pleased by the way some of the individual panelists elected
last time conduct themselves than you are. However, this
group decided in its infinite wisdom that it would elect
an Interim Panel to conduct its business:

a) Three of its members agreed to stay on temporarily
   to organize the election of the next lot of panelists
b) This group had agreed prior to the election of the
   outgoing Panel that this was part of the Panel's job
c) Nobody elected me to do anything (perhaps partly because
   I didn't run or even vote back then since I was not yet
   a registered member at the time), I'm certainly in
   no position to take on the responsibilities of a Chief
   Electoral Officer, and in fact nobody asked me to do
   that
d) This group has a few self-appointed Chief Electoral
   Officers whose legitimacy is dubious, none of whom have
   received majority support in this whole discussion but
   each of whom is unwilling to even ask for that support
   before proceeding to decide for the group.

>> A "break" isn't the issue. But it's not like anyone now
>> has a choice. And since you hold these three people up
>> as a panel with some authority, then why do you still
>> have a copy of the membership list? You should destroy
>> it immediately since the panel you grant power to had no
>> part in giving it to you and has not granted you permission
>> to keep it. You're breaking your own rules. I hear two
>> messages coming out of both sides of your lips.

Sorry, Hugh, evidently you missed the message where I was asked
to hang onto the files as a backup until the group decides
about third-party escrow of the list. As I've said elsewhere,
I never opened the files except Vittorio's original off-list
message to me, which I had to open in order to send it along
with the attachments, and don't intend to.

In retrospect, you may be right that I should have erased
Vittorio's message and its attachments as soon as I received it.
But that would have meant *nobody* in ICANNATLARGE.ORG except
Vittorio (and Jan Siren who was in the same untenable position as
myself) would ever have FTP access to the ICANNATLARGE.ORG Web
site or its membership list.

In short, nobody could have contacted the members or altered the
Web site, let alone held any kind of election!

>> As well intentioned as these three people might be, and as
>> much respect as I may have for them, this still doesn't grant
>> them the right or ability to make any decisions for the
>> membership. None.
>>
>> I voted for and supported you holding the membership list.
>> You've now violated that trust. Does nobody around here
>> have any ethics?

I tried to choose the lesser of two evils and specifically asked
this group for guidance on the matter.

The preponderance of answers, on the mini-ballot or not, said
"hold onto the files" so I did ... and have been insulted and
falsely accused repeatedly for following the only instructions
I had received.

The preponderance of members were in favour of new elections but
no other means of getting them organized was proposed besides
a) the rump Panel, or
b) handing the information over to one or more people prepared to
impose their own personal preferences by non-democratic means.

There was no groundswell on this list supporting unilateral
actions proposed by either Joop or Jefsey. There were several
people who showed they looked to the remaining Panel to arrange
the elections. Nobody voiced the opinion that making elections
completely impossible or having individuals run competing elections
on two Web sites was a good idea.

Given those facts -- which I weighed carefully for weeks during
which anyone could have said "let's do X instead" -- I concluded
the only ethical course of action open to me was to recognize the
legitimacy of the rump Panel to call the elections, but refuse
to surrender the files until a formal request came from the
remaining panelists jointly, rather than as a demand from an
individual member who happened to sit on the Panel but could
not demonstrate the support of the Panel as a whole.

Everyone on this list had ample opportunity to read my explanations
of what I was doing and why, my insistence on a Panel motion as
a minimum prerequisite for surrender of the files and the various
accusations and complaints that I should be doing something else.
Everyone had ample opportunity to contact me on or off this list
to suggest alternatives; a very few did, and I took their
comments seriously in my deliberations. I am sorry you did not
avail yourself of the chance to tell us (or me) how you felt
about this but not sorry for the decision I made since it was
the only one open to me which would permit the elections we
all wanted to take place. To hold out against the Panel motion
until the Panel actually submitted a plan for elections to
this list for discussion would have been the only other option,
and the Panel evidently had no intention of doing that until
I had transmitted the list to them.

>> Cranky,
>>
>> Hugh

Me, too, Hugh. Whether you believe it or not, I am strongly
committed to ethical behaviour and put more time and worry
into this decision than most people ever would. I can only
ask you to note that it is entirely possible for a person
to behave ethically and still arrive at a conclusion you
find to be wrong.

Regards,

Judyth

##########################################################
Judyth Mermelstein     "cogito ergo lego ergo cogito..."
Montreal, QC           <espresso@e-scape.net>
##########################################################
"A word to the wise is sufficient. For others, use more."
"Un mot suffit aux sages; pour les autres, il en faut plus."
##########################################################



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