RE: [council] Point for Discussion

["Gomes, Chuck" <cgomes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I seriously wonder whether the writers of the Bylaws intended that a
Council representative could vote however he/she pleased regardless of a
constituency position, so it seems to me that this should be fixed in
the Bylaws.  I agree with Ross that his constituency should not be
penalized because he has a conflict of interest as long as their simple
confirmation from an officer of his constituency that they have taken a
specific position.  The intent of my original suggestion was to deal
with situations like this.

Chuck Gomes
 
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Avri Doria
> Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 1:19 PM
> To: GNSO Council
> Subject: Re: [council] Point for Discussion
> 
> 
> On 13 jul 2007, at 12.47, Ross Rader wrote:
> 
> > Avri Doria wrote:
> >
> >> I also favor an approach that includes a prohibition 
> against using a 
> >> proxy mechanism to avoid a required abstention based on a 
> conflict of 
> >> interest.
> >
> > Why?
> 
> On the basis of a basic fairness issue.
> 
> My expectation is that everyone may at some point face a vote 
> on which they have a conflict that would force an abstention.
> 
> In the event that someone is a nomcom appointee or from a 
> constituency that does not use a constituency discipline 
> method of internal organization, it makes sense that they 
> would not be allowed to use the proxy to avoid the need to 
> abstain.  So, for me it follows from a general 
> non-prejudicial principle that, as I indicated, no 
> constituency be given an advantage based on their 
> organizational practice or methodology.
> 
> > My interests and those of my constituency can be different. For 
> > instance, I have conflicts related to my employment with 
> Tucows that 
> > other councillors may not share. Why should that prevent 
> the registrar 
> > constituency from casting one of its ballots through proxy?
> 
> I guess the actual question is who do the ballots belong to?
> 
> I read the following by-laws as relevant:
> 
> x.3.1 the GNSO Council shall consist of three representatives 
> selected by each of the Constituencies described in Section 5 
> of this Article, and three persons selected by the ICANN 
> Nominating Committee.
> 
> X.3.8(b) all members are provided the means of fully 
> participating in all matters before the GNSO Council, and (c) 
> ICANN adopts and implements means of verifying that (x) a 
> person participating in such a meeting is a member of the 
> GNSO Council or other person entitled to participate in the 
> meeting and (y) all actions of, or votes by, the GNSO Council 
> are taken or cast only by the members of the GNSO Council and 
> not persons who are not members.
> 
> X.5.2. The number of votes that members of the GNSO Council 
> may cast shall be equalized so that the aggregate number of 
> votes of representatives selected by the Constituencies 
> (currently the gTLD Registries and Registrars) that are under 
> contract with ICANN obligating them to implement 
> ICANN-adopted policies is equal to the number of votes of 
> representatives selected by other Constituencies.
> 
> I read this as stating that:
>   - a constituency can pick 3 members of council
>   - those council members, and only those council members 
> have a right to vote.
>   - the RyC and RC council members each have 2 votes
> 
> My reading indicates that while the constituency picks the 
> members, it is the members who have the vote and not the 
> constituencies.  I believe it is totally acceptable practice 
> for a constituency to place requirements on how its 
> representatives vote, but I do not see that as meaning that 
> they, therefore, control the votes in council, though they do 
> control the seating of the councilor.
> 
> >
> > As a general rule, I'd really prefer if we adopted a very 
> simple set 
> > of rules governing the use of proxy's, and would strongly 
> prefer if we 
> > just implemented the old rules as  starting point that we 
> could adjust 
> > over time. I don't see a need to overthink or overengineer 
> this simply 
> > to take into account "what-if's" that have never come into 
> play during 
> > the history of the DNSO/GNSO.
> 
> 
> I agree with the general rule of making the simplest possible 
> change.  However, in this case, I think we would need a much 
> larger change to the by-laws to accommodate your suggestion, 
> which of course we can discuss doing.  Additonally since the 
> concern about the possibility of use of proxy to get around 
> the abstention requirement has been brought up in regard to 
> proxy voting, I believe we have to consider that in any 
> proposed changes to the by-laws.
> 
> thanks
> 
> a.
> 
> 
>