[Sosfbay-discuss] 77% of GA Vote No Confidence - CC Must GO! Voluntary Reboot Called for!

Mon May 28 19:07:25 PDT 2007

The folks that were trying to hold onto their power
were calling it a 'policy decision' and the factions
resorted to the loophole that says if there's a
dispute it defaults to 80%.  (!!!)

Drink Green uniTEA, not factional koolaid!

Drew

--- Gerry Gras <gerrygras at earthlink.net> wrote:

> 
> Question:
> 
> Was that a policy decision or a business decision?
> If the latter, then the threshold is 2/3 not 4/5.
> 
> Gerry
> 
> 
> JamBoi wrote:
> 
> > Dear Fellow Greens, 
> > 
> > 77% voted NO CONFIDENCE in the CC!!! 
> > 
> > Therefore Resolved: The entire CC (minus the
> members
> > elected/appointed this weekend) should voluntarily
> > resign immediately in accordance with the clearly
> > expressed will of the General Assembly (56 Yes to
> 16
> > No) 77% of the GA voted in favor of the 'Reboot
> the
> > CC' proposal (included below) this weekend in SF.
> > 
> > If CC members care about the party more than they
> care
> > about retaining their own power they should
> > immediately resign.  Let them each demonstrate
> that
> > they have the best interest in the party by
> resigning.
> >  Let real leaders lead the way.  The Co-Cos could
> set
> > the example by leading off.  If these people are
> > actually greens and not just run of the mill
> greedhead
> > power hungry politicos let them do the right
> thing. 
> > This is a Lead, follow, or get out of the way
> moment. 
> > Let the leaders lead!
> > 
> > Some perspective: 51% would be a majority.  In the
> > popular press anything over 56% is considered a
> > 'landslide'.  60% is a supermajority in most
> > organizations, 66% 2/3rds in others.  This was a
> vote
> > of more than 3/4 of the delegates!  Hello!  
> > 
> > Typically, in a Westminster system parliament
> votes no
> > confidence, government must either:
> >    1. resign, or
> >    2. seek a parliamentary dissolution and request
> a
> > general election.
> > 
> > The last successful no confidence motion in the UK
> was
> > in March 1979 when the Opposition motion was
> passed by
> > just one vote - 311 to 310. Parliament was then
> > dissolved in April and the general election took
> place
> > in May.  Would that our 'green' crew would be so
> > respectful of our General Assembly!
> > 
> > So by a technicality we did not reach the 80%
> > threshold that a policy decision by the GA needs. 
> > However this does not stop the CC members from
> doing
> > the right thing voluntarily.  If they care about
> the
> > party more than themselves they will resign.
> > 
> > If the CC members selfishly refuse there is
> another
> > way we can enforce the will of the GA:  Each
> County
> > Council and region can call for the resignation of
> > their RR.  As a County Council Member of the GP of
> > Santa Clara County I'll be happy to lead the way.
> > 
> > Drink Green uniTEA not factional koolaid!
> > 
> > Drew Johnson
> > GP of Santa Clara County Council Member and
> Delegate
> > to the General Assembly
> > 
> > Below is the text of the 'Reboot Proposal'
> > ________________________________
> > 
> > TITLE: RESOLVING THE IMPASSE: 
> > RECONSTITUTING THE GPCA COORDINATING COMMITTEE
> > 
> > PRESENTERS: Mike Wyman (mswyman at comcast.net),
> > Marilyn Ditmanson (mditmanson at sbcglobal.net)
> > 
> > APPROVED BY: Green Party of Marin county council
> > 
> > BACKGROUND: 
> > The GPCA Coordinating Committee (CC) has been
> > deadlocked since October 2006. This is a result of
> an
> > ongoing conflict that goes back to 2001. Many
> hours of
> > meetings over the past 6 years have been rendered
> > useless due to infighting around "the LA
> situation,"
> > meaning which group from LA gets to vote on the
> CC.
> > Proposals of mediation and compromise have only
> > resulted in more infighting. The number of regions
> > with contested seats has instead increased to 4.
> The
> > result is that the CC is no longer able to perform
> its
> > main function of planning plenaries.
> > 
> > This proposal reconstitutes the CC with people who
> are
> > not and have not been involved in the party
> > infighting, much as a professional committee in
> the
> > business world will be reconstituted when unable
> to do
> > its work. It is
> > reconstituted with representation more
> proportionate
> > to
> > membership, as California has promoted in the
> national
> > party.
> > 
> > Part of the CC deadlock has been caused by the
> chaos
> > around the facilitation procedures for the CC.
> Using
> > supermajority voting thresholds for facilitation
> > decisions has resulted in the following
> situations:
> > 
> > * meetings being unable to be held at all, and no
> > items even discussed in the interest of
> > consensus-building, due to lack of 2/3 approval of
> an
> > agenda
> > 
> > * facilitators taking 45-minute stacks on whether
> to
> > add 5 minutes to an item
> > * long stretches of valuable meeting time wasted
> on
> > discussions of whether to add an item to the
> agenda,
> > alter the agenda or choose a new facilitator
> > 
> > * two different voting thresholds applying based
> > solely on whether the vote itself is taken online
> or
> > during a
> > teleconference, allowing proposals to be subject
> to
> > manipulations based on voting thresholds.
> > 
> > This proposal also clarifies basic facilitation
> > procedures for GPCA coordinating committee (CC)
> > meetings in order to avoid such situations. These
> > facilitation procedures are based on two main
> > premises:
> > 1. The decision-making body has authority over its
> > agenda.
> > 2. Basic facilitation decisions, such as agenda
> > approval, agenda amendment, and addition or
> > subtraction of discussion time, are not intended
> to
> > involve whole separate consensus processes and
> stacks
> > of clarifying questions, concerns and affirmations
> on
> > the facilitation decision. (Note that the
> facilitation
> > rules passed out at plenaries do not suggest this,
> > either.)
> > 
> > This proposal is a combination of a variety of
> ideas
> > for solving the CC's problems that have been
> brought
> > forward over recent months. The presenters hope
> that
> > adoption of this proposal will finally end the
> CC's
> > infighting based on historical animosities and
> give
> > the new CC a real opportunity to do its
> > bylaws-mandated job.
> > 
> > PROPOSAL: 
> > I.The General Assembly hereby reconstitutes the
> GPCA
> > Coordinating Committee (CC)
> > 
> > a. All seats on the CC are vacant as of 30 days
> from
> > the passage of this proposal.
> > 
> > b. Per Paragraph 7-1.2 of the GPCA bylaws, the GA
> > shall
> > allocate the 16 regional representative seats
> > proportionally to the Green Party membership in
> each
> > region. This calculation shall be performed by the
> > outgoing Liaison to the Secretary of State (Larry
> > Cafiero) according to the Method of Equal
> Proportions
> > described in the appendix to the GPCA bylaws.
> > 
> > c. All regions shall announce new elections to
> fill
> > the
> > regional representative seats as soon as possible.
> > Regions must hold open, transparent elections with
> at
> > least 3 weeks notice distributed as widely as
> possible
> > in the region. Notice of upcoming regional
> > representative vacancies shall be posted to the
> county
> > contacts list as soon as possible after passage of
> > this proposal. Regions without alternate processes
> may
> > adopt temporary alternate processes for the
> purpose of
> > filling the seats in a timely manner.
> > 
> > d. No one who has served on the CC, or who has
> claimed
> > to serve on the CC, as representative or
> alternate,
> > over the course of the past 5 years, is eligible
> to
> > run for or fill any representative or alternate
> seat
> > on the CC for the next 2 years.
> > 
> > e.Transitional term lengths shall be varied in
> order
> > to stagger the ending dates. This depends on the
> new
> > apportionment by the Liaison, but end dates of the
> > transitional terms would be expected to fall as
> > follows:
> > 
> > Even-Numbered Years
> > 1 Emerald	January 2008
> > 2 At-large 	spring GA 2008
> > 1 San Francisco	May 2008
> > 1 Silicon	June 2008
> > 1 East Bay	July 2008
> > 3 Los Angeles	November 2008
> > 1 San Diego/Imperial	August 2008
> > 1 ORSB	November 2008
> > 
> > Odd-Numbered Years
> > 2 At-large	spring GA 2009
> > 2 Central	May 2009
> > 1 North Bay	May 2009
> > 1 East Bay	July 2009
> > 1 Monterey Bay	August 2009
> > 1 Central Coast	August 2009
> > 1 ORSB	November 2009
> > 
> > II.CC Facilitation Guidelines GPCA CC meeting
> > facilitation shall proceed according to the
> following
> > guidelines:
> > 
> > a.Proposals for CC meetings must be posted to the
> CC
> > listserv at least one week in advance of a
> scheduled
> > meeting.
> > 
> > b. CC meeting agendas shall be approved by the CC
> > prior to or at the beginning of a meeting, with a
> > simple majority threshold for approval. 
> > 
> > c. Changes in announced facilitation require a
> simple
> > majority threshold for approval.
> > 
> > d. Adding time to an agenda item or altering the
> > approved agenda requires a simple majority
> approval of
> > the CC. 
> > 
> > e. Adding a last minute item that was not
> submitted to
> > the CC list one week prior to the meeting requires
> a
> > 2/3 threshold.
> > 
> > f. The CC prefers to discuss decision items on
> > teleconferences and at in-person meetings. If an
> item
> > is discussed at a meeting and scheduled for an
> online
> > vote, the threshold for that vote is the same as
> if
> > the vote had occurred during the meeting (2/3 for
> > regular meetings, 80% for a special meeting not
> > scheduled at a prior meeting at least a week in
> > advance). If an item goes to an online vote
> without
> > being discussed at a meeting, it has an 80%
> threshold.
> > 
> > g. Decisions may not be made after the regularly
> > scheduled adjournment time of the meeting unless a
> > majority (over half) decides to extend the call
> for a
> > specific amount of time. Decisions must then be
> made
> > within the time of the approved extension.
> > 
> > h. Simple majority approval votes on basic
> > facilitation decisions can be done by asking
> quickly
> > for "ayes" and "nays," and only going to a roll
> call
> > if approval is unclear.
> > 
> > i. The new CC is requested to hire a Secretary to
> take
> > thorough minutes of meetings, post them to the CC
> > list, amend them according to posted corrections,
> and
> > post the final version to both the CC listserv and
> the
> > archive of minutes. The new CC shall draft a job
> > description and hiring criteria for this position.
> > 
> > j. The new CC shall form a schedule of its basic
> tasks
> > that follow from the GPCA bylaws and integrate
> this
> > schedule with the 2-year GPCA work plan, when it
> is
> > adopted.
> > 
> > TIMELINE: 
> > Vacancies effective upon passage. Elections may
> take
> > place starting 2 weeks after passage of this
> proposal.
> > Elected CC members may meet on teleconferences but
> may
> > not make any decisions until a quorum of 14 is
> > achieved. 
> > 
> > RESOURCES:  Hiring a Secretary will require the CC
> > budgeting funds for this.
> > 
> > ___________________
> > 
> > JamBoi: Jammy, The Sacred Cow Slayer
> > The Green Parties' #1 Blogger
> > http://dailyJam.blogspot.com
> > 
> > "To the brave belong all things"
> > Celt's invading Etrusca reply to nervous Romans
> around 400BC
> > 
> > "Live humbly, laugh often and love
> unconditionally" (anon)
> > 
> > 
> >  
> >
>
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> > 
> > 
> 
> 
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___________________

JamBoi: Jammy, The Sacred Cow Slayer
The Green Parties' #1 Blogger
http://dailyJam.blogspot.com

"To the brave belong all things"
Celt's invading Etrusca reply to nervous Romans around 400BC

"Live humbly, laugh often and love unconditionally" (anon)

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