Green Party of the United States - National Committee Voting

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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	123
Proposal	Steering Committee Co-Chair Conditions and Terms of Service
Presenter	Mississippi & California Green Parties
Floor Manager	Gray Newman
Phase	Closed - Failed
Discussion	02-14-2005 - 03-06-2005
Voting	03-07-2005 - 03-13-2005
Presens Quorum	Two Thirds of Active Accredited States/Caucuses
Consens Quorum	Two Thirds of Yes and No Votes

Background

Green Party of the United States Steering Committee members are
elected by the National Committee from among the National Committee
members. This proposal addresses some problems with the current rules.

One problem is that the National Committee term of a Steering
Committee member might expire during her or his Steering Committee
term, for example because the Steering Committee member is termed out
(if the respective state has term limits), because the Steering
Committee member moves to another state, or because the Steering
Committee members National Committee term simply expires without
re-election.

More important, a Steering Committee member needs to represent the
entire party, and not just their own state, so their state
effectively loses an active member of its National Committee
delegation. Moreover, Steering Committee members are asked to
simultaneously perform two often-conflicting roles, acting in the
interest of the party as a whole, and also as the advocate of the
interests of a single state.

This change has several benefits:

* Steering Committee members can focus entirely on their obligations
toward the party as a whole, without playing a possibly conflicting
role as a state CC delegate.

* Parent states of Steering Committee members retain a full National
Committee delegation without the full-time distraction of Steering
Committee duties. This is fairer to these states, who otherwise
effectively lose the dedicated services of their Steering Committee
members.

* Steering Committee members can serve their entire terms, without
regard to their continuing status as a member of a state CC
delegation.

The change slightly increases the size of the National Committee, but
the increase is small enough to be manageable.

Proposal

National Committee members elected to the Steering Committee shall
become at-large voting members of the National Committee for the
duration of their Steering Committee terms, and shall not be counted
as part of their state delegation. The vacancies so created in their
states National Committee delegations may be filled by the states
normal procedures for filling mid-term vacancies. As National
Committee members, Steering Committee members shall be eligible for
re-election to the Steering Committee, subject to Steering Committee
term limits.

These Steering Committee conditions and terms of service will only be
activated when the National Committee approves bylaws and procedures
that define the at-large seat, add checks & balances and set a limit
for the number of at-large members that may be elected to the SC.

Resources

None

References

GPUS Bylaws - http://www.gp.org/documents/bylaws.html

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