Green Party of the United States - National Committee Voting

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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	201
Proposal	Bylaw Amendment - Steering Committee Recall
Presenter	GPs of Illinois, Missouri, Rhode Island, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Maine, and Wisconsin
Floor Manager	Steve Kramer
Phase	Closed - Failed
Discussion	01-23-2006 - 02-12-2006
Voting	02-13-2006 - 02-19-2006
Presens Quorum	Two Thirds of Active Accredited States/Caucuses
Consens Quorum	Two Thirds of Yes and No Votes

Background

One fundamental democratic right of a body is the right to recall its
officers. Green Parties have worked to institute such democratic reforms
in several places, and in California in 2003 the Green Party of California
endorsed the recall of the Governor of California. Current GPUS Bylaws do
not allow for recall of Steering Committee members, however. The only
process provided in the bylaws is one for "impeachment". This is not
sufficiently democratic, as it only allows for removal based on a number of
delineated grounds, whereas there might be reasonable and justifiable
grounds that are not "impeachable offenses" that a body such as the
National Committee may wish to remove Steering Committee members.

Because it is a different process, and removal is a heavy thing to do, the
process must also provide safety that such motions could not happen with
simplicity. Under the current bylaw, three delegates from three different
states may bring forward impeachment charges. This very low threshold
makes it far too easy for impeachment or removal proceedings to be
undertaken for personal or political reasons. Because the Steering
Committee is elected from the National Committee as a whole, it is not
appropriate that a very small minority can force the National Committee to
be sidetracked with heavy impeachment or removal proceedings. The
threshold necessary for introducing recall proceedings, therefore, must be
set quite high.

The structure of the existing bylaws is somewhat confusing so this proposal
adds numbering to existing bylaws for ease of understanding.

Proposal

1. GPUS Bylaws, Article VI, shall have numbering and headings added as
follows:

"A. Nomination" added before the first paragraph;
"B. Vacancies" added before the second paragraph;
"C. Method of Election" added before the third paragraph.

2. Everything after the third paragraph of Article VI shall be stricken and
replaced with the following:

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D. Recall

1. A proposal to recall a member of the Steering Committee may only be
brought forward by delegates at least equal in number to one-quarter of the
number of available delegate positions on the National Committee,
representing at least one-quarter of the total number of GPUS-accredited
state parties and caucuses.

2. No such proposal can be to recall more than one Steering Committee member.

3. The proposal must at all times retain support sufficient to have brought
it forward.

4. After introduction of the proposal, the NC shall have three weeks for
discussion and one week to vote on the proposal. The vote will be
conducted online, even if a national meeting falls within the specified
window. The voting threshold shall be two-thirds of all National Committee
members, and the Steering Committee member will only be recalled if there
are at least twice as many Yes votes as No votes and more Yes votes than No
and Abstain votes combined.

5. If the NC votes to recall a Steering Committee member, the remaining SC
members shall declare a vacancy in accordance with the terms of this article.

6. If the NC votes not to recall a Steering Committee member, the
individuals who brought the recall proposal forward may not bring new
recall proceedings against the same Steering Committee member until six
months after the completion of aforementioned recall vote.

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3. Any impeachment proceedings inititated prior to February 12, 2006 shall be
handled under the bylaws in effect at the time of the initiation of those
charges.

Resources

CONTACT: Phil Huckelberry, Illinois Green Party,

References

http://www.gp.org/documents/bylaws.shtml

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