Green Party of the United States - National Committee Voting

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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	216
Proposal	Bylaw Amendment - Steering Committee Recall
Presenter	Green Parties of Illinois, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin
Floor Manager	Holly Hart
Phase	Closed
Discussion	03/13/2006 - 03/26/2006
Voting	03/27/2006 - 04/02/2006
Result	Adopted
Presens Quorum	32 0.6666
Consens Quorum	63 0.6666 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. 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 (Coordinating) Committee may wish to remove
Steering Committee members.

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 fairly high.

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

Several changes have been made from the text of Proposal 201, including a
lower threshold for introducing a recall proposal (20% instead of 25%),
pegging the threshold to the number of sitting delegates instead of
potential delegates, and clarifying the threshold for recall.

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. Any impeachment proceedings initiated prior to the introduction of this
proposal shall be handled under the bylaws in effect at the time of the
initiation of those charges.

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

----------

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-fifth of the
number of recognized National Committee delegates, with at least one-fifth
of the total number of GPUS-accredited state parties and caucuses each
represented by at least one delegate. The proposal may include as a
background section a formal grievance upon which the recall is being pursued.

2. Any proposal introduced to recall more than one Steering Committee
member will be divided for voting purposes into separate proposals such
that there will be a separate vote for each person potentially subject to
recall.

3. The proposal shall be allotted three weeks for discussion and one week
for voting. Discussion shall begin within one week of the Steering
Committee confirming that the proposal has requisite support. The vote
will be conducted online, even if a national meeting falls within the
specified window. Quorum shall be two-thirds of accredited state parties
and caucuses, and the threshold for recall shall be two-thirds.

4. If the NC votes to recall one or more Steering Committee members, the
remaining SC members shall declare a vacancy or vacancies in accordance
with the terms of this article.

5. 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 90 days
after the completion of the aforementioned recall vote.

Resources

CONTACT: Phil Huckelberry, ILGP, phil@mcleancountygreens.org

References

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

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