Re: deadlock problem

[Michael StJohns <mstjohns@mindspring.com>]

At 10:22 5/13/2003, Brian E Carpenter wrote:

> But that is another matter. The IAB
> *has* a defined voting rule
> in its own charter, and the ISOC Board has voting rules in the
> by-laws.
> So your rules (A or others) simply create scope for ambiguity with
> those existing rules.


Speaking plainly.  The IAB does NOT have a voting rule, it has a
consensus fuzzy feeling sort of thing.  


> 3.5 Decision taking
>
>    The IAB attempts to reach all decisions unanimously. 
> If unanimity
>    cannot be achieved, the chair may conduct informal polls to
> determine
>    consensus.  The IAB may make decisions and take action
> if at least
>    seven full members concur and there are no more than two
> dissents.


In the context of the confirmation, if there are two dissents (e.g. we
don't want to decide yet), the IAB can take NO action.  E.g. it can
neither confirm, nor reject.  

The rule as written in the IAB charter is an interesting statement of
desire, but pretty useless when applied to situations where the IAB must
absolutely come to some decision.  

Another example - appeals.  An "action" on an appeal may
be framed either as a decision to uphold or reject.  Depending on
how its framed, the "decision" could go either way with the
same set of votes.

The IAB charter is not and should not be the controlling document
here.  It neither explicitly considers the case of confirmation, nor
does it provide enough rigor for the IAB to actually come to a result in
all possible situations.  It would be appropriate and useful for the
NOMCOM document to provide specific guidance, but allow the confirming
bodies to override the guidance if they issue written procedures. 
"Absent any written procedures by the confirming bodies which
explicitly mention and consider the confirmation process, the confirming
bodies shall require an affirmative vote by the majority of the qualified
members of that confirming body to confirm any given candidate.  A
member MUST disqualify themselves from voting on any question of their
tenure in office or confirmation."


In any event, if the nomcom document doesn't say anything about this,
I'll be proposing an IAB charter mod for this.  I think its the
wrong answer, but I'm too tired to fight any more.

So... Brian, do you expect the IAB charter to be a normative reference
for the NOMCOM document?  The ISOC charter?

*sigh*