Re: Weekly bludgeoning: Voting issues

["Mary McCaw" <marymccaw@mediaone.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>
To: <aga-mcm@thekrib.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2000 1:13 AM
Subject: Re: Weekly bludgeoning: Voting issues


> Hi folks,
>
> I think that many people are saying things but we are still not all
> communicating on the same page.
>
> On Wed, 24 May 2000, Mary McCaw wrote:
>
>
> > As far as taking a straw vote is concerned, I personally wouldn't feel
comfortable voting on something without knowing all the facts.  I can't see
that a couple of days delay after asking Bob a question is going to make
that much of a diference, but whatever.
>
> We still haven't come to a consensus on whether we think members should
vote.  I don't understand why asking Bob if it's technically feasible has
any bearing as to whether we want to do it.

I suppose you're right.  In that case, we may have to incororate some place
else other than Massachusetts.
>
> > But it may be that what the group seems to want, a membership structure
plus the right of the SC to remove destructive members, may be extremely
difficult to accomplish in Massachusetts.
>
> This may be the fundamental difference in our thinking.  Perhaps I am
> wrong here, but I do not think we should be designing the bylaws based on
what works most conveniently for a particular state's laws; I think that we
should be designing what seems appropriate for the organization, and *then*
adjusting to make it work legally.

I wasn't trying to say that we should design our by-laws to suit
Massachusetts.   I was simply pointing out that we may not be able to
acomplish what we want legally in Massachusetts.  Then we may need to shop
for a state in which we can acomplish what we want legally.  This can
potentially complicate things.

Personally, I think we have a  "clique" image problem and that a yearly
voting of our members would help change this.

I can appreciate your desire to change our image.  Then it becomes a cost,
benefit isue.  Do the benefits of having a membership vote and trying to
change our image outweigh the extra work involved (assuming people step
forward to work on the election committee)?

Herein lies the difference in our thinking.  I have been focused on the
costs, while you have been focused on the benefits.  Both are important to
consider.  As a practical minded person, my first response to the whole
issue was:  more work; who's going to do it?  Will it help or complicate our
functioning?  It will complicate things, but maybe in the long run it will
be beneficil to the organization on the whole.  I don't know.  As far as I
can see, only Karen and I and most recently, Jack have raised these kinds of
concerns, and they can't be ignored.

Mary

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