Authority over committees created for a Convention

[Guest Jay Peters]

We have an issue where (due to a board member missing a committee imposed deadline for candidate filing for the convention) They

are seeking to with board approval override the committees decision.

My issue is this: Who has jurisdiction over committees created and answerable (due their final report given at the convention)

conventions? Can a board through a vote change committee decisions that haven’t even technically taken place? This is complicated as

Robert's Rules does not say who has authority over committees created for this purpose.

[Steven Britton]

Candidate filing for convention, what are the filing? What is the committee charged to do?

[Guest Jay Peters]

They are filing to run for an elected position. In this case the committee set a deadline, a candidate missed it and now their allies are attempting to overrule the committee decision.

The committees (Rules and Credentials) Rules Committee set the Deadline and the Credentials Committee which refused to recognize the candidate as they filed past the deadline.

[Steven Britton]

They are filing to run for an elected position. In this case the committee set a deadline, a candidate missed it and now their allies are attempting to overrule the committee decision.

The committees (Rules and Credentials) Rules Committee set the Deadline and the Credentials Committee which refused to recognize the candidate as they filed past the deadline.

Sounds to me you are asking someone to interpret your own rules, good luck with that.

[Guest Jay Peters]

We understand our own Rules, but the question is jurisdiction over the committees, they were created for the convention as per Robert's Rules but now people are attempting to change their authority to set the deadline. (It is a matter of whether the Board that created it or the convention to whom it can only give its report has the power to do so.) In my understanding a Convention Committee can only give report (they object to the possible contents of the report) to the Convention. Additionally the only recourse in Robert's Rules to allow a Board to diside an issue that a committee created as authority over is to discharge it. But can a committee that is created per our constitution (higher order law) be discharged by the lower body (The Board) instead of the convention to whom it was created for? Our constitution just requires that the committees be created for the convention. The Rules committee crafts the convention rules and election process. The Credentials ensures that everything is in good order. They are seeking to change the Rules and Credentials to allow another candidate.

It seems to me to be against Robert's Rules for numerous reasons.

[Josh Martin]

We understand our own Rules, but the question is jurisdiction over the committees, they were created for the convention as per Robert's Rules but now people are attempting to change their authority to set the deadline. (It is a matter of whether the Board that created it or the convention to whom it can only give its report has the power to do so.) In my understanding a Convention Committee can only give report (they object to the possible contents of the report) to the Convention. Additionally the only recourse in Robert's Rules to allow a Board to diside an issue that a committee created as authority over is to discharge it. But can a committee that is created per our constitution (higher order law) be discharged by the lower body (The Board) instead of the convention to whom it was created for? Our constitution just requires that the committees be created for the convention. The Rules committee crafts the convention rules and election process. The Credentials ensures that everything is in good order. They are seeking to change the Rules and Credentials to allow another candidate.

It seems to me to be against Robert's Rules for numerous reasons.

Since these are committees of the convention, they reports to the convention and the convention has authority over them. Since it seems the board has the authority to appoint the committee, however, it could remove or replace the members with members who were more willing to support the board's position on the issue, unless your rules suggest otherwise. Of course, unless your rules say otherwise, the board also answers to the convention, so even if they pull off this stunt the convention can overturn the board's decision. So at the end of the day, the convention has the final say. See RONR, 11th ed., pg. 491, lines 32-34; pg. 497, lines 1-13; pg. 483, lines 9-13.