Member Of Nominating Committee Runs For President

[Guest Commissioner]

Roberts Rule Of Order on guidelines for nominating committee members running for office.

[jstackpo]

No problem.  No rule against it  --  p. 433, line 29ff.

[Gary Novosielski]

Being on the nominating committee doesn't prevent you from "running" for an office, or even being nominated for the office by the nominating committee.

 

If it could prevent you, nefarious types would probably use that to prevent people from running by sticking them on the nominating committee.

[Shmuel Gerber]

Being on the nominating committee doesn't prevent you from "running" for an office, or even being nominated for the office by the nominating committee.

 

If it could prevent you, nefarious types would probably use that to prevent people from running by sticking them on the nominating committee.

 

But no one can be "stuck" onto a committee without agreeing to be, at least tacitly, unless the bylaws say so.

[Gary Novosielski]

But no one can be "stuck" onto a committee without agreeing to be, at least tacitly, unless the bylaws say so.

 

That's true.  Perhaps it would be necessary to hoodwink them.  No rule in RONR would prohibit that.

 

 And yet...

Members of the nominating committee are not barred from becoming nominees for office themselves. To make such a requirement would mean, first, that service on the nominating committee carried a penalty by depriving its members of one of their privileges; and second, that appointment or election to the nominating committee could be used to prevent a member from becoming a nominee.  [emphasis added]

[Shmuel Gerber]

And yet...

Members of the nominating committee are not barred from becoming nominees for office themselves. To make such a requirement would mean, first, that service on the nominating committee carried a penalty by depriving its members of one of their privileges; and second, that appointment or election to the nominating committee could be used to prevent a member from becoming a nominee. [emphasis added]

Well, I was hoping maybe you could explain that.

I don't take the second sentence to mean that there is anything nefarious about making such a requirement, and I think many organizations, especially large ones, might find it perfectly reasonable to make members' service on the nominating committee contingent on their relinquishing the privilege of being a nominee, or at least of being nominated by the committee itself. RONR is pointing out the consequences of this requirement, which is not imposed by RONR itself and can therefore be imposed only by a provision in the bylaws.