eligibility of nominating committee to be nominated for office

[Guest Jan]

On p.433  it says, "Members of the nominating committee are not barred from becoming nominees for office themselves."  And then two good reasons are given for this.  I noticed that it says the same in the 10th edition, so this has been around for some time.  It seems obvious to me that, of course, nominating committee members are eligible, but not everyone knows this.  My question:  Is this a common misconception?  I assume that, if an organization wanted to bar nominating committee members from eligibility for office, it would have to put that in their bylaws.

[jstackpo]

Your final assumption is correct.  But, of course, someone aspiring to office could just decline to serve on a nominating committee, or resign.

 

Common?  Dunno, but we do get the question a fair number of times (per week or per month) here.  Can't say how many people don't ask, of course.  The rule has been around since at least 1970 (RONR/7th ed., p. 364, the first of the "Newly Revised" series) so folks shouldn't be able to claim "But I didn't know that!"

[Edgar Guest]

 . . .  we do get the question a fair number of times (per week or per month) here. 

 

As recently as yesterday.

[Edgar Guest]

Is this a common misconception?

 

Not as common as the misconception that spouses (or other family members) can't serve on a board at the same time. If that one's not #1, it's close. I seem to recall one of the regulars here (Mr. Goldsworthy?) talk of collecting a list of parliamentary "myths".

[Richard Brown]

I seem to recall one of the regulars here (Mr. Goldsworthy?) talk of collecting a list of parliamentary "myths".

I hope someone does that if it hasn't already been done!   It it has been done and someone here knows who has the information or hos to access it, please let us (or me) know!!

 

P.S.  I would put "tabling" something until the next meeting as the number one myth or incorrect usage I see.... but it is usually mentioned incidentally, as part of the background for their question, rather than as a specific question about "tabling" something or the motion to lay on the table.

 

The questions about husbands and wives serving on the same board and whether members of the nominating committee may be nominated as candidates certainly rate in the top ten... probably in the top five.

[jstackpo]

Certainly these misconceptions are "common" here, based on the frequency they turn up, but we (or I, anyway) have no data or other source of information to say how common they are in the world at large - the world that doesn't (to their loss, of course) post questions here.

 

So I don't think we can answer Guest_Jan's "Common?" question with any certainty, one way or another.

[Edgar Guest]

I hope someone does that if it hasn't already been done! It it has been done and someone here knows who has the information or how to access it, please let us (or me) know!!

You might try contacting Mr. Goldsworthy.

 

I am going to add this "myth" to my master list of parliamentary mis-understandings and parliamentary errors.

Has no one read my article in Spring of 2010, "Two More Myths of Three" which was published in The National Parliamentarian"?