Acceptance of candidates

[lmat]

 

In the case of nominations, our bylaws state: "…the committee will nominate one candidate for each position of the slate.  The slate will be approved by the Executive Board, the Board of Governors and presented to members of the General Membership Meeting…"

 

When applying the following from Robert's Rules of Order, 

"When a board or committee report has been received and the chair has stated the question on the adoption of the motion, resolution (s), recommendation(s), or report-whether the questions became pending automatically, or the proper motion was made or was assumed by the chair as explained above-the matter is treated as any other main question, is open to debate and amendment, and can have any of the subsidiary motions applied to it. "

 

Can a list of candidates be amended by the Executive Board or Board of Governors?

 

 

[Josh Martin]

In the case of nominations, our bylaws state: "…the committee will nominate one candidate for each position of the slate.  The slate will be approved by the Executive Board, the Board of Governors and presented to members of the General Membership Meeting…"

 

When applying the following from Robert's Rules of Order, 

"When a board or committee report has been received and the chair has stated the question on the adoption of the motion, resolution (s), recommendation(s), or report-whether the questions became pending automatically, or the proper motion was made or was assumed by the chair as explained above-the matter is treated as any other main question, is open to debate and amendment, and can have any of the subsidiary motions applied to it. "

 

Can a list of candidates be amended by the Executive Board or Board of Governors?

 

As the citation above suggests, the answer is "yes" so far as RONR is concerned, but it will ultimately be up to the organization to interpret its bylaws. See RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 588-591 for some Principles of Interpretation. If the Executive Board or Board of Governors reject or replace any of the candidates submitted by the nominating committee, they could still be nominated from the floor.

 

In the long run, it would probably be best to amend the bylaws to remove this rule.

[Edgar Guest]

Can a list of candidates be amended by the Executive Board or Board of Governors?

 

Well, the rules you cited says that the list is submitted to the board for "approval" so I would think the board could keep disapproving the list until it gets the one it wants. 

 

But it's up to your organization to interpret its bylaws. Not only is that beyond the scope of this forum, no one here has read them.

[Edgar Guest]

As the citation above suggests, the answer is "yes" so far as RONR is concerned . . . 

 

Are you saying that the report of the nominating committee is subject to amendment? I'm not saying it's not, just that it never occurred to that it would (or could) be.

 

Or you only saying it can be in this instance based on the cited language in these bylaws?

[Josh Martin]

Are you saying that the report of the nominating committee is subject to amendment? I'm not saying it's not, just that it never occurred to that it would (or could) be.

 

Or you only saying it can be in this instance based on the cited language in these bylaws?

 

The latter. Normally, the report of the nominating committee is not subject to approval or to amendment. When a recommendation is submitted to another body for approval, however, that body is free to amend the recommendation.

[Edgar Guest]

When a recommendation is submitted to another body for approval, however, that body is free to amend the recommendation.

 

In this instance, I'm not so sure. The nominating committee isn't reporting to the board as a committee of the board. It's just that the board's approval is required before the list is presented to the general membership. It seems analogous to the President submitting a candidate for office (e.g. Loretta Lynch for Attorney General). She has to first be approved by the Judiciary Committee (she was) before her name goes to the Senate for a vote but the Judiciary Committee can't "amend" the President's choice and nominate someone else.

[Richard Brown]

In the case of nominations, our bylaws state: "…the committee will nominate one candidate for each position of the slate.  The slate will be approved by the Executive Board, the Board of Governors and presented to members of the General Membership Meeting…"

.......

Can a list of candidates be amended by the Executive Board or Board of Governors?

 

As the citation above suggests, the answer is "yes" so far as RONR is concerned,

 

Are you saying that the report of the nominating committee is subject to amendment? I'm not saying it's not, just that it never occurred to that it would (or could) be.

 

Or you only saying it can be in this instance based on the cited language in these bylaws?

 

The latter. Normally, the report of the nominating committee is not subject to approval or to amendment. When a recommendation is submitted to another body for approval, however, that body is free to amend the recommendation.

 

In this instance, I'm not so sure. The nominating committee isn't reporting to the board as a committee of the board. It's just that the board's approval is required before the list is presented to the general membership. It seems analogous to the President submitting a candidate for office (e.g. Loretta Lynch for Attorney General). She has to first be approved by the Judiciary Committee (she was) before her name goes to the Senate for a vote but the Judiciary Committee can't "amend" the President's choice and nominate someone else.

My reasoning here is the same as Mr. Guest's.  In fact, I started to make the same analogy a while ago.

 

If there is a citation supporting the right of the executive board or the board of governors to substitute it's own nominees in place of those of the nominating committee, I would appreciate it.  I don't see where either board has this authority in the bylaw provision quoted, at least not in the case of the nominating committee nominees.  It seems to me the authority of the board(s), in that situation, is limited to approving or rejecting one or more of the nominees.  This isn't the same thing as your run of the mill committee report/recommendation.

[Edgar Guest]

It seems to me the authority of the board(s), in that situation, is limited to approving or rejecting one or more of the nominees. 

 

One might even argue that the board's options are even more limited than that. It must either accept or reject "the slate", not individual nominees.

 

Not that I would make that argument, fond as I am of the s-word.

[Richard Brown]

One might even argue that the board's options are even more limited than that. It must either accept or reject "the slate", not individual nominees.

I had the same thought.    

 

Edited to add:  It's somewhat analogous to having or not having a "line item" veto in a proposed budget.  I'm not sure in this case that either board could reject an individual nominee.  It may well  be an "all or none" situation.  And it's  because of that "s" word... "slate".

[Hieu H. Huynh]

I think this is a matter of bylaws interpretation as indicated in the earlier responses. RONR says:

 

"The report of the nominating committee consists of a written list of candidates for office, just as in the case of the membership committee's report. No vote on the nominating committee's report should be taken, however; the procedure is as described in [section] 46." (RONR 11th ed., p. 525, 18-22)

 

Of course the bylaws could provide otherwise.

[Edgar Guest]

"No vote on the nominating committee's report should be taken, however; the procedure is as described in [section] 46." (RONR 11th ed., p. 525, 18-22)

 

Exactly. The vote on the nominating committee's report takes place at the election (it is the election). That's when the members (not this board) can "amend" the report by nominating someone else.

[Josh Martin]

One might even argue that the board's options are even more limited than that. It must either accept or reject "the slate", not individual nominees.

 

Not that I would make that argument, fond as I am of the s-word.

 

I could see a reasonable argument that this situation should be handled similarly to nominations by the chair. In such a case, the nominations may be amended only by striking them out, in which case the chair must submit additional nominees to replace them.

 

I don't agree with the argument that the board must accept or reject the "slate" in its entirety. The word "slate" simply means a list of nominees. It does not mean that the list is indivisible, notwithstanding frequent confusion on that point. Technicalities aside, it also seems rather foolish for the board to need to reject the entire list of nominees because it does not approve of one of them.

 

I think this is a matter of bylaws interpretation as indicated in the earlier responses. RONR says:

 

"The report of the nominating committee consists of a written list of candidates for office, just as in the case of the membership committee's report. No vote on the nominating committee's report should be taken, however; the procedure is as described in [section] 46." (RONR 11th ed., p. 525, 18-22)

 

Of course the bylaws could provide otherwise.

 

Yes, and since the bylaws provide that the Executive Board and Board of Governors shall approve the slate, it seems that they do provide otherwise. I agree that what exactly the bylaws mean in this regard, however, is somewhat ambiguous.

 

Exactly. The vote on the nominating committee's report takes place at the election (it is the election). That's when the members (not this board) can "amend" the report by nominating someone else.

 

Well, that's how it should work, but since the bylaws provide that the board approves the nominating committee's slate, apparently it works a bit differently in this case.