Guest Guest Posted September 24, 2018 at 06:54 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 at 06:54 PM Hello, I would appreciate if someone could help clarify the limits of the parliamentarian's role. I understanding it is purely advisory (to advise the Chair of a meeting on parliamentary procedure). I also see that any member may respond at the direction of the chair to a parliamentary inquiry. If the parliamentarian is not a member, are they still permitted to respond to a member's parliamentary inquiry provided that the chair has directed them to do so? Are there any other inquiries to which a parliamentarian is permitted to respond to at the direction of the Chair? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted September 24, 2018 at 07:01 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 at 07:01 PM 4 minutes ago, Guest Guest said: Hello, I would appreciate if someone could help clarify the limits of the parliamentarian's role. I understanding it is purely advisory (to advise the Chair of a meeting on parliamentary procedure). That is correct. 4 minutes ago, Guest Guest said: If the parliamentarian is not a member, are they still permitted to respond to a member's parliamentary inquiry provided that the chair has directed them to do so? Yes. 5 minutes ago, Guest Guest said: Are there any other inquiries to which a parliamentarian is permitted to respond to at the direction of the Chair? I’m not really clear on what “other inquiries” you have in mind, but as noted above, the parliamentarian is an advisor on parliamentary procedure. He is not permitted to respond to inquiries not related to his role. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Katz Posted September 24, 2018 at 07:01 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 at 07:01 PM Well, a good chair really shouldn't ask the parliamentarian to do so and put him in a hard place. After all, if the parliamentarian speaks to the assembly, and the chair then decides otherwise, the parliamentarian loses credibility. So, in general, it's a bad idea. (When I serve as a parliamentarian, one of my requests is that I be in a position to whisper to the chair and be confident that no microphone will pick me up.) But so far as the rules are concerned, I don't see that there are limits to answering questions when the chair so directs, outside of entering into debate on the merits of a question, although I'm hard pressed to think of what anyone would want to ask a parliamentarian other than parliamentary questions. But personally, I tell the chair ahead of time not to put me in that position, and if I'm put in it, I'm not happy, and try to avoid answering if possible. It's not always possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Katz Posted September 24, 2018 at 07:04 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 at 07:04 PM Just now, Josh Martin said: I’m not really clear on what “other inquiries” you have in mind, but as noted above, the parliamentarian is an advisor on parliamentary procedure. He is not permitted to respond to inquiries not related to his role. I'm not clear on it either, but do you have a source on answering questions on other topics not being permitted? For instance, I don't think it's prohibited to say "according to your published materials, you have a choice of turkey, chicken, or vegetable wrap for lunch." But I'm happy to be wrong. (I once went to a court proceeding where one attorney, who had flown in for the hearing, never had a chance to say anything more than "that would be a Friday, Your Honor.") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted September 24, 2018 at 07:16 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 at 07:16 PM The role of the parliamentarian is described in the 11th edition of RONR on pages 465-467. It's really too much to copy and paste here. This is one of those situations where you really need a copy of the book. The role of a parliamentarian at a convention is covered on pages 608-609. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted September 24, 2018 at 10:39 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2018 at 10:39 PM 3 hours ago, Joshua Katz said: I'm not clear on it either, but do you have a source on answering questions on other topics not being permitted? For instance, I don't think it's prohibited to say "according to your published materials, you have a choice of turkey, chicken, or vegetable wrap for lunch." But I'm happy to be wrong. (I once went to a court proceeding where one attorney, who had flown in for the hearing, never had a chance to say anything more than "that would be a Friday, Your Honor.") If a non-member parliamentarian is asked to speak on a matter not related to parliamentary procedure, then it would seem to me that the parliamentarian has no more right to speak in this regard than any other non-member. As a result, it is not sufficient for the chair to direct the parliamentarian to respond to this inquiry. That is a decision for the assembly to make. The chairman should ask whether there is any objection to the parliamentarian answering the inquiry. Whether the parliamentarian should answer the question, even if granted such permission, is a separate question. In this regard, the parliamentarian should keep in mind his obligation to maintain an appearance of impartiality. With all that said, however, I have no objection to the parliamentarian answering the hypothetical question about what is for lunch, although it seems doubtful this is what the OP had in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thank you Posted September 28, 2018 at 06:24 PM Report Share Posted September 28, 2018 at 06:24 PM Thank you all for the advice! It does help. I cannot think of a specific example of another inquiry, was just trying to ensure I didn't miss something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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