Nominating Committee

[Curious]

In my organization the members of the nominating committee are elected by the members.  They, in turn, elect their Chairman, who is a member of the Executive Board.  During the nomination process, and once the slate of candidates is closed, is it proper for the Chairman, or any other members of the nominating committee, to proactively solicit support for one specific candidate over another?  I need advice and cannot find a ruling on this in RRO 12th Edition.  

[puzzling]

On 10/25/2022 at 2:30 PM, Curious said:

In my organization the members of the nominating committee are elected by the members.  They, in turn, elect their Chairman, who is a member of the Executive Board.  During the nomination process, and once the slate of candidates is closed, is it proper for the Chairman, or any other members of the nominating committee, to proactively solicit support for one specific candidate over another?  I need advice and cannot find a ruling on this in RRO 12th Edition.  

not sure exactly what you mean.

Any member can nominate a member to the nominating committee (assuming that there are no rules in the bylaws about this).

members of the nominating committee can ask people if they want to be nominated.

I am not sure to which Chairman you refer  but the only rule is that the chairman chairing the (electing) assembly should act impartial.  but that dies not apply to the chairman of the nominating committee.

 

 

[Curious]

My question is to impartiality on he part of the nominating committee.  Their role is to oversee the process for identifying candidates for office.  Should they, especially the chair, endorse a specific candidate?  Is that proper?

[George Mervosh]

On 10/25/2022 at 10:02 AM, Curious said:

My question is to impartiality on he part of the nominating committee.  Their role is to oversee the process for identifying candidates for office.  Should they, especially the chair, endorse a specific candidate?  Is that proper?

Inside of a meeting, debate on nominations is permitted while nominations are pending.  No rule prohibits the chair or other members of the nominating committee from entering into debate.  RONR (12th ed.), 46:27-29.  

Outside of a meeting, no rule prohibits anyone from campaigning for their preferred candidate.

[Rob Elsman]

Like the updated photo, George. 🙂

[Richard Brown]

On 10/25/2022 at 10:24 AM, Rob Elsman said:

Like the updated photo, George. 🙂

I had to do a double take! When I first saw the picture I wondered, “who is this guy?“!

[George Mervosh]

On 10/25/2022 at 11:46 AM, Richard Brown said:

I had to do a double take! When I first saw the picture I wondered, “who is this guy?“!

Okay okay, so I'm getting old, but membership in the 2FP has me well preserved.   

[Gary Novosielski]

On 10/25/2022 at 9:30 AM, Curious said:

In my organization the members of the nominating committee are elected by the members.  They, in turn, elect their Chairman, who is a member of the Executive Board.  During the nomination process, and once the slate of candidates is closed, is it proper for the Chairman, or any other members of the nominating committee, to proactively solicit support for one specific candidate over another?  I need advice and cannot find a ruling on this in RRO 12th Edition.  

Once the membership appoints the nominating committee, and the committee elects its chairman, that person automatically becomes a member of the Board?   Or is it that the membership must appoint a member of the board to serve as chair of the nominating committee?

In either case, what's the purpose of having a board member on the nominating committee?  In my view that would diminish the independence of the committee.

Presumably the list of candidates supplied by the nominating committee are those that it believes are best qualified to serve.  I don't see why they would not seek to support those whom they have nominated.  Or are you saying that members of the nominating committee are supporting other candidates who were not among those that it nominated?

More detail would be helpful.

 

[Josh Martin]

On 10/25/2022 at 8:30 AM, Curious said:

In my organization the members of the nominating committee are elected by the members.  They, in turn, elect their Chairman, who is a member of the Executive Board.  During the nomination process, and once the slate of candidates is closed, is it proper for the Chairman, or any other members of the nominating committee, to proactively solicit support for one specific candidate over another?  I need advice and cannot find a ruling on this in RRO 12th Edition.  

Nothing in RONR would prohibit it.

Indeed, I would note that the role of the Nominating Committee, as it is defined in RONR, is to nominate the persons who, in the committee's opinion, are the best candidates for each office. So it is in fact literally the job of the Nominating Committee to support the committee's preferred candidates. (Although individual members of the committee would retain the right to support other candidates, in their capacity as individual members of the society, if they choose to do so.) The role of the Nominating Committee in your organization may vary.

As to the role of individual members of the committee in developing the committee's recommendations, all members of the committee (including the chair) are expected to be active participants in that process, and that may well involve supporting particular candidates. While the chair of a larger assembly is expected to maintain the appearance of impartiality, there is no such expectation for the chair of a committee.

On 10/25/2022 at 9:02 AM, Curious said:

My question is to impartiality on he part of the nominating committee.  Their role is to oversee the process for identifying candidates for office.  Should they, especially the chair, endorse a specific candidate?  Is that proper?

RONR does not expect that the Nominating Committee is "impartial" in its duties. It is specifically the committee's job to endorse candidates for each office. The role of the committee in your organization may vary.

On 10/25/2022 at 2:06 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

Presumably the list of candidates supplied by the nominating committee are those that it believes are best qualified to serve.  I don't see why they would not seek to support those whom they have nominated. 

This is what RONR provides is the role for the Nominating Committee. But in many organizations, it is instead the role of the Nominating Committee simply to recruit and solicit nominees for the various offices, and the committee is not expected to make recommendations. I have a suspicion that may be the role of the committee in the OP's organization.

Edited October 26, 2022 at 08:52 PM by Josh Martin

[puzzling]

was puzzling

maybe your organisation is using the bad idea that RONR 47:12 highlights:

The practice in some organisations of permitting the chairman of a committee to preside over the assembly or put questions to vote during the presentation and consideration violates numerous principles of parliamentary law  relating to the chairs appearance of impartiality and inappropriateness of his entering into debate not to speak of the regular presiding officer's duty to preside.

this rule applies to all committee chairs,  also to the chair of the nomination committee.