Conflict of Interest

[Guest guest]

A teacher has taken pictures for our school/PTO for several years(Pics with Santa, Daddy Daughter Dance, etc) The teacher is now a board member...should she not be allowed to take the pictures anymore due to a conflict of interest?

[jstackpo]

RONR has nothing to say about "Conflict of Interest", and only a little bit about voting on a "question of direct personal interest" - p. 394.

Any "conflict" rules would have to come from your own organization.

[David A Foulkes]

A teacher has taken pictures for our school/PTO for several years(Pics with Santa, Daddy Daughter Dance, etc) The teacher is now a board member...should she not be allowed to take the pictures anymore due to a conflict of interest?

This forum deals with Robert's Rules of Order as they apply in the context of meetings, not dances or holiday gatherings. The fact that this teacher is now a board member has little to do with taking photos at school/PTO events. What is the perceived "conflict of interest" that concerns you?

[Guest Guest]

I personally don't have a concern, however our Treasurer is strongly against allowing her to continue saying that she is using her position on the board for personal gain or profit. I feel like she performed these services before serving on the board, so she did not abuse her power per say.

[Rob Elsman]

I personally don't have a concern, however our Treasurer is strongly against allowing her to continue saying that she is using her position on the board for personal gain or profit. I feel like she performed these services before serving on the board, so she did not abuse her power per say.

Ask a lawyer.

[David A Foulkes]

I personally don't have a concern, however our Treasurer is strongly against allowing her to continue saying that she is using her position on the board for personal gain or profit. I feel like she performed these services before serving on the board, so she did not abuse her power per say.

So what sort of personal gain or profit is this photographer/member receiving now that she wasn't before she became a board member? Seems like you've got some personality problems, not parliamentary.

[Josh Martin]

I feel like she performed these services before serving on the board, so she did not abuse her power per say.

Seems like a pretty good argument to me.

All RONR would suggest is that, if the board votes on who to appoint as a photographer, then the board member in question should abstain from that vote (although she cannot be compelled to). Beyond that, if the Treasurer wants to pursue this he can follow the disciplinary procedures in RONR, 10th ed., Ch. XX or the customized procedures in your Bylaws. Or talk to a lawyer, if he really wants to pursue this and has cash to burn.

[Gary c Tesser]

See, David, they pay the photographer big bucks. And the teacher / photographer / board member voted in favor of substantially increasing the photographer's fee -- his own. That's the conflict of interest.

-- Oh, but if that is not what happened, then the issue is a bunch of baloney -- actually a pseudo-issue. -- In which case David Foulkes has nailed it again. Not one in a thousand of the twits who uses the phrase "conflict of interest" has a clue as to what it means -- same as, incidentally, the sanctimonious invoking of "avoiding even the APPEARANCE of impropriety."

And Rob, "Ask a lawyer"? C'mon, don't you think people learn anything anywhere other than law school? (We know they don't learn parliamentary law there!)

________

N. B. In "of the twits who uses the phrase ..." should that be "who use"? What dictates the singular or plural? And Rob, I mean in English.

[Edited for formatting. What a twit.]

[David A Foulkes]

See, David, they pay the photographer big bucks. And the teacher / photographer / board member voted in favor of substantially increasing the photographer's fee -- his own. That's the conflict of interest.

-- Oh, but if that is not what happened, then the issue is a bunch of baloney -- actually a pseudo-issue. -- In which case David Foulkes has nailed it again. Not one in a thousand of the twits who uses the phrase "conflict of interest" has a clue as to what it means -- same as, incidentally, the sanctimonious invoking of "avoiding even the APPEARANCE of impropriety."

And Rob, "Ask a lawyer"? C'mon, don't you think people learn anything anywhere other than law school? (We know they don't learn parliamentary law there!)

________

N. B. In "of the twits who uses the phrase ..." should that be "who use"? What dictates the singular or plural? And Rob, I mean in English.

[Edited for formatting. What a twit.]

Uses. "Not one.... who uses the phrase...", not "Not one .... who use the phrase..." Singular subject ("one"). Even if you has written "None of the thousand of twits..." it would still be uses. You had it right.