[governance] NomCom and conflicts of interest

[Avri Doria]

Hi,

On 23 May 2008, at 10:39, Milton L Mueller wrote:

>
> As I have said, I think it is relevant and legitimate to recognize a
> "potential conflict of interest" between IG agencies' staff and
> principals and the Forum's discussion of those agencies' policies and
> processes.
>
> But as a hypothetical, supposed someone from RIR staff or a regular
> consultant to a RIR participated in our discussions and showed that  
> s/he
> was an independent, intelligent and critical thinker who recognized
> problems, was not afraid to identify and talk about problems, and was
> willing to entertain reform proposals. It is quite possible that  
> such a
> person could, over time, generate trust among the members of IGC, and
> that s/he would be nominated to represent civil society on the MAG.

Because of my own possible conflict of interest (member of appeals  
team and periodic part time consultant to IGF secretariat with a  
partial liaison role to the community) i have stayed out of the  
specifics of this conversation but i do want pose some questions   
related to the nomcom process in general.

- Is there a difference between Nomcom taking a possible conflict of  
interest into account in making its decisions and barring people based  
on the class of employer?

- Is it essentially different to bar someone based on class of  
employer then it is to bar them on some other choice based personal  
attribute e.g. religion, educational level or way of dressing?

- Is it ok to decide against a nominee based on possible conflict of  
interest?

- Is it ok to bar someone based on class of employer (or any other  
discernible choice attribute)?

I read the chartered nomcom instructions as saying there are only two  
reasons for baring someone (rule 4);  being a member of the nomcom ,  
being a member of the appeals team. I also read the chartered nomcom  
instructions as saying that criteria to be used by the nomcom, if at  
all possible, will be made public and reviewed by the caucus before  
any decisions are made.

- could criteria such as 'we will not select any people of such and  
such a class of employer' be made public and be discussed before a  
decision is made in a 2 month process?

-  does the charter need to amended in this repsect, or do we just  
need to make sure that in the future we follow the rules that exist,  
including the one about having a non voting chair whose responsibility  
it is to make sure we follow the rules?

a.

____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance