[ga] Ten Endorsement "Rule"

["babybows.com" <webmaster@babybows.com>]

Dear Harald,

The members of this General Assembly were notified that, "the Names Council
has decided to invite the GA to manage an election process to select a
nominee for appointment by the NC to the position of Chair of the GA."
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/2001.DNSO-GAchair.html

Through this statement the Names Council relinquished control over the
General Assembly's election procedures  -- this is why, in fact, we have our
own rules for this election instead of a complete set of rules provided by
the Names Council (and we do appreciate your contribution in drafting such
rules).

We voted on these rules, and accepted these rules...

And now you tell us that the Names Council is *still* managing this
election, and that we are expected to abide by procedures that governed the
last election with regard to endorsements?

I know that being blind-sided is a fairly common occurrence in the ICANN
world, but I did not expect it to come from a member of this election's
Watchdog Committee on the last day of the endorsement cycle.

You have made the comment:   "But - the NC chose to follow "exactly the same
procedure as last year", I assume without any discussion of the details.
This included the "10 endorsements required" limit."

You fail to mention the remainder of this quote:  "Decision D5: Ph. Sheppard
proposed to proceed as last year, without changing the Bylaws".   The
quotation here clearly refers to the Names Council decision not to call for
a change in the Bylaws that would allow for the GA to elect its own Chair -
nothing more.

In my view, your interpretation is seriously flawed;  I am truly surprised
that you did not share your views with all the candidates prior to the start
of this endorsement period.   But be that as it may, I am not overly
troubled by this issue and bear you no ill will... we all make mistakes.

As I see it, the Names Council has deteriorated into a largely irrelevant
institution.  I fully expect that the re-structuring of the DNSO will result
in the dissolution of the Names Council, folding it back into the General
Assembly in a manner akin to that described by Director Auerbach in his
comments to the Review WG.  I even note a recent comment by Council members
that tends to confirm this sentiment:

"Even worse: The Board was the first to bypass the NC when we've proven to
be unable to make a substantial policy recommendation on new gTLDs. Today,
even the GA and the DNSO constituencies do no longer care
too much about what we're doing. They're putting their drafts forward to the
Board immediately instead of wasting their time and resources with another
hop over the Council." "I'm sure, it's our last chance to demonstrate good
reasons not to dissolve the NC."
http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/council/Arc05/msg00081.html

Frankly, an "acceptance" by the Names Council is not high on my list as a
major achievement.  It is more important to me, and most likely to all the
other candidates, to focus on the accomplishments that the GA can achieve
through its own efforts.  While the Names Council chooses to convene
"committees" that barely function, we can create full working groups to
offer the ICANN Board true consensus-based determinations.  While the Names
Council chooses to bury its head in the sand in response to the challenge
posed by New.net and the alternate root community, we have the members that
can constructively engage in dialogue.  It is time for this General Assembly
to become pro-active.

I am a candidate seeking major reform.  I hope that I can count on your
participation to make the DNSO the policy-recommending body that it truly
should be.  The GA is the future of the DNSO; it is now time to focus our
efforts, and to help the Board with substantive recommendations to improve
overall GA / DNSO operations.

Best regards,
Danny Younger




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