[ncdnhc-discuss] NomCom and lottery for board members

[James Love]

The Noncom is a substitute for a system that is truly open, and for a
specific purpose, the board wants to avoid a one-interested-person one-vote
system.   The alternative will be more structured --  either the board will
appoint a handful of like minded persons who will elect a group of insiders
(bad outcome) or there will be a more inclusive system that has lots of
groups making recommendations (better outcome).   However, if there is a
majority rule system, there will be alot of concern over the exact make-up
of the NomCom, and for good reason.  51 percent of the votes on the NomCom
controls all of the NomCom selected board seats, which in turn appoint a
bunch of voting members to the  board, providing a supermajority.

A system where the NomCom qualified candidates to stand for election, but
elections are by lottery (random selection), has one advantage.  If a group
does not command a 51 percent majority, they can still stand a chance of
being a lottery pick.  This means the absolute control over the 51 percent
is less important.    The lottery also may bring a little diversity to the
board, in terms of view points and interests.

One reason that a lottery approach  might have utility is that the election
to the NomCom is highly arbitrary in the first place.   Thus, the claim that
51 percent of the NomCom is a mandate isn't very persuassive in the first
place.

  Jamie

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James Love mailto:james.love at cptech.org
http://www.cptech.org +1.202.387.8030 mobile +1.202.361.3040