[NCUC-DISCUSS] David and his many positions at NCUC/NCSG/NPOC

Wed Oct 10 04:53:19 CEST 2018

Dear all,

It is my understanding that there are disagreements over both the
"legality" (note the """") of holding several positions within the
NCSG/NCUC/NPOC and the wiseness of it, and for the latter both in absolute
terms and in relative terms (so related to David's work and accumulation of
positions)

Yet I feel like the discussions over the number of positions one can have
is not what is really at stake here, but more the fact that someone who,
according to some, has not achieved much can get elected (and in this case,
not to one position, but to many.) Farzaneh, Ayden and others; feel free to
correct me. This might have more to do with how aware members are of their
"leaders'" achievements, than how many positions one can hold. And I think
there could be improvements as to how such information is disseminated
before the election. I found it rather difficult to trace down statements,
and they were not at all standardized as to their contents, which did not
make it easier.

This is obviously frustrating for those who hold the aforementioned view
(and for now I reserve my judgment,) but I am doubtful as to how
statements, as a general and particular procedure, would change anything to
the situation or other such situations which may arise. In a way, I see the
current situation in part attributable to having elections on the basis of
a relatively open membership.

I do get that limiting the number of positions one can hold is a good way
to mitigate the issue. I think I would be in favour of such a measure; it
should be further discussed in any case.

The only certainty I have in the current case is that out of fairness, it
should not be possible to pile up travel grants by virtue of holding
multiple positions. Again, I do not know whether this has occurred or is
occuring in our present case.

And what I understand here as "piling up" is not having several
opportunities to obtain travel funds for one given meeting, but actually
obtaining more than "one" allocation of travel funds through the multiple
hats or getting travel funds more often than others just by virtue of
holding several positions. I do not know what coordinating mechanisms there
are between NCSG/NPOC/NCUC as far as travel grants are concerned, and
whether there are rules as to "who pays" (or who *should *pay) for people
with multiple hats, but that is also something that could and should be
discussed.

The baseline should be: the *number *of positions you hold beyond the first
one has no bearing on whether you get travel funds, how much travel funds
you get and how often you get travel funds.

Best regards,

On Tue, Oct 9, 2018 at 6:59 PM Ayden Férdeline <icann at ferdeline.com> wrote:

> Thank you for highlighting this, Farzaneh.
>
> Speaking as an NCUC member I am greatly concerned by this "position
> shopping." It does not serve us well to have the one person serving in so
> many leadership positions concurrently; and as I have said before, I think
> it shows a lack of integrity and poor judgement for someone to keep taking
> on more roles when they are not doing the work.
>
> I would like to ask David, if he accepts this seat, to make a commitment
> not to use any NCUC travel resources during his term. We have precious
> limited resources within the NCUC and I would like to see these resources
> allocated to our members with no other ICANN-related commitments. If David
> has four leadership roles, he has ample opportunity elsewhere to fund his
> travel to ICANN meetings.
>
> I think this is a most reasonable request.
>
> In addition, I understand David is on the leadership team of the RDS PDP
> WG which, while currently dormant, may come back to life in the near
> future. This would be a fifth leadership position for David — in addition
> to being an NCSG alternate to the EPDP. David has only been on one of the
> 17 EPDP calls so far, and I note this intentionally: we need people to do
> the work and not just to collect titles.
>
> I think it’s fair to say David is stretched pretty thin at the moment; but
> that doesn’t mean the NCUC can only have a part-time ExCom representative.
> We need someone representing us professionally and intelligently every day.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Ayden Férdeline
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 10, 2018 at 00:43, farzaneh badii <farzaneh.badii at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> NCUC Executive Committee, NCUC members,
>
> As you know I raised my concerns about Dave's various positions at
> NCSG/NPOC and NCUC and really did not expect him to consider all that and
> still run. Also it's not bad practice to give space to someone newer
> because frankly, NCUC EC is not really at a stage that needs too much
> experience (it's not drafting bylaws)  but is in need of hard work and
> energy. I am surprised and very disappointed that some of the veterans even
> supported Dave's nomination. And the nomination came from someone who had
> nominated Dave repeatedly for the past elections with no verifiable or
> minimal activities at NCUC/NCSG.  Anyhow, Dave has been elected but please
> note the following and consider if you want to take any of the actions in
> the future. I am at the end of NCSG chair term which will happen at the end
> of AGM but I think if NCUC/NPOC/NCSG want to have a discussion about
> position shopping at constituency and stakeholder group level, they should
> be able to do so.
>
>
> ***
>
>
> There is nothing in the two Constituencies’ or the NCSG’s Charters that
> speak to this situation at all. Similarly, the overall GNSO Operating
> Procedures are silent on the matter (as are the ICANN Bylaws). What the two
> Constituencies’ Charters do seem to contemplate, however, is the need to
> avoid actual or potential conflicts of interest, e.g.: *"The standards
> for performing the duties of NCUC leadership positions include
> impartiality, accountability, and avoidance of conflicts of interest"* (from
> the NCUC Charter) and *"The standards for leadership positions including
> impartiality, accountability, and avoidance (or disclosure and members’
> consent) of potential conflicts of interest" *(from the NPOC Charter,
> which goes on to provide that *"All officers have a duty to perform their
> roles with diligence and loyalty to the NPOC, and …  shall promptly notify
> the EC, and Constituency Members, of any potential conflict of interest
> that may arise during their term")*.
>
>
>
> Additionally, as Chair of NPOC’s Policy Committee (PC), David is
> automatically a member also of the NPOC Executive Committee (as specified
> in the NPOC Charter) and also a member of the NCSG PC (this latter
> appointment is not documented in the NPOC Charter but  apparently this has
> been the established practice within NPOC for some time). Therefore, *Dave
> will actually hold four leadership positions across both constituencies as
> well as at the SG level – NPOC ExCom, NPOC PC, NCUC ExCom and NCSG PC*.
>
>
>
> The  NCUC ExCom and membership *may *want to consider the following:
>
>
>
>    - Whether to request that David provide a written statement clarifying
>    that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, there are no conflicts of
>    interest for him to hold these positions at this time;
>    - Whether to request that David agree that, should any potential
>    conflict arise during his term on any of these committees, he should
>    immediately declare them to the NCUC, NPOC and NCSG chairs;
>    - What actions may be available to the NCUC, NPOC and NCSG leadership
>    should that declaration actually be made;
>    - Whether it may be possible to ask David not to run for any other
>    appointments or positions that may need to be made during this term (e.g.
>    PIR rep, NCSG PC rep from NCUC, etc.);
>    - Whether travel funding – if available via any of these positions –
>    can and should be reallocated to other members; and
>    - Whether new provisions need to be put into place before the next
>    term if this situation is considered sufficiently problematic by NCUC, NPOC
>    and/or NCSG.
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Farzaneh
>
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