|
Please note some wise words from Steve M.sent to the
OSC list.
From: owner-gnso-osc@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-gnso-osc@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Metalitz, Steven Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 12:11 AM To: Gomes, Chuck; gnso-osc@xxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: [gnso-osc] FW: Further Council Ops Procedures Thoughts I am afraid we are trying to square the circle on this
abstention issue.
Abstentions may occur for a lot of reasons. But if one
occurs in order to avoid a conflict of interest problem, then we cannot treat it
as a functional "no" vote -- which we do if we insist that the denominator
in calculating a voting threshold must always be the total number of people
seated in the House or council.
Let's assume that on
a motion before the council, a councillor's financial interests will
be directly benefited by defeat of the motion. The councillor should
refrain from voting on (or even from participating in the discussion of) the
motion. Let's assume the
council consists of 10 people and that a majority vote is needed for the motion.
However, if the councillor abstains for this reason, then if 5
vote for and 4 against, the motion fails. Abstention will have achieved
exactly the result that a conflict of interest policy should avoid at all
costs -- the action of the councillor has directly benefitted his financial
interest.
If the councillor is able to truly abstain, so that his
presence is not counted for purposes of achieving the voting threshold, then the
vote (5-4) reflects the views of the majority of council members who were
allowed (in accordance with conflict of interest policy) to vote, and should be
enough to carry the motion.
The same scenario could play out almost no matter what is the
voting threshold required or the number of eligible
voters.
I emphasize that many abstentions will not be for conflict
reasons -- quite commonly, it will be because the constituency/stakeholder group
could not reach a position on the issue, or an issue arises suddenly and the
councillor has decided that she will not vote absent instructions from her
constituency/SG. There is less of a problem counting the
abstention for purposes of a voting threshold in this case -- though it still
may not be a good idea. But there would need to be an exception to this
general rule for situations in which an abstention is dictated by conflict of
interest rules.
Steve
|