[Lnc-business] process for removal of non-LNC member of COC

[Alicia Mattson]

We don't operate under the Constitution, but under our own rules.

If we were required to find some analogy in the constitution, one could
just as easily argue it's more like how the President and the Senate must
work together to make an appointment to the Supreme Court, but the
President can't unilaterally remove that person later.  It instead takes a
disciplinary procedure which is clearly described with the House impeaching
and the Senate removing.

I still need to ponder whether our rules from RONR p. 497 and its use of
the "fixed term" description matches what we have in this case...which
would mean it's not actually a rescind/ASPA by the appointing bodies, but
would instead require a disciplinary action.  It's been a noisy day,
though...

-Alicia


On Fri, May 29, 2020 at 10:50 PM justin.odonnell--- via Lnc-business <
lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:

> Perhaps it would be easier to define the arrangement more similarly to the
> "advise and consent" role the United States Senate takes in matters of
> judicial and cabinet position appointments. The President is the ultimate
> appointing authority, yet the Senate retains the rjght to advise and
> consent, with their confirmation process.
>
> Justin O'Donnell
> LNC Region 8 Representative
>
> On May 30, 2020 1:39 AM, Alicia Mattson via Lnc-business <
> lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:
>
> Earlier today I wrote this:
>
> "I want to point out that though LNC policy gives the LNC chair the power
> to select which of the COC members is chair, the same policy says that the
> LNC Chair's appoints the non-LNC persons to the COC only with the consent
> of the COC.  He has unilateral power to remove committee appointments that
> he unilaterally made, but he did not unilaterally appoint Mr. Hayes to be
> a
> COC member.  The LNC members on the COC also had to approve Mr. Hayes'
> appointment.  In such a case, I would like to hear the argument for why he
> can unilaterally remove him from the committee if the COC does not agree."
>
> I just noticed that extra apostrophe-s combo in there...incomplete edit.
>
> This was at the bottom of another email, and I'm moving this to its own
> thread so it is less likely to be overlooked.  I haven't yet heard a
> counter-argument, but I want to add to my point.
>
> We have two entities here which jointly appoint non-LNC members to the
> COC.  RONR addresses removal when an appointment is made by one person.
> RONR addresses removal when it's made by an assembly like the LNC.  It
> doesn't really go into the scenario in which two entities have to agree
> for
> an appointment.
>
> What's the most reasonable approach for how such an appointment is
> reversed?
>
> If the two entities are considered together to be the appointing body, one
> entity is not a majority of the appointing body.  Both entities have to
> agree to get to that majority threshold for the appointment.
>
> To reverse an appointment requires a motion to Rescind or to Amend
> Something Previously Adopted.  These require a majority with notice, a
> majority of the entire membership, or a 2/3 vote.  None of these
> thresholds
> can be met with just the LNC Chair without the COC.
>
> If it requires action by both appointing entities to remove a non-LNC
> member from the COC, then the COC should proceed with Mr. Hayes as a
> member
> since we did not consent to his removal.
>
> The chair seems to be taking the position that it requires consent from
> both to appoint, therefore if one of the two entities later withdraws
> consent, the appointment is reversed.  This is not consistent with how
> RONR
> says committee appointments are reversed.  But the equal application of
> this logic would say that, hypothetically speaking, if the COC removed its
> consent for a different non-LNC member of the COC, that person would no
> longer be on the committee, either, even if the Chair disagreed, right?
> Or
> if the LNC had made an LNC-member appointment with a 9-8 vote, that any of
> the 9 could later withdraw their consent and reverse the outcome.  We all
> know that one person can't later withdraw the deciding vote to
> unilaterally
> kill a collective decision of the LNC.  Now that the question is squarely
> in front of us and I'm having to develop a firm opinion about it, I'm
> having trouble seeing the merits of this view of how our joint-appointment
> policy works.
>
> -Alicia
>
>
>