Petition for AMC Secretary

I have just officially submitted my name to be a candidate for Secretary in the upcoming AMC election. To sign my petition, please log in on the AML website and go to www.us.mensa.org/election, select the "View/Sign Candidate Petitions" link, and click on the link with my name.

Thanks.

Anti-Discrimination Policy?

Do you think that MWM should have an anti-discrimination policy in effect? Is this an issue of concern to you? If so, what should such a policy look like? Should it only apply to the ExComm and ExComm-sponsored activities, or should it also apply to anything organized (such as SIGs) or hosted (such as calendar events) in the chapter?

Please include whether you are an MWM member or member of another chapter when replying to this thread, even if you are otherwise anonymous.

Also note that this is different than the recently reaffirmed portion of the Copious Code that ensures that, save for Gifted Children's events, all events listed in the calendar are open to all members. (Note further than AML does not have a very good policy, IMO, from which to draw - it is far too vague.)

Mel's Petition to Amend Bylaws of AML

Below is the text of the petition that Mel Dahl has put together to amend the AML bylaws which several of us are circulating to try to get it the 250 signatures needed to get it onto the upcoming referendum ballot. In short, the amendment would put both AMC and the membership on notice that the AMC does actually have the authority to hear an appeal related to a National Hearings Committee sanction.

If you would like to help circulate the petition, please paste the text below into the free-form box atop the basic petition form that can be found by going to http://www.us.mensa.org/election and scrolling down to the bottom, selecting the Referendum Petition Form link.

---[begin text of petition]---

A new Section (8) is added to Article IX, as follows:

(8) Any member who has been sanctioned by a hearing committee may appeal once to the American Mensa Committee, which shall have discretion to hear the appeal on the merits or not. A sanctioned member who wishes to appeal to the AMC shall, within thirty days of the imposition of sanctions, file a notice of appeal with the Secretary of AML, with copies to the Chair of AML, the Chair of the hearing committee that imposed the sanction, and the appropriate regional vice chair. The notice of appeal shall contain a short and concise statement of the facts of the case, the action taken by the hearing committee, and the grounds upon which the appeal is founded. The AML Secretary shall promptly transmit copies to all members of the AMC and place the matter on the agenda of the next regularly-scheduled AMC meeting.

In the event that the AMC decides to hear the appeal on the merits, the complainant may, but is not required to, provide the AMC with a short and concise statement as to why the AMC should not grant relief. The AMC may in its sole discretion determine whether to decide a merits appeal on the papers, or whether the parties shall be invited to address the AMC. Additionally, the AMC shall have sole discretion to determine the extent to which any such appeal shall be heard in executive session.

The AMC shall presume that any findings of fact made by the hearing committee are correct unless the member demonstrates that there is no reasonable basis in the evidence for said findings of fact The AMC may only overturn a decision of the hearings committee if it finds the hearing committee abused its discretion by acting illegally or in violation of AML’s by-laws, or that the proceedings were fundamentally unfair. 

---[end text of petition]---

MWM Mensa Phone phone number: 202-OK-MENSA

MWM recently established a new Mensa Phone at zero cost, thanks to Google Voice. For anyone who has questions which relate to MWM, you can call and leave a message on our voicemail. (You can give a shot with questions which relate to AML writ large, and I'll likely refer you to someone outside our chapter, depending on what the question is.) Thanks to Google Voice, not only will a semi-accurate transcript of the message be forwarded to the entire ExComm, but paired with it will be the audio file itself, so we needn't rely on the behind-the-scenes transcription software (which does come up with some amusing garbles). We will then be able to figure out amongst ourselves who on the ExComm is the most appropriate person to handle the message.

By the same token, as you will be reaching a recording, we can utilize the outgoing message as a way of announcing urgent messages, such as the change of venue for the New Members Open House that happened for earlier today or, if we have the same winter we did last year, the cancellation of an increasing number of events (including two ExComm meetings) due to weather conditions.

That number? 202-OK-MENSA
And, no, that's not short for Oklahoma, even though it is the postal abbreviation.

NEW MEMBERS OPEN HOUSE venue moved!

For those who are planning on attending the NMOH on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010, the venue has MOVED!

We will not be at Edee Fay Schwartz's apartment in Silver Spring - she's recuperating from a pesky health issue that cropped up within the past week or so. (She's doing better, but certainly can't be hosting at the moment.)

The NMOH will be held at our Programs Officer's apartment in Falls Church. Look at the inside front cover of CapM or the main page of mwm.org for Paulos' address.

Hope to see you there!

2011 Annual Business Meeting

The ABM is scheduled to take place on the first day of the 2011 AG - June 30 (at 4pm). Despite my having pointed out this fairly poor (IMO) timing well in advance of the 10-month deadline that the Chairman has to notify the AG Committee of the date/time of the ABM, the ABM is remaining on the schedule as listed at the end of this year's ABM agenda (though it could have been changed - it's listing there was not "set in stone").

So, for a second year in a row, it is questionable (IMO) as to whether we will have a quorum for the business part of the ABM. Please spread the word to people who might even have a remote interest in the ABM that they should make their plans to get to the AG early on the first day (if they're not planning on getting their 1+ days early simply for touring) so that we can have a quorum for whatever business might be before the membership.

Oddity in Election Code

For those who are crazy enough to read through the full Election Code (like me, obviously), you may have noticed a couple of curiosities:
1) The Code talks about the biographic statement and the campaign statement as if they are items that are separate from the questions asked by AMC on the Candidate Information Forms (CIFs), however, those are actually questions 8 and 9 on the forms;
2) The word limit for the biographical statement on the CIF is 50 words, but the word limit for the biographical statement per the Election Code is 150 words.

It's not yet clear to me whether this means there are supposed to be two separate biographic statements and two separate campaign statements, or something else.

I've sent some questions to the Election Committee Chairman in an attempt to clarify these items and will post a follow-up note in this thread once it's cleared up.

Petition Procedure Announced for Upcoming Election

Candidates Wanted!

The Election Committee has finalized the Code of Election Procedures for the upcoming AMC election and bylaws referendum. You can view the various and sundry parts of the Code and access the relevant paperwork at www.us.mensa.org/election.

While you can download the petition in order to print out hardcopy and get signatures the old-fashioned way, you can also create and/or sign petitions (for AMC election, not for the bylaws referenda) online. Simply go to the above website and click on the "Create Your Candidate Petition" and/or "View/Sign Candidate Petitions" links. The process is rather straightforward. As the procedure was only just announced earlier today, there aren't any petitions created just yet. I have no doubt that there will be some in the coming days and weeks.

Qualifications, per se, are minimal to get on the ballot. You must be a member in good standing with your dues paid for the next membership year (at least) by Jan. 31 (i.e., renew early). You must reside in the U.S. For RVC positions, you must be a member of the region for which you are running. Candidates for Treasurer should be bondable. I think the same is true for candidates for Chairman. And while it is not something explicitly stated in the Code or in our bylaws, I seem to recall that candidates for AMC must be at least 18 years of age by the date they would be taking office (given NYS not-for-profit law). And, clearly, you must fill out the various paperwork required by the Code by the deadlines provided for in the Code. Did I overlook something? Full specifics on qualifications are laid out in www.us.mensa.org/election and scroll down to the bottom of the page to click on the "2011 Election Code - FINAL" link. Beneath that are the links to the various paperwork that needs to be filled out by candidates, as well as links related to bylaws petitions, the international election, and other AML links.

While that pretty much exhausts the basic requirements for getting on the ballot, it's up to the individual candidates to "sell" themselves as the best candidate for the office to the membership.

Some positions are currently contested, but the majority of the elected positions (9 out of the 15) are not yet contested: Chairman, Secretary, and RVCs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10.
(NB: There are four appointed positions, and the two most recent Past Chairmen are automatically members of the AMC, to bring us to the total of 21 members of AMC.)

Blog Kick-Off

Who would've thought I'd wind up blogging? But it seems like a good way of having more focused conversations on national Mensa issues (I'll do my best to prevent thread drift) as well as bringing up and responding to local issues of import for the membership of Metropolitan Washington Mensa.

I look forward to having those conversations. Please limit the conversations to:
--National AML elections, both for American Mensa Committee (AMC) positions and bylaws amendments
--AMC meetings, minutes, committees, etc.
--Annual Business Meeting items
--The Annual Gathering, Mind Games, and Colloquium
--AML bylaws and Actions Still in Effect (ASIEs)
--Metropolitan Washington Mensa items of interest (to include the ExComm, MWM bylaws and Copious Code, Calendar of Events, newsletter, website, RG, etc.)

Kindly refrain from any personal attacks and assuming what anyone's motives are. Questioning is fine, but purporting one's own opinion as fact is not - at least not on this blog.