Executive Session

Every now and then, a Board needs to conduct itself in Executive Session. This is usually because the commentary that the Board may wish to engage in could be potentially embarrassing to the subject of the discussion (in the event of the removal of an officer or the concurrence with the expulsion of a member) or of a confidential nature (discussing the legal tactics of an ongoing lawsuit).

However, discussion in Executive Session is a far cry from conducting actual votes on motions in Executive Session. When the MWM ExComm took the action of removing an officer from the ExComm, while we conducted our discussion in Executive Session, making the actual motion and voting on it was done in open session, in full view of observers and plainly recorded in the minutes of the meeting. Such should also be the case in almost all instances with the AMC. (I am hard-pressed to come up with a single instance where a vote on any particular motion *requires* being taken in Executive Session and not be reported out as to who made and seconded the motion, and who voted Yes/No/Abstain.) There have been a few times in recent years where fundamental functions of the AMC have been conducted secretively that should have been in full view of the membership: the vote  (done by written ballot) to go into Executive Session for the purpose of dealing with funding extra days for the AMC'ers to attend the WG, the actual vote on funding those extra days (conducted in Executive Session), and the vote to concur with the expulsion of Barry Levine (also conducted in Executive Session - no way of ever knowing who voted which way). The membership deserves to know how AMC members voted on these items so that we can hold them accountable for their vote come election time. In these particular circumstances, we're talking about the spending of members' dues money and the AML "judicial" system.

The only circumstance that comes to mind where voting in Executive Session makes sense is where there are several items before the AMC in Executive Session and, rather than come out of Executive Session for each vote and re-enter it for the subsequent discussion (which is disruptive for any observers present, and confusing for the AMC'ers as to what was in Exec. Session and what wasn't), the motions and votes can be done in Executive Session with the explicit understanding that the precise motion, who moved, who seconded, and who voted each Yes/No/Abstain on the motion be reported out in open session and, thereby, included in the AMC meeting's minutes, giving the net effect of only the respective discussions being covered by the secrecy of Executive Session, not the votes themselves (so an AMC member can freely acknowledge how they voted).

It would be great if the AMC would hold itself to this standard. There should not be the *need* for an ASIE or a bylaws amendment. However, if there is sufficient resistance from AMC such that the AMC doesn't willingly hold itself to this standard, it would be instructive for there to be an official vote on a motion constructed to mandate this practice be implemented (if a mover and seconded can be secured).