Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00095)

Eldon: I do not have ready access to Chuck Posonby's statement regarding
voting by members which was published in AT. If you have access to it,
can you post it here. Everyone can benefit.

Thanks ....Doss

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On Thu, 2 May 1996, Eldon B. Tucker wrote:

> I posted this yesterday morning, and still haven't seen it
> come back, so I'm reposting it.
>
> -- Eldon
>
> ----
>
>
> MKR:
>
> In your letter you make a good point that it is not customary for
> new rules to be imposed retroactively upon people that had been
> previously granted rights that the rules would take away.
>
> I've heard, though, that the rules *have been* applied in the past.
> When Chuck Ponsonby was National Secretary, he looked at the
> national bylaws and decided they did not exclude new members from
> voting, had a statement printed in the AT saying they could vote,
> and allowed them to vote in the election. It was at this point
> that the rules were relaxed.
>
> The situation, then, is not the retroactive imposition of new
> rules, but the renewed application of already existing and
> previously enforced rules. From this standpoint, it was not that
> certain new members that were previously entitled to vote are now
> retroactively denied that right. Rather, it is that certain new
> members were inadvertently allowed to vote in the past, when they
> should not have been allowed to do so.
>
> The intent, then, with the bylaws changes, was to make the
> national bylaws more in accord with the wording of the
> international bylaws. It was not to reduce or infringe upon the
> existing rights of members.
>
> As to the level of discontent with the vote, I've heard that
> there's been three complaints so far regarding the vote. One was a
> ballot lost in the mail. The other two were members ineligible to
> vote for whatever reason. This is not many considering there were
> thousands of ballots mailed out.
>
> I think that the people at Wheaton are a sincere, hard-working
> group of volunteers, that put up with long days of work for almost
> no renumeration. They have to deal with theosophical politics from
> both ends -- from individual members with their preferences from
> one side, and from Adyar at the other side. I'd rather not give
> them a hard time on any particular issue without good cause.
>
> Regarding the merits of the two-year rule, it helps, I think, keep
> elections from being rigged, it keeps things more fair. Why?
> Because it keeps candidates from having flocks of followers from
> joining at the last minute, in order to vote for them, only to
> lapse a year later, never having a real interest in participating
> in the T.S. And it tends to keep voting control in the hands of
> students that are interested enought to stick around for a couple
> of years. Many join and quit in the first year or two, finding no
> attraction to what the T.S. offers.
>
> -- Eldon
>
>
>
>