> On Jul 20, 2015, at 09:17 , David Huberman <david.huber...@microsoft.com> > wrote: > > Hello, > > This morning's email announcing the opening of the nominations period for > Board of Trustees seats has me stewing on a topic that's bothered me for a > while. > > What fair and objective data does a voter have to judge how well an incumbent > is doing?
Board meeting minutes ARIN’s published financials Interactions with the board members The answers they provide to the questionnaire The overall apparent health and performance of the organization In short, quite a bit more than we actually usually get for senators, congress-critters, presidents, governors, etc. > I have been involved with ARIN in various capacities since 1999 and pay a LOT > of attention. But in most cases, I can't tell you how good a Board member > is. I suspect that's because so much of our activity as the collective ARIN > happens in the policy making arena, and the Board has chosen to be mostly > silent in that arena. At our April meeting in San Francisco, I saw a Board > member sit silent for the entire 3 days. Before that member was on the board, > however, he was a strong, productive, effective advocate for good policy who > earned my vote. Now he's silent. What am I supposed to think now when he > runs for re-election? How do I judge if he's earned another term? I read the > published minutes of the Board meetings, and they're not particularly > enlightening. They’re getting better recently, but I agree that the minutes used to be pretty bleak. I believe that the recent improvement is, at least in part, due to a request on my part that the board increase its transparency. (I think the AC as a whole made that request as well, but I had made it privately prior to that). The board tries to stay out of the policy process because they serve as a check-and-balance on the AC. As a general rule, it’s never a good idea to have those developing policy actively involved in enforcing it. One need look no further than the results of the private prison lobby to see how this creates all kinds of improper incentives. While I do think it is somewhat unfortunate to lose good voices in the PDP, I believe that the higher level of service offered by board members more than makes up for their silence in the PDP and that said silence is truly in the service of the community. > Does the Board Does the Board conduct any reviews or evaluations of Board > member performance? Is any of that available to the members? > I mean, the CEO gets reviewed, yes? If the Board can review the CEO, would > it be a stretch to ask for reviews of the other 6 members of the Board? I question the value or objectivity of any such action. I think in the best case, you might get a mutual admiration society. In the worst case, you have created an opportunity for the worst kinds of underhanded politics and cliques. Owen _______________________________________________ PPML You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the ARIN Public Policy Mailing List (ARIN-PPML@arin.net). Unsubscribe or manage your mailing list subscription at: http://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/arin-ppml Please contact i...@arin.net if you experience any issues.
