[ga] Resignation of Alternate Chair

["Patrick Corliss" <patrick@quad.net.au>]

On Wed, 03 Oct 2001 07:02:28 +0000, Roberto Gaetano wrote:
On Wed, 03 Oct 2001 15:39:48 +1200, Joop Ternstra wrote:

> >Our alt-Chair's absence, I believe, is due to illness. Therefore I keep
> >encouraging Danny to appoint Chairs to some of the sublists to help him
> >bringing order in the chaos.
>
> I am sorry to hear that.
> I apologise for having thought that there might have been other reasons.
> I hope Patrick will be healthy and participative soon.

Hi Roberto

Thank you for your kind comments about my health and this certainly requires
urgent attention.  However, you are partly right that there are "other
reasons".  One is the poor state of my personal finances.   Nevertheless
my health problems are real and quite serious, I'm sorry to say.

More significantly, however, is the almost total inability of the GA to
function.  This has many reasons which I have spelled out on a number of
occasions.  Several of these factors have been raised in the two threads on
the
subject of the Chair's recall.  I really should not need to reiterate them
here.

One is the attitude of the NC (as indicated by Danny).  Another is the
desire by some well-known agitators to divert the process.  A third is the
ineffective approach taken by Danny to solving these problems and, in
particular, his lack of willingness to accept advice and input.

Where I have difficulty is in the inter-relationship of these factors.  The
NC seems to be stuffing up and this, with the added complication of internal
GA bickering, seems to drive Danny to a "leadership" role.  This in turn
causes
justified criticism which is pounced on, and escalated, by the agitators.

My own efforts to raise awareness (e.g. my comments about "red herings",
diversionary tactics, the NC and mailing lists) just provides further
ammunition
leading to further diversions and biased commentary.  And so it goes.

In fact, it took a huge effort on my part to get the GA to agree, generally,
to move procedural debate to the [ga-rules] mailing list.  I saw this as a
sound attempt to solve the problem of diversionary tactics such as are still
occuring.  As well, the DNSO Secretariat proved recalcitrant in the extreme
and I have had no support from the GA Chair in overcoming this problem.

One result is that the motion has not been put to a vote <sigh>.

At least I worked to obtain consensus.  However none of Danny's unilateral
decisions have got of the ground.  I will not bore you with detailing them.

There is also a serious problem in the ability of the list monitors to
perform their work and this has led to several resignations.  You should be
aware that one of Danny's decisions was to sack me as list monitor because
of my comments about the lack of integrity shown by Elisabeth Porteneuve
and Philip Sheppard.  I saw that as quite unreal and pathetic.

Interestingly William X. Walsh argues that he can say what he likes about
the Chair or the Alt Chair but should we return the favour he will lodge a
formal complaint to [ga-abuse].  He will then complain bitterly about abuse
of power should the list monitors not uphold his one-eyed views.

None of this is designed to advance the process constructively.  I will
remind
participants of my post "They're Coming To Take Me Away.  Ha Ha."

Of course, even those who seemed to support my efforts have truly put little
effort into making them work.  One example is the Best Practices which its
proponents argued did not need to be adopted in a formal sense.  Hence the
recent comments on this list about a lack of process.

My view is clear.  Unless the members of the GA genuinely work towards a
co-operative approach then the whole framework is irrelevant.  Others have
expressed the view that I am wasting my time because the framework is a sham
anyway.  I appreciate that view but was determined to give it my best shot.

All I wanted to do was to develop just ONE single policy outcome which would
make its way though the formal process to the ICANN Board.  That would be a
test of their goodwill @!!  I really was acting in the best interests of the
GA.

The truth is that I now realise that this is impossible particularly since I
do not have the support of several key participants in the official process.
I name these as Danny Younger, Philip Sheppard and Elisabeth Porteneuve.

It is with regret, therefore, that I hereby resign as Alternate Chair of the
General
Assembly.

Thank you for your trust.  I am truly sorry that I could not achieve the
impossible.

Best regards
Patrick Corliss




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