Thomas Dalton wrote:
By all means ask him, but I really can't see him making unilateral appointments to ArbCom. I'm not sure he would keep his special position within the English Wikipedia hierarchy long if he tried to, either - he only has power because the community gives it to him. (Well, he's on the board, but that's just gives him a vote on board resolutions, it doesn't give him unilateral power over anything.)
Yes, it is unlikely that I would be appointing anyone other than tested previous members to the ArbCom without broad community input, because two of the times that I have done so with only the consultation of the ArbCom itself have not turned out very well at all.
The normal time period for ArbCom elections is December. Perhaps it would be sensible to accelerate that a bit, or to have a quick snap election to expand/fill idle seats.
--Jimbo