When we were developing BLP, there was no committee, no poll, no seeking of specific authorization from Jimbo. It was clearly a good proposal, clearly needed in some form, and everyone who posted about it wanted it in broad terms. It was then just a question of filling in the details and making sure it was consistent with the other policies.
Sarah
In the case of [[Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons]], Jimbo was very much behind it, and had a good head of steam on. Perhaps this was not visible to folks who were not a part of the arbitration committee, but that was the case. Thus you knew you had Jimbo behind you.
This can be contrasted with [[Wikipedia:Articles about ongoing enterprises]] which has languished without any serious attention, other than a Free Republic activist's. While I tried to interest Jimbo and Brad, I was unsuccessful with either of them.
Fred