[Foundation-l] Board Resolutions from March 30th 2012

[Chris Keating]

On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 5:56 AM, John Vandenberg <jayvdb at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 12:18 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > On 31 March 2012 02:03, John Vandenberg <jayvdb at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> I expect that the minutes will explain the varied positions of the
> >> board.  If not, then the board should put in place procedures to
> >> prevent abuse of abstains.
> >
> > Could you elaborate on what you mean by "abuse of abstains"?
>
> An abstention is a refusal to vote.  By doing this, a trustee must
> have a good reason, such as conflict of interest, and it should be
> minuted why, or they are refusing the duties of their appointment and
> should be removed.
>
>
I have never heard of this idea before - where did you get it from?

People with votes on all kinds of bodies abstain on things all the time,
for all kinds of valid reasons. The most prominent recent example I can
think of is that Sivlio Berlusconi's government in Italy was brought down
by MPs he expected to support him abstaining instead.

We don't know why Arne and Bishakka abstained, or why SJ voted against - it
is only evident they did not feel able to support the motion as it stood.

Regards,

Chris