ICYMI: Executive Summary and Justification for Attached Proposed Bylaw Amendment

This just popped into the old inbox. Enjoy.

H/T to JW

 Justification:

The right or freedom of association implies the converse, disassociation, to also be a right in a free society. The proposed amendment will guarantee that right to both current members of this organization and to their posterity. 

No club or organization except the military can force someone to remain a "member" for any period of time once the member no longer feels the club or organization is, or has become something other than, what they thought when they voluntarily joined.

This proposed amendment simply codifies that right.

I hope that each of you reads the entire amendment AND discusses it with your clubs before forming an opinion.

Freedom of association is the right to join or leave groups of a person's own choosing, and for the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of members. It is both an individual right and a collective right, guaranteed by all modern and democratic legal systems, including the United States Bill of Rights, article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and international law, including articles 20 and 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labour Organization.

Background:

Before we begin to debate the merits of my proposed amendment I wanted to take this opportunity to speak directly to the members of the various county chapters that comprise the NYSYRs.

You may have already heard rumors about what this amendment is all about and may have even been instructed as to how you should vote when it comes before you for your consideration today.

Excerpts from: History of Our Organization (NYSYR.US):

The Association of New York State Young Republican Clubs, Inc can best be defined in it’s past, present, and future by a statement found in the 1939 Convention Journal.

“Yet organization work does not aim merely at the formation of clubs in every one of the counties, nor will it be sufficient when every city and village in the state contains an active Young Republican Club. For every year more young men and women reach voting age for the first time, every one a citizen who needs political education, everyone potentially an individual who can render valuable political service to his community, his state, his nation. Everyone an immediate problem for and a future asset to the Young Republican Clubs”

Today, we may not be the association of yesteryear. But through hard work and unity we can achieve whatever goals we set for ourselves. We as Young Republicans are charged with the responsibility of educating the youth of this state with the right message. We must work to assure that our generation does not fall victim to complacency, and laziness. The “older” people in our lives will never pay attention to us if we don’t speak loud enough. Speaking loud enough does not necessarily mean shouting out anything to hear ourselves talk. It does mean however, setting a platform for ourselves and pushing our social agenda in the same way that every other group in society does. We once did that….and because of it, when Young Republicans spoke people listened. We must achieve that way of thinking again…if not for ourselves,…if not in the name of Young Republicans past,… but for the sake of the future of our Empire State.

Excerpt from the NYSYR Incorporation Document (1934*): (Emphasis added)

The purpose for which it [NYSYR] is to be formed are:- To promote and maintain the principles of the Republican Party; to foster within the Republican party and make practical in service of the municipality, state, and nation, the idealism characteristic of youth; to correct in our own party that tendency of all parties to make organization an end rather than a means; to develop sound principle and public spirit in party politics; to promote honest and fair electoral methods, to the end that the expression of the popular will be whatever party or body, shall be as free, untrammeled and equal as possible; to resist and expose political corruption; to advocate merit rather than partisan service as entitling to public office; to watch legislation; to encourage public attention to and efficiently criticize the conduct of government, to encourage constantly the participation in party politics of young men and women of high character, intelligence and ability.

*This was signed by the first 6 directors which included George H. Sibley who was the NYSYR Chairman at the time.

Executive Summary:

If this amendment is passed today nothing in this organization will be changed. No clubs are de-credentialed as a result and no affirmative action need be taken by anyone. This is simply a “check” on the power of the Governing Board of the NYSYR by the members since their voices are rarely if ever heard on any matters of substance.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once brilliantly said “The message is that there are no "knowns." There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know. So when we do the best we can and we pull all this information together, and we then say well that's basically what we see as the situation, that is really only the known knowns and the known unknowns. And each year, we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns.”

The true strength of any organization is to anticipate and prepare for the unthinkable. The Founding Fathers knew this all too well when they drafted the Bill of Rights. They placed limits on their own power (and subsequent administrations) because they knew then that there were numerous unknown, unknowns. 

I pose the following questions to you:

What should YR organizations be? Are we that?

What exactly do the opponents of this amendment oppose?

Do they oppose the amendment or the proponent of the amendment?

Questions I have received over the past 21 days:

Wouldn't this destroy the NYSYR if clubs started de-credentialing?

The thresholds needed to de-credential are high. No club (not even my home club) would take such a vote lightly. There would have to be overwhelming support to achieve a de-credentialed status. I call your attention to what was written above in our Incorporation Document: “to correct in our own party that tendency of all parties to make organization an end rather than a means”

Why couldn't a club just not credential in the first place?

They could choose not to credential. But what if you signed up to join a republican club and they started endorsing democrats. This sounds crazy but if you read our rules there is nothing that could stop our Governing Board from making any endorsement for any candidate for any office! This is both a known-unknown as well as an unknown-unknown.

If that were to happen, shouldn't there be a mechanism in place to allow for a county chapter to disassociate itself from the state organization?

Amendment Text:

Addition to Article I

G   Any Member can voluntarily relinquish its “credentialed status” (de-credential) by submitting written notification to the Corresponding Secretary who will forward the same to the Governing Board within seven days of receiving such notification. A request to de-credential shall not preclude any Club from requesting credentialing at a later date.

1         The notification must include the following information.

a)      De-credentialing Club’s Meeting Minutes showing that a vote was taken to de-credential with the New York State Young Republicans and passed by two-thirds of the Club’s Members present.

b)      A list of Members present and written confirmation from the President/Chairman of that club stating that there was a quorum.

2         The Governing Board shall grant the Member Club’s request to de-credential within seven days of receiving the request from the Corresponding Secretary if all required information is submitted.

3         There will be no vote by the Governing Board except as to whether or not all of the required information was submitted by the Member Club.

4         If the Governing Board determines that there is required information missing, the Corresponding Secretary shall notify the Member Club within three days of such determination to submit any missing information.

5         The Member Club can submit to the Corresponding Secretary the identified missing information or can withdraw its request to de-credential within 90 days. After 90 days the Member Club seeking to de-credential must submit a new request with the information required in Section 1, a and b.

6         Upon receipt of any missing information the Corresponding Secretary shall forward the same to the Governing Board within three days and the Governing Board shall have three additional days to request any further information required in Section 1, a and b.

7         If any of the above time deadlines are missed by the Corresponding Secretary and/or Governing Board or the de-credentialing packet is deemed to be complete, the Member Club shall be considered de-credentialed immediately and all reference to said club shall be removed immediately from all media and correspondence generated or controlled by the NYSYRs with the exception that an email shall be sent to all other Member Clubs identifying the de-credentialed club by name and stating that said club voluntarily relinquished its credentialed status.

8         De-credentialing Clubs shall forfeit their credentialing fee and must submit a new credentialing fee in full if the Member Club seeks to credential at a later date.

This proposed amendment was submitted by Russell Gallo (Brooklyn) and was overwhelmingly defeated at the meeting in Orange County on October 5th, 2013.

Did the members of the NYSYR vote against this amendment or the proponent of this amendment?
	Against amendment
	Against proponent
	Both
	No Clue