Mr. Wall is correct to assume I share his goal of fruitful
dialogue. I
am preparing a specific and brief amendment for the Radburn
By-laws that I
hope will serve as a basis for community discussion.
That being said, we must begin with a common understanding
of where we
are. As the Radburn By-laws state (and no one disputes), only
one of the
nine Trustees is currently elected by an open nomination and
election
process. Two seats are selected in an annual confidential
meeting by
current and former Trustees. The community has no input at
all. Six seats
are filled from nominations dictated to the community by the
current
Trustees.
This is the state of affairs Mr. Wall characterizes as
"self-governance," on the grounds that all involved
live in Radburn. Well,
everyone in the North Korean government lives in North Korea,
but that
doesn't mean that the North Koreans, as a nation, enjoy "self-governance."
They are governed by a self-appointed, self-perpetuating clique
of North
Koreans. We are also governed by a self-appointed, self-perpetuating
clique. The fact that it is our neighbors that are treating
us in this
shabby fashion doesn't make it any easier to accept.
But let us turn to the kind of elections of which Mr. Wall
disapproves.
We had an open nomination process in 2004 to elect a new President
for the
Radburn Citizens' Association. Both sides did their best to
get out the
vote; the Trustees even spent our money mailing a last-minute
letter to the
voters giving the views of the Trustees on the issues. All
residents were
then free to participate in an open democratic vote, overseen
by a sitting
Trustee (Mr. Kiel), and held under the pre-announced rules
of the Citizens'
Association. It is this election that Mr. Wall denigrates
as "stacked."
There is no reason for him to deride this 2004 election in
this manner,
except that all of his candidates lost by a landslide vote
of 75%.
It simply will not do for Mr. Wall to describe fixed elections,
with
pre-screened candidates, as "self-governance," and
open elections following
open nominations as "stacked."
ROBERT GULACK, Chair, Radburn Citizens' Association Legal
Committee
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