All -- One question that pops in my mind is what happens if an already-elected Board member changes jobs that might entail work that can be considered a conflict of interest? Is he/she expected to resign then, considering he/she would have been considered inelegible by the Election committee if he/she were running in an election? Just another thing to think about as we deliberate... I like the idea of full disclosure and recusing oneself from voting on matters that can be affected by that conflict of interest. I also like the idea of changing the language such that it doesn't address "potential" conflict of interest (too many ways to interpret what "potential" means), but rather "current" (i.e. already existing) conflict of interest. 73, Brian, N5ZGT On Thu, 27 Oct 2005, Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ wrote:

Most associations do not address the conflict of interest issue by precluding service by anyone who might conceivably have a conflict. Instead, they require disclosure of any potential conflicts and abstention from voting on matters where personal and organizational interests are in conflict.

Our current and longstanding conflict of interest policy is to preclude conflicts by basing eligibility for office on the potential for conflicts: if the potential exists, the person is ineligible for office.

Kay cites a number of examples where, without such a policy, Board members' paychecks might come from our advertisers, our competitors, or our regulators.

There is one recent example of a candidate being declared ineligible because he worked for a publisher of classified ads aimed at radio amateurs. However, most candidates who have been declared ineligible have not had business connections with amateur radio. For example, in one case the business connection was that the person owned a small railroad and served on the railroad association's spectrum management board. In another the person owned a private cable company. In both cases the amount of potential overlap between the ARRL's interests and the business interests of the individual was small, but was found to be sufficient to preclude their service as Vice Directors.

Dave Sumner, K1ZZ

ARRL Vice-Director, Rocky Mountain Division