Theos-Talk Archives (April 2009 Message tt00367)

Dear Govert

The analyses draws a completely wrong conclusion that 
Rules and Regulations were violated by the letters which 
were circulated, without giving any reference to the rules 
which were actually violated.

The second paragraph of 1V/1 Rules and Regulations, 
which is repeated again at V/1, is made up of extracts from 
two different rules, placed together to completely distort the
intention of both of the rules.

***
Other material concerning the candidates shall not be circulated. ...
Other information may be included but must be factual and shall not
contain statements of opinion or policy. The biographical data for
circulation shall be drawn up by the Election Committee on the basis
of the information supplied by the candidates, and shall be approved
by the Executive Committee (excluding any candidates for election)
before being issued.
***

The first line of the above is included in the following extract 
from Appendix B(a) Voting Procedure for a Presidential Election

***
It shall be the responsibility of the General Secretary to ensure 
that the voting papers together with the nominators' names and 
candidates' biographical data in full are sent to each member.
Other material concerning the candidates shall not be circulated.
***

It is clear this extract only places a restriction on material sent out
with the voting papers, and does not relate to any other material.  
I don't think any of the circulated letters breached this rule.

The rest of the paragraph is an extract from Appendix A 
Biographical Data of Presidential Candidates

***
Each candidate shall submit to the Secretary biographical data 
not exceeding two hundred words.
The following information shall be included: 
(a) date and place of birth (b) education (c) past and present 
occupations (d) date of joining The Theosophical Society 
(e) work done for The Theosophical Society.
Other information may be included but must be factual and 
shall not contain statements of opinion or policy.
The biographical data for circulation shall be drawn up by the
Election Committee on the basis of the information supplied 
by the candidates, and shall be approved by the Executive 
Committee (excluding any candidates for election) before 
being issued.
***

This rule is only concerned with the information included in 
the biographical data of the candidates, it does not relate to any
other correspondence which would need to be approved by the 
Executive Committee.

Although the circulated letters may be deemed unethical in 
some respects, I don't believe that any rule has been breached, 
providing no material was distributed with the voting papers 
and biographical data.

Best wishes
Keith



--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Govert Schuller" <schuller@...> wrote:
>
> Dear Keith,
> 
> Thanks you so much for taking the effort to clarify some of the issues around the 2008 GC Meeting that weigh on the conscience of any informed TS member.
> 
> One of the earliest issues was regarding the legitimacy of 'election letters.' I tried to make sense of it and posted my thoughts on this forum. Anton Rozman posted his analysis and concluded with a call for an independent inquiry into the election. Later, I added some more thoughts. 
> 
> My request to you is if you can comment on the proffered analyses in light of your knowledge of the by-laws and the accepted practices at Adyar. 
> 
> The 2008 PTS Election Letters
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/44374
> 
> Independent Inquiry into the TS Election
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/44582
> 
> Independent Inquiry into the TS Election
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/44590
> 
> Govert Schuller
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>