[bars] Discussing ARRL bylaw 18 proposed changes???

Sat Jan 11 21:03:40 CST 2025

You raise some good points but actually some of these things are true in other electoral systems.  I happen to be the ballot elected State Committeeman from the 1st Middlesex.  If I don't attend most of the meetings, despite being elected by the people who voted here in the last presidential primary, I can be kicked out.  Not to boast but the concern about the language should be in the context of other political groups.

The ARRL is very influential in the marketing of Amateur Radio products. Many of those companies also make products for police, fire etc.    There is money to spend that is worth spending for those who have it in their pursuit of profit.

I agree with you, David, that the language is extreme.  However, whatever your personal politics are - perhaps some sort of rules should apply to our state and national elections.  I don't know how to write those rules, so they are both tasteful, constitutional and effective.   I very much prefer when our leaders tell us of their work and the work, they want to do rather than dump on their opponents.  These proposals for the ARRL are actually simpler than much of MA election law. Isn't an election an election? Somewhat yes but it's not a perfect comparison.   One thing that I would add to the ARRL by laws, is that to run someone should get signature petitions from some number of Hams. That would require a candidate to show up at Amateur Radio clubs before even running.   That rule IS part of the law for getting on a state ballot.

In the ARRL directors do represent regions.  Different regions have different needs.  The director's job is to come up with policies that are fair for all regions, but a director should know and be in touch with Hams in their area. If the person is representing us in the North East and spending much of his operating time in the south east - can they do their job representing us here?

Geoff Feldman / W1GCF

PS - if you are interested in the Mass Politics part of this, PLEASE let's not clutter up Bars with that part.  I only wanted to discuss other election rules in the context of these. You are more than welcome to reach out to me with your thoughts or questions about that other part of my life at geoffreyf at comcast.net.  I'd be delighted to answer any questions about that off this forum.

________________________________
From: bars <bars-bounces at w1hh.org> on behalf of David Marcucci <dmarcucci at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2025 9:44 PM
To: Tom Walsh <k1tw at comcast.net>
Cc: BARS <bars at w1hh.org>
Subject: Re: [bars] Discussing ARRL bylaw 18 proposed changes???

My thoughts were the following:

  *   I understand that we want directors who are active in their district but the 300 / 365 days for "full-time" residency is a bit extreme. In 2019 I spent more than 65 days travelling for work. Of course, with that schedule, I likely wouldn't be running but I know plenty of people who split time in FL and MA but travel back and forth often and could be a good director. Even some who I know are still active on the air in New England while avoiding our winter someplace south, either via HF or using Echolink, D-Star, Fusion, DMR, AllStarLink, Zoom, remote station control, or other technologies.
  *   Restricting any comments about your opponent seems extreme. I'm sure some candidates have said stuff that was false, misleading, rude, etc. about their opponent but I think a candidate has to be able to say, "My opponent does XYZ and I disagree with that", "My opponent is not addressing ABC and I think it needs to be a higher priority." If they want to restrict derogatory comments, slander, or lying, that's fine with me but discourse needs to happen not only during formal debates.
  *   The restriction on "communication vehicles" seems to restrict social media and email or any tool that could be used outside the district. I'm not sure how a candidate gets their message out without those.
  *   There also seems to be a restriction on fundraising outside your district that is similar to the "communication vehicles" one, restricting any method that could be used outside of the district.
  *   Finally, the part about making statements about complaints made to the Secretary seems easy to abuse. A candidate would just need to complain about something their opponent is discussing and now it can't be discussed.

That's just on my initial read! I am sure there are better ways to address the issues they are trying to address but this seems very restrictive.

73,
Dave KC1TLF

On Sat, Jan 11, 2025 at 6:46 PM Tom Walsh <k1tw at comcast.net<mailto:k1tw at comcast.net>> wrote:

Hi Folks,

Well, the recent ARRL election for Director had lots of problems including three candidates being dis-qualified before the election.  Not sure that has ever happened before.  So the longer by-laws version is an attempt to address some of the problems that occurred.  They will surely be discussed and probably further modified at the January board meeting in a week or two.

Tom K1TW

From: bars <bars-bounces at w1hh.org<mailto:bars-bounces at w1hh.org>> On Behalf Of Greg via bars
Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2025 1:02 PM
To: David Marcucci <dmarcucci at gmail.com<mailto:dmarcucci at gmail.com>>; BARS <bars at w1hh.org<mailto:bars at w1hh.org>>
Subject: Re: [bars] Discussing ARRL bylaw 18 proposed changes???

Ain’t bureaucracies wonderful. Turn one page into three. Perhaps the league needs to explain the need for these changes based upon “real” issues they have encountered for us to better evaluate them.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

73

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad<https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&af_sub1=Acquisition&af_sub2=Global_YMktg&af_sub3=&af_sub4=100000604&af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_>

On Saturday, January 11, 2025, 12:02, David Marcucci <dmarcucci at gmail.com<mailto:dmarcucci at gmail.com>> wrote:

Are there any rules about not discussing the proposed changes to ARRL bylaw 18 on this email list?

Some of the changes look pretty restrictive. If you haven't checked it out, you should IMHO.

From ARRL.ORG<http://ARRL.ORG>:

Current By-Law 18<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/About%20ARRL/By-Laws/Proposed/121724%20/Current%20Bylaw%2018.pdf> (PDF)

Proposed Revised By-Law 18<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/About%20ARRL/By-Laws/Proposed/121724%20/Proposed%20Revised%20Bylaw%2018.pdf> (PDF)

73,

Dave KC1TLF

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