In Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the naïve Mr. Smith yields the Senate floor out of courtesy to a colleague, In doing so he loses his ability to debate on his legislation to prevent graft and corruption,  Mr. Smith learned the hard way about the importance of knowing procedural rules. Officers and members of boards and and associations need to know the rules of order to achieve their goals and help their enterprises succeed. Our expertise includes:

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Call out the sheriff! Legislators on the lamb!

Madison, WI -- Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker needs to balance the budget, and he wants to do it by cutting spending and eliminating certain collective bargaining procedures of various government unions. His budget bill is being taken up by the Wisconsin State Senate where Republicans hold the majority of 19 to 14. But, fiscal bills require a quorum of three-fifths (60%) of the Senate members or 19.8 rounded to 20. Democrats have fled the state of Wisconsin to prevent a vote from being taken that they know they will lose.

The State Republican  Senator Scott Fitzgerald made a motion for a call of the Senate. The motion for a call of the house in general parliamentary procedure requires, if adopted, the Sergeant at Arms lock to the doors of the assembly, after which a roll call is taken to find out who is present and more importantly who is absent without excuse. Those who are absent without excuse can be arrested and brought to the assembly. Generally, legislative bodies  are the only types of assemblies that have the power to enforce a motion for a call of the the house. The Wisconsin State Senate has this authority. So now, 14 Democrat Senators are on the lamb and generally believed to be in Illinois.

The last time I can remember this happening was in Texas in 2004 when the Texas legislature was about to take a vote on the redistricting plan put together by the Republican controlled legislature. The Democrat members of the Texas legislature fled to Louisiana to prevent a quorum from being present and thereby stalling the plan from being implemented. (Needless to say, if the plan were implemented Democrats stood to lose some seats.) The Texas Rangers gathered up a posse to round up the fleeing legislators. You can't help but chuckle at the thought of a posse of Texas Rangers on horses chasing down those delinquent legislators!

The mere fact that a motion for a call of the house exists says something about us humans and the lengths that we're willing to go to have our way. Back at our nation's founding, one of the charges against King George in the Declaration of Independence was that "HE has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures." Of course this was considered unfair.  I wonder what the founders would say of the actions of  either of the  Wisconsin Democrats or the Texas Democrats?



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In Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the naïve Mr. Smith yields the Senate floor out of courtesy to a colleague, In doing so he loses his ability to debate on his legislation to prevent graft and corruption,  Mr. Smith learned the hard way about the importance of knowing procedural rules. Officers and members of boards and and associations need to know the rules of order to achieve their goals and help their enterprises succeed. Our expertise includes:

  • Meeting and Session Governance Services
  • Presiding Officer Services
  • Delegate Convention or Assembly Services
  • Strategic Procedural Planning Services
  • Bylaw Drafting, Review, and Revision Services
  • Written Opinions Services
  • Training Programs




$1 billion spent on Presidential campaigns; and that's just to be nominated!

The Center for Responsive Politics reports that Federal Election Commission data released 7 March 2016 show that the presidential candidates and affiliated PACs and other entities have spent nearly $1 billion ($834 million) so far this election cycle. And this is just to get nominated!

Of course most of this money is spent on getting votes in the primary elections and caucuses. For the average voter, the vote count is all that matters. Who won? But the nomination process is much more complicated than simply who won.

The nomination process for the Republican Party has drawn keen interest because of the potential for a contested convention. In its simplest form to become the Republican nominee for president, a candidate needs a majority of the 2,472 delegates to win. That’s 1,237 delegates. Each of the 50 states and six territories has a certain number of delegates based on a formula. Delegates are chosen by the Republican parties of each state and are generally bound to a particular candidate based on the primary vote.

The binding requires a delegate to vote for a certain candidate on the first ballot at the Republican Convention in Cleveland, OH in July. If no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, delegates are then free to vote as they choose. The potential for a second ballot looms heavy for those candidates that remain and ought to be the center of attention of candidates.

But there’s one other condition that must be met before a candidate’s name can even come before the convention: a candidate must have the support of a majority of a state’s delegates from each of eight states. As of 12 March Donald Trump has a majority of delegates in 7 states, Ted Cruz has 4 and Marco Rubio has 1. Mr. Trump is most assured the 8 states, and Senator Cruz has the potential to gain a majority of delegates of 4 other states as the remaining states and territories are mostly winner take all states.

You might think that the nomination process for the Republican Party is rather cumbersome but nominations are a critical element of many organizations particularly larger and more complex organizations. Nominees for officers of an organization need to be thoroughly vetted just as any prospective employees or contractors. The nomination process defines how candidates for office are vetted.

For most small societies or organizations where all members are familiar with one another, the nomination process can be simple with nominations from the floor and a ballot vote to elect. Nominations under most parliamentary authorities, such as Robert’s Rules of Order, do not require nominations to be seconded.

Larger and more complex organizations generally have a more elaborate process. Some are similar to the Republican Party where a nominee must demonstrate significant support before he or she can be placed in nomination. Other organizations use a nominating committee to vet candidates. If nominating committees are used, the members ought to still have the ability to make nominations from the floor or from the membership if elections are done by mail.

Each of these methods have their strengths and weaknesses, but whatever the nominating process, it should be clearly identified in the bylaws of the organization.



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In the News
Independence Hall, Philadelphia,PA is where the Second Continental Congress debated and passed the Declaration of Independence, and where the Constitutional Convention debated and adoped the U.S. Constitution.