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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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.

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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




Coin tosses break ties in Iowa Caucuses!

What astounding luck! Hillary Clinton won 6 coin tosses to break ties in the Iowa Caucuses! If luck is a qualification for the Democrat Presidential nominee, then Hillary Clinton would seem to have it in the bag over Bernie Saunders.

But wait, Bernie won as many coin tosses in other precincts! Maybe he’s just as worthy!

A great deal of ink and air time (now even more!) went into describing these complicated and, as it turned out, fairly trivial coin tosses to figure out how to allocate the odd-man-out precinct delegates to a county convention to be held later in March. These precinct delegates were but a tiny fraction of and played no role in the overall result.

It certainly added a great headline for what turned out to be an already sensational outcome of the Iowa Caucuses on both sides of the isle.

Tie votes for elected officers or presidential nominees present great difficulties particularly if there’s no definitive method for breaking the tie. It’s even worse if the elections are conducted by mail ballot voting. Where the bylaws or rules of an organization have no tie-breaking provision, then the only option is to repeat the balloting until at least one member has decided to switch a vote. This could make for a very long meeting or, if by mail, for a very expensive election requiring multiple mailings.

In the case of the Iowa Caucuses where the outcomes of the tosses were a reasonably insignificant part of the process and the need to complete the precinct delegate process in a timely manner was important, a coin toss is likely the best solution particularly if it’s an established rule ahead of time. The Nevada caucuses have the opposing parties draw from a deck of cards with the high card winning. (How apropos for Nevada!)

Where the outcome of the elections are significant such as a legislative seat or a nominee for president, which formally occurs at the national party conventions, a coin toss or card draw are likely inappropriate methods. Often times, it comes down to recounting the votes if done by ballot, and if, after a recount, a tie remains, another vote must be taken.

Where the elections are for officers of a private organization and balloting takes place by mail or at a time and location other than at a meeting, the bylaws should in fact have provisions for breaking ties. Such organizations should also provide for the larger and more frequent case of a lack of a majority because there’s more than two candidates with no one candidate winning a majority which is often required by bylaws. Voting methods exist such as preferential voting that allow for the resolution of ties or plurality votes.


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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.