Edict #24 - Stardate 10071.7
“I know I’ve got a face in me, points out all my mistakes to me.”
Though it did not explicitly state in the EGO bylaw that these reports should be archived, I believe that EGO is such a monumental change that it would be remiss of us to not keep a permanent record of its progress and development. The only really permanent way that I could think of to put this report into our records is as an edict, so I do so in the vein that Andy wrote his State of the Onion addresses as edicts. Obvious thanks to Jack Dipper for the compilation of this report, which does include input from the President, Vice President, and the term’s Egotists.
Introduction
- As part of the EEEGO bylaw, there is a requirement for a report to be made at the end of each EGO term for the first 3 terms, in order to establish whether EGO is beneficial to the club. Overall, EGO has operated within its boundaries, and has not prevented the Office of the President operating as the top executive body within STF. Because of this, I have gone slightly further with the report, interviewing members of EGO, the President, Vice President and other club members. A majority of the recommendations are related to improving the interaction of EGO with the President, as well as the process of EGO selection, as these were the two areas that we have experienced during the last 8 months.
Role
- One of the issues identified over the last 8 months is the lack of clarity in the role that EGO plays, primarily with the general membership, but also with the Egotists. Egotists should only act as Egotists in the following situations, outside of which they have no further remit:
a. Vetoing of a bill/EC
b. Investigation of a ban
c. Impeachment of the President
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As all of these require an input from someone outside of EGO, there is no reason why EGO should try to get itself involved in the day-to-day running of the club.
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Recommendation. EGO should have an external page explaining who they are and what they do. An ego@[star-fleet.com] forward would also be beneficial for members to contact them in the above instances.
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It has been suggested that EGO should be able to veto edicts, or force a referendum on a decision that does not have support of Command. This, however, will reduce the freedom of the Office of the President too much. EGO should only remain as a check on the legislative side of the club, rather than the executive (day-to-day running) side. If the President is clearly not acting in the interests of the club, then an impeachment should be started.
Impeachment
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The position of Egotist does not actually grant the power to impeach the President, or to enact any other sanctions against him. Therefore, whilst the Egotists are the mentors of the President, they should not threaten any action.
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This does not, however, preclude them from initiating impeachment procedures as a member of the club. The issue, however, is whether the Egotist raising the impeachment should still act as a member of EGO in this instance, as there is a clear conflict of interest.
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Recommendation. Should a member of EGO, President or VP raise an impeachment, they should not be allowed to review the case. In this instance, the next most senior member of cabinet should stand in as an acting EGO.
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It has also been suggested that Egotists should not hold cabinet positions, as there may be a conflict of interest. This was debated to great length during the drafting of EEEGO and, given the issues with the candidate pool detailed later on, this would create more issues than it would solve.
Election
Candidate Pool
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The number of candidates for EGO has dropped. In the first election, there were 8 candidates. In the latest election, we had 3. Ideally the candidate pool needs to be increased.
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Currently, the EGO election is run on the 7th month in a Presidential term, with the new EGO term starting in the 8th month. Whilst this does allow for a person to run for a Presidential election if they lose in an EGO election, it seems that more people want to run for President (or have option available to them) than run and risk winning the EGO election. Additionally, having the vote at that time prohibits the President and Vice President from running. It, therefore, makes sense to delay the EGO election until after the Presidential election.
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Recommendation. The EGO election should start in the 1st month of a Presidential term, with the new EGO term starting at the beginning of the 2nd month. The easiest way to do that would be to extend the next term by 2 months. Should an Egotist resign midterm, an acting Egotist should be appointed to continue until the end of the term, rather than having a vote midterm.
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Currently there are only 20 flag officers in the club, which in turn limits the selection pool for the Ego election. One option is to reduce the minimum rank to captain, however this will increase the pool to approximately 50 members, some of which would be very junior captains.
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The other possibility is to increase the number of fleet captains in the club. This will allow a larger pool, as well as removing the issue of junior captains being able to run. This will, however, reduce the credibility of the fleet captain rank, so we may have to look at rebalancing the ranks (something that was not done when the two new flag ranks were added).
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Recommendation. More members should be eligible to run; therefore more members should be promoted to fleet captain. Each captain should be reviewed after 2 terms since their promotion to see if they are suitable for promotion.
Election Procedure
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It has been pointed out that EGO call for an election. This does seem counter-intuitive, as the election is initiated by either an Egotist resigning or the EGO term being 1 month from the end. There should be no need to ‘call’ an election.
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There is no need for the previous presidential EC to inform EGO nor the President that he is intending to run; he just needs to tell the President that he will not be the EC. The President can the select a replacement. Currently the EC, whilst an EA position, is subject to the veto of EGO. It has been questioned as to why this is the case, as an EA position belongs to the Office of the President.
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Recommendation. Given the sensitivity of the role of the EC, it should still be subject to the veto of EGO, however valid evidence must be given by EGO.
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There was a concern that the election was not publicised enough, even though the bylaw states that ” the Election Coordinator shall post a message on the main club announcement area”.
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Recommendation. All elections should be posted on the front page.
Election Co-ordinator
- The fact that the EC for the previous election is an egotist could be viewed by some members as a conflict of interest. Currently, the EC is the EC of the previous presidential election. If we were to prevent an Egotist being EC, we would need to change this rule. I do not feel that an egotist being the EC is too much of an issue, therefore I suggest we leave this how it is.
Bylaw
- Generally, the bylaw gets across the intent of EGO. There are, however, a few discrepancies which need to be resolved:
a. If an Egotist resigns, the most senior member in cabinet who isn’t already an elected official acts as an acting Egotist. If the resigning Egotist is actually the most senior member in cabinet, we get recurring loop.
b. Para 5 under ‘Irregularities’ is a direct copy of LEGOE and as such refers to the President continuing his term, rather than the Egotists
- Recommendation. EEEGO to be reviewed to clarify points raised above and improve wording. The review should purely be on the wording rather than looking to revise the rules.
Conclusion
- I order to keep the review on track, I have identified where an issue was already debated in Command during the initial review, as I do not intend to reopen those debates. Also, just because I have not mentioned a process or item in the bylaw, it does not mean that that area has no issues; it’s just that the club has not had a chance to put it to use on a live situation (e.g. impeachment procedure). Overall, this term for EGO has been successful, as it has not had to use any of its powers (which is actually what we want). To that end, I fully recommend that EGO remains as an oversight body against the legislative powers of the Office of President.
Written by: Rear Admiral Jack Dipper
Jen (President)