On December 10, AFSA received a letter from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) conveying the results of their investigation of the 2009 AFSA Governing Board elections. The letter states that the DOL investigation found probable cause to conclude that the election may not have been conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), mentioning that state.gov e-mail addresses, AFSA members' email address lists, and the Foreign Service Journal were used to promote the campaigns of both slates.
The DOL invited AFSA to meet and discuss their findings and to seek to agreement on future action, which we welcome and are pursuing. AFSA election reform and in particular clarifying and updating appropriate means of campaign communication is a priority.
The current AFSA Governing Board continues to be the duly constituted Governing Board until the next election is held. We will keep you informed of developments as they occur.
This looks like item# 2 in my list of post-election possibilities:
-- Wrongdoing occurred but results stand: If OLMS decide that wrongdoing occurred but it did not affect the outcome of the election, it could rule that the election results stand as is.
I would like to see the DOL decision myself but so far, no one has been kind enough to send it to me and I doubt very much if AFSA will post it on its website or Facebook page.
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3 comments:
It's possible it might be item #2, but it wasn't just slates running against each other in this election; there were independents as well. We'll see. The way I hear it, some sort of re-run is inthe offing -- I just don't know whether it will be re-runs of particular races or the entire election.
Thanks NDS! I haven't forgotten the independents but it looks like we're down to three options then -- DOL decide that even with the infractions, the result should stay or they could order a total re-run or a partial re-run. I don't know - perhaps its time to try doing away with the slates and see how that goes.
The way the AFSA message is phrased doesn't seem to give an indication that a re-run is in the works. It's almost as if they are negotiating for future elections with this behind them. I'm actually wondering if some sort of appeal with DOL is going on with this specific decision. I'm sure we'll know before too long...
I hope governing board shares the letter and information about the dispute. With the two slates splitting the election results, I realise that at least some members of the board are in for some embarassment. Still, as dues-paying, voting members, we should have a right to more information.
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