I am struck by the thin list of candidates released by AFSA for its 2011 election. First, you see the familiar names, no real surprise there. Two, there's one slate running, the 21st Century AFSA slate, and that's it. Three, there are independents running not listed as members of any slate; that's not a bad thing, by the way.
Whatever happened to last election's Team AFSA and CLEAN slates?
Four, the numbers are glaringly thin -- they hurt the eyes. For the AFSA officers' line-up, there is exactly one candidate running for each position except for president, where Tex Harris is challenging the incumbent, Susan Johnson.
For constituency representatives, there is exactly one candidate for USAID (allocated two elected reps), one candidate for FCS and no/no candidates at all for FAS and IBB. For State Department reps, 6 candidates are running for 10 elected positions (four of the 6 are with the slate). For retiree reps, 7 candidates are running for 4 elected positions (2 of the 7 are with the slate).
It looks like last election's food fight not only attracted the attention of the Department of Labor, it also appears to turn off a lot of members from putting their feet into AFSA politics.
We'll have to see what the election turn out will be like in a few months.
Below is the announcement from afsa.org:
The AFSA Committee on Elections has approved the following candidates for positions on the ballot for the AFSA Governing Board for the 2011-2013 term. If you are a regular voting member of AFSA as of March 1, a ballot and the special election edition of AFSA News will be mailed to you on or about March 28, 2011. Please read the instructions with and on the ballot carefully. Any position for which there is no candidate will be filled by the eligible AFSA member who receives the most write-in votes. If no one is elected on this basis, the new Governing Board will fill the vacancies.
Completed ballots must be received in the PO Box by 9:00am June 2, 2011. Ballots will be counted on June 2, 2011. The new AFSA Governing Board will take office on July 15, 2011.
AFSA members are encouraged to visit the AFSA website to participate in a discussion forum with candidates. Candidates may post statements to this forum and respond to members' questions. All members must register to participate by clicking on the “Register” link below the user log in boxes.
The candidates' statements will also be posted on the AFSA website at the time of the ballot mailing.
If you have not already done so, please ensure AFSA has your current address on record. To update your address information, send an email to member@afsa.org.
IMPORTANT:
If you do not receive your ballot by April 18, 2011, please contact AFSAelectionsupervisor@dol.gov and provide your full name, work location, current address, telephone number and the last four digits of your social security number.
2011 Candidates
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Officers:
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President:
Tex Harris
Susan Johnson *
Secretary:
Susan M. Shultz *
Treasurer:
Andrew Winter *
USAID VP:
Francisco Zamora
FCS VP:
Keith Curtis
FAS VP:
David Mergen
State VP:
Daniel Hirsch *
Retiree VP:
Robert Houdek
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Constituency Representatives:
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USAID Rep (2):
Michael Henning
FCS Rep (1):
Steve Morrison
FAS Rep (1):No candidate
IBB Rep (1): No candidate
State Reps (10)
Matthew Asada *
Les Hickman *
Kenneth Kero-Mentz*
Kimberly C. Krhounek *
Elise Mellinger
David Zwach
Retiree Reps (4)
Janice Bay
Harry Blaney
Mary Ellen Gilroy *
David T. Jones
Edward Marks
Hugh Neighbour *
Molly Williamson
(* = member of the 21st Century AFSA slate)
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