Board Composition Proposal

[Mike McGrath]

On Mon, 16 Aug 2010, inode0 wrote:

> I'd like to take a minute to actually propose something concrete for
> the Board to consider as it sees fit in the coming months. The
> conversation in the related thread has now veered off into areas I
> don't want to pursue.
>
> Proposed Changes:
>
> F15 Election (the next election): no change
> F16 Election : convert the post election appointed seat to an elected seat
> F17 Election: convert the post election appointed seat to an elected seat
>
> The principle reason I want to make this change is to empower the
> Fedora community to effectively control the composition of its primary
> governance body. I also want it to be clear to everyone both inside
> and outside of Fedora that it is the Fedora Project who determines who
> governs the project.
>
> I accept the reasons given for retaining some appointed seats as
> sound. Looking back over the past four elections it appears to me that
> the post election appointment was used to seat the candidate who
> received the most votes without landing in an elected seat. This I
> think argues that we are not short of strong and capable candidates
> running and don't need to consider reducing the number of Board seats
> unless there are other considerations.
>

+1 from me in theory but -1 for actually doing it.  There's some practical
problems:

1) This artificially gives the the board a much higher chance of being even
more Red Hat based.  We have an unfair advantage in that we can spend more
time working on Fedora.  Therefore we know more people, have more time to
campaign, make a difference, etc.  It's not fair to volunteers and would
skew the board.

June 2008: 3 out of 3 elected were Red Hat
December 2008: 1 out of 2 were Red Hat
June 2009: 3 out of 3 elected were Red Hat
December 2009: 0 out of 2 were Red Hat
May 2010: 2 out of 3 were Red Hat

2) We don't always have many people run for the Board.  It can be a
struggle to convince people to run.  Getting appointed to for balance is
helpful and practical.

	-Mike