Originally Posted by Dovster

If you need to blame someone for not having North American representation on TB this year, it should be me.

When I was first elected to TB there was a rule that at least one member had to live outside of the US. Although, obviously, this would help me when I ran for re-election, I did not like the rule (and still do not).

It seemed to me a bit ridiculous that we could have 20 candidates for TB, 19 of them could get more votes than me, and I would still be elected because there were no other non-North American residents on TB or running.

I made a motion to eliminate this rule. Five members voted in favor, 3 against, and one abstained. As 6 votes were needed for a motion to pass, it was defeated. Randy, however, favored the idea and abolished the old requirement.

For much of TB's experience, the whole matter has been theoretical. In fact, in my first term, there were 3 non-US/Canada members on TB -- meaning that we actually were over-represented in proportion to foreign membership numbers.

In almost all of the years that TB has existed there have been one or more represenatives from overseas on it.

I firmly believe that the FT membership is cosmpolitan enough to vote for the candidates they prefer without taking nationality into consideration.