October 16, 2015
by Don Hughes
At its May meeting, the Club’s national Board of Directors voted to eliminate proportional representation in the Atlantic Chapter’s Executive Committee (the “ExCom”). The change, which also affects the Pennsylvania and Tennessee chapters, requires each of the 11 groups in New York state to have a single delegate.
Previously, the number of delegates accorded each Group was proportional to its size. The New York City Group, with over 13,000 members, will see its Group-elected delegates drop from five to one. Other large Groups, including Long Island, Lower Hudson, and Hudson-Mohawk, will lose delegates. The overall size of the ExCom will drop from 28 to 20.
The Chapter ExCom, at a special meeting on July 29, approved the change “under duress and with full objection” in a vote of 15 to 9. Chapter Chair Carl Arnold noted, prior to the vote, “The constitutional system worked out for Congress and state legislatures is extremely fair because it’s based on both geographic and proportional representation.” But he added, “[The] directive from the national board is not up for negotiation.”
The board’s action followed a 60-day public comment period in which opinions were solicited regarding both term limits and the one-group-one-delegate rule. Many chapter leaders raised objections to the latter, including the author of this article. Moreover, the chapter ExCom passed a resolution on April 25, which stated:
“The Atlantic Chapter opposes the proposal that the national Sierra Club impose new restrictions on the governance of chapters and groups. ...the Atlantic Chapter is characterized by marked disparities in the size of its groups, with the largest group (New York City) having more than fourteen times as many members as the smallest. ...the modified proportional representation in the Atlantic Chapter has worked well in our circumstances for many years, and the Chapter should not be compelled to abandon it.”
In 2014, the national Board of Directors was considering ways to limit the size of chapter executive committees. The desire, according to director Jim Dougherty, was to create smaller ExComs. There are studies concluding that smaller bodies function better.
The elimination of proportional representation was put out for comments beginning in March 2015. David Scott, the out-going Club president, reported that “most of the comments on proportional representation were supportive,” and that most chapters were not affected. As it turns out, proportional representation was used only in two: the Pennsylvania and Atlantic chapters.
Don Hughes is an at-large delegate to the Chapter’s Executive Committee.