[Elections] Stepping down (and stepping up)

[Peter Crowther]

> From: goran at krampe.se
> but do recall that the current Team
> model says that the assignment of team leaders is formally done by the
> board: http://www.squeak.org/Community/Teams/

Yes.  I think that is a very effective mechanism in general.  However,
the elections team *may* (or may not) be special.  Let me outline my
thinking, and see what you think.

In essence, somebody needs to decide whether the Elections team is
supposed to be independent of the Board (and visibly so) or whether it
is to remain under the control of the Board.  This is akin to the
separation of powers between the legislature (those who make the laws),
the executive (those who ensure that the laws are put into effect) and
the judiciary (those who arbitrate in disputes about the laws) in some
political systems, notably the American system (and notably not the
English system, which is horribly confused).  Such separation of powers
is usually enshrined in some form of constitution, and is designed to
ensure that no one part of the system can go on the rampage.  Some parts
of such systems are notoriously political - for example, who appoints
the head of the judicial system?

At present, the Board can remove any member from any team and can assign
team leaders - and are sometimes willing to use that power unilaterally,
as Ken has recently demonstrated.  There is no limit to the Board's
power within the team system, and it is solely accountable to the wider
community at some appropriate interval.

We (the community and the board, as the elections team has no standing
at present) may wish matters to stay like that, or we may wish to put
some checks and balances in place - for example, by separating out a
group of people to devise a constitution and/or revise the voting
process in the light of feedback.  If that group is separated, we should
think about matters such as separation of powers.  We may want to
construct some similar system.  If this is the group that is presently
the elections team, we may wish to make it independent of some of the
normal team machanisms.

		- Peter