11th Legislative District Democrats Special Rules
Definition: The 11th Legislative District Democrats (11th LD Democrats) Policies and Procedures Committee was created by the 11th LD Chair to develop special rules to facilitate the process of district endorsements, resolutions and acceptable terms of use for the electronic and written communication of the district.
The 11th LD Democrats approved by-laws supersede all special rules and rules of conduct.
Any questions or concerns regarding these special rules may be addressed to any Executive Board Member or the Policies and Procedures Committee Chair, Alene Brede.
Purpose: The purpose of these special rules is to provide information to members and interested parties of the 11th Legislative District Democrats (11th LD Democrats) policies on endorsements, resolutions and communications. It is the committee’s intention that the development and posting of these special rules will facilitate an efficient process for interested parties seeking to propose resolutions or to receive an endorsement from the 11th LD Democrats. In addition, – the committee – has established communications terms of acceptable use to assist the district’s members and interested parties in understanding the terms of use of the district’s website, forum and listserv.
Endorsements
Rules of Conduct
The 11th LD Democrats by-laws are the final governing authority and are available for viewing on the 11th LD Democrats website and at all general membership meetings.
The 11th LD Democrats membership prefers to make informed decisions when considering the endorsement of candidates. The rules of conduct herein were developed to assist both the membership and qualified candidates in gaining successful endorsements from the 11th LD Democrats membership.
Any candidate seeking the endorsement of the 11th LD Democrats should notify the 11th LD Democrats Chair with their request for endorsement consideration.
During the election process, the 11th LD Democrats will utilize the findings and completed questionnaires submitted to the King County Democrats when considering endorsement requests. All candidates should fill out the questionnaire and participate in the endorsement process provided by the King County Democrats. The 11th LD Democrats website will provide links to any completed applications posted on the King County Website, for the membership to review prior to any regularly scheduled membership meeting where candidate endorsements will be considered.
The 11th LD Democrats Chair or – a designee shall notify the candidate the date of the general membership meeting when their request for endorsement will be considered. It is strongly encouraged that either the candidate or their designee attends the 11th LD Democrats membership meeting at which their endorsement shall be considered. The district will provide reasonable table space at general membership meetings for candidates to place flyers and other informational brochures.
Petitions for any exception to the rules above must be brought to the 11th LD Democrats Chair for consideration.
Resolutions
Rules of Conduct
The 11th LD Democrats by-laws are the final governing authority and are available for viewing on the 11th LD Democrats website and at all general membership meetings.
The 11th LD Democrats membership prefers to make informed decisions when considering resolutions. The rules of conduct herein were developed to assist both the membership and the interested party proposing a resolution in gaining successful resolutions by the 11th LD Democrats membership.
Proposed resolutions must be submitted to the 11th LD Democrats Chair in writing or by email at least 10 days prior to the -General Membership meeting. Resolutions that are provided in electronic format will be posted to the district’s website for review by the membership within 3 days of receipt. In order to substantially increase the possibility for support of a resolution, it is recommended that proposed resolutions are submitted prior to the 11th LD Democrats Executive Board meeting The Executive Board may research, advise and recommend action on any resolution to the membership in accordance with the district’s bylaws.
The 11th LD Democrats Chair shall notify the individual proposing the resolution of the date of the general membership meeting the resolution will be considered. It shall be the responsibility of the individual proposing a resolution, to provide a sufficient number of copies to the membership at the meeting. It is recommended that the resolution’s author or designee be present at the meeting to make a short presentation on the topic, make the resolution motion and answer as required the membership. The district will provide reasonable table space at the general membership meeting for resolution copies, flyers and other informational brochures.
Petitions for any exception to the rules above must be brought to the 11th LD Democrats Chair for consideration.
Communications
Rules of Conduct
The 11th LD Democrats shall maintain a website as a communication tool to publish current event information, Executive Board contact information, precinct and caucus locations, approved district by-law information and any other information that the Executive Board or 11th LD Democrats Chair or District Webmaster deems relevant or necessary to the political process of the 11th LD Democrats.
The 11th LD Democrats Chair shall appoint a District Webmaster in accordance with the 11th LD Democrats by-laws. It is recommended that the District Webmaster submit the name of a district member for to serve as a Backup Webmaster for approval by the 11th LD Democrats Chair. This will ensure website continuity in the case of illness, vacations or other absences of the District Webmaster that would cause the district website to not remain current or up-to-date. All current domain passwords, registration information and hosting information shall be made available to the appointed 11th LD Democrats Chair, District Webmaster and Backup Webmaster.
The District Webmaster may develop a listserv as a communication tool to be available to those that wish to communicate with members of the 11th LD Democrats via email. In addition, the District Webmaster may institute and maintain a Community Discussion Forum which shall be an open forum for community discussion. The District Webmaster shall institute and publish terms of acceptable use of these communications tools and publish them on the website for review by the district’s membership. All terms of acceptable use shall be approved by the 11th LD Democrats Executive Board.
Listserv Terms of Acceptable Use
The 11th District Democrats have created a listserv (automated group e-mail) for use by our members to enable the quick dissemination of information regarding important information about Democrat activities and for building the organization’s membership base.
Membership
Any member or associate member of the 11th LD Democrats may join the 11th LD Democrats Listserv. Membership in the Listserv may be limited or suspended at the discretion of the 11th LD District Democrats Webmaster, Backup Webmaster or any Executive Board member if it has been determined that the member in question has violated the 11th LD Democrats s approved Terms of Acceptable Use. All suspension of privileges on the district Listserv shall be presented at the 11th LD Democrats Executive Board Meeting for review. A Listserv member who contests the removal of privileges may present their arguments to the Executive Board for a review of the decision to revoke privileges and or request reinstatement. The Executive Board shall be the final authority in matters governing the terms of acceptable use of the 11th LD Democrats Listserv.
Posting and Participation Rules
The 11th LD Democrats Listserv is primarily a communication tool and is not to be utilized for private spamming, or commercial use. The use of Listserv members’ personal information for commercial use or gain is strictly prohibited.
The posting of any material which is knowingly false or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person’s privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law is strictly prohibited.
All posts in the 11th LD Democrats Listserv become the sole property of the 11th LD Democrats. No copyrighted materials shall be permitted unless presented and authorized by the legal copyright owner in writing to the 11th LD Democrats Webmaster or Backup Webmaster.
The District Webmaster, Backup Webmaster and District Chair reserve the right to remove any postings that are deemed inappropriate or in any way violate the terms of acceptable use.
Community Discussion Forum Terms of Acceptable Use
The 11th LD Democrats have created an 11th LD Democrats Community Discussion Forum. It is the intent of the Discussion Forum to encourage participation in and the exercise of Free Speech. It is also intended to attract members and keep them involved in the Democratic process.
Members
No political affiliation or democrat membership is required to participate as a member of the Community Discussion Forum however, members that exhibit behaviors and posts that indicate that their participation is solely to act as a “troll” representative of any political party other than the democrats may have their posting privileges revoked. Membership in the Community Discussion Forum may be limited or suspended at the discretion of the 11th LD Democrats Webmaster, Backup Webmaster or any Executive Board member if it has been determined that the member in question has violated the District’s approved terms of acceptable use. All suspension of privileges on the Community Discussion Forum shall be presented at the District’s Executive Board Meeting for review. A Community Discussion Forum member who contests the removal of privileges may present their arguments to the Executive Board for a review of the decision to revoke privileges and or request reinstatement. The Executive Board shall be the final authority in matters governing the acceptable use of the Community Discussion Forum.
Posting and Participation Rules
All posts in the 11th LD Democrats Community Discussion Forums become the sole property of the 11th LD Democrats. No copyrighted materials shall be permitted unless presented and authorized by the legal copyright owner in writing to the 11th LD Democrats District Webmaster or Backup Webmaster.
The posting of personal information on this website for the purposes of defaming another individual or targeting another individual for harassment will not be tolerated. The Community Discussion Forum are intended to be utilized for issues important to the 11th LD Democrats political process and are not intended to be utilized as a personal bulletin board. No member may attempt to utilize the Community Discussion Forum as a sales tool or to gain personal information from its members for the purposes of spamming, identity theft or commercial interests. Placing multiple posts with identical or very similar content in different forums or threads will be considered spam and will be deleted at the discretion of the District Webmaster or Backup Webmaster.
The posting of campaign events of candidates is acceptable as long as the candidates have either an affiliation with the Democratic Party or have “self declared” that they are a Democrat.
The posting of any material which is knowingly false or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person’s privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law is strictly prohibited.
The 11th LD Democrats Webmaster, Backup Webmaster and 11th LD Democrats Chair reserve the right to remove any postings that are determined to be in conflict with generally accepted democrat principles and platforms or represent known political party affiliations other than the Democrats.
The 11th LD Democrats Webmaster, Backup Webmaster and 11th LD Democrats Chair reserve the right to remove any postings that are deemed inappropriate or in any way violate the terms of acceptable use.
Private Information – Best Practice Guidelines
It is strongly recommended that members do not advertise or otherwise list their real names or personal information such as social security numbers, addresses, email addresses or phone numbers in any post. Choose a member name that protects your identity. Be aware that the Community Discussion Forum posts are public and viewable by anyone. As an example, do not say anything in this forum that you would not wanted posted as the lead story in the local newspaper.
