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> Here are some New Mexico documents that Grant has been using lately, in |
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> his heroic efforts to get things back on track: |
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> |
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> http://tinyurl.com/2v6qtl |
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> |
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> It might be a good idea for potential trustees to have a read of those, |
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> and see how much they can make sense of (and see just how uninteresting |
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> the task seems to be, at least in my opinion!) |
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> |
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> Daniel |
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> -- |
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> gentoo-nfp@g.o mailing list |
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|
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Hi everyone, figured I'd jump into this discussion here. |
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|
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I actually disagree with the suggestion that trustees should become |
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legal experts. While some knowledge is helpful, they should primarily |
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rely on a competent lawyer and/or accountant to guide them through the |
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process of running the Foundation and filing all paperwork properly. |
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|
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I think one of the major mistakes made in the past is that the |
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Foundation trustees relied on free legal help, and the lawyers |
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assisting the Foundation had no experience practicing law in the state |
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of New Mexico. |
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|
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So not only did the lawyers had no financial incentive to work quickly |
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(since, presumably, they had a fairly demanding "day job" that was |
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their priority,) but they did not have the necessary experience to |
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offer timely assistance regarding NM state law. This is not to knock |
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their generous donation of legal services, it's just that a NM lawyer |
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knows how to do all the NM paperwork because they do it every day. So |
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I would call this a lapse of judgment on the part of the trustees, or |
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a lack of focus. |
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|
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The first task of the new trustees should be to find a lawyer who has |
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experience practicing law in the state of New Mexico, as well as |
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finding a registered agent service. The trustees are supposed to be |
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looking out for the health of Gentoo as a whole, not trying to be |
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lawyers. When trustees try to be lawyers is when I think things have |
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the potential to go downhill as the trustees then are distracted with |
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issues they don't have clear answers for and they aren't particularly |
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skilled at. |
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|
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I think another downfall has been this lack of focus - basically |
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"majoring in the minors" and not simply diving in and successfully |
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running the organization as it currently exists for a while before |
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trying to improve things democratically, organizationally, etc. |
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|
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The problem is that all the developers and trustees have convinced |
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themselves that they are supposed to be doing all the legal stuff and |
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nothing more. This is exactly what they shouldn't be doing. However, |
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they should be making sure that the legal stuff *gets done.* Again |
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note that making sure it gets done is not the same as trying to do it |
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yourself. |
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|
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-Daniel |
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-- |
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gentoo-nfp@l.g.o mailing list |