I vote yes, to sustain the ruling. The language of the policy manual is that the non-LNC members are "selected by the LNC Chair" on the recommendation of the COC. There is no explicit language governing dismissals. 

While I would agree that a new member would need recommendation by the COC (although this may become moot due to a pending motion), our policy manual chose to be silent on the mechanism of dismissal and in that case it rests with who held appointment power. Presumably a Chair could refuse to appoint someone recommended by the COC, and the result would be a vacant seat. The Chair therefore ultimately selects the members.

In an analogous situation (President's removal of an appointee who had received Senate confirmation for a fixed term, with no explicit language governing dismissals), the U.S. Supreme Court held in Myers v. United States that the President may remove such a person. Congress since has deliberately included such language when the agency involved is intended to be independent of the executive branch, vs. when it is intended to be subordinate to the executive (or legislative). That case incidentally officially exonerated President Andrew Johnson, whose impeachment was pretextually about such a removal without Senate consent.

 I've never been quite clear whether the COC is intended to be independent or subordinate, as they can act independently in some, but not all, decisions delegated to them. This lack of clarity also mitigates against insulating members from removal. I would support efforts to clarify it further, however.

JBH


On May 31, 2020 4:18 PM, Caryn Ann Harlos via Lnc-business <lnc-business@hq.lp.org> wrote:

EMAIL BALLOT 200531-1  APPEAL FROM THE RULING OF THE CHAIR CONCERNING
REMOVAL OF DANIEL HAYES FROM THE COC

We have an electronic mail ballot.

Votes are due to the LNC-Business list by June 7, 2020 at 11:59:59 pm
Pacific time.

Co-Sponsors:  Goldstein, Harlos, Longstreth, Phillips, Smith

=============================================


Motion: The Chair has ruled he can not only remove Daniel Hayes as CoC
chair but also from the committee entirely.  Harlos appeals from the ruling
of the chair that he can remove Hayes from the committee without CoC
approval since appointment required CoC approval.

=============================================

THRESHOLD REQUIRED:  A majority vote is required to overturn the ruling of
the chair.


You can keep track of the Secretary's manual tally of votes here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VntkXkkuQouUiWbt9bnI_TjSMKDiTaDDpvsYtTmJdhE/edit#gid=1053534570.
Votes are noted with a link to the actual ballot cast for verification. You
can find the time that the manual tally was last updated at the bottom of
the sheet.


Please notify me of any discrepancies.

*  In Liberty,*
* Personal Note:  I have what is commonly known as Asperger's Syndrome
(part of the autism spectrum).  This can affect inter-personal
communication skills in both personal and electronic arenas.  If anyone
found anything offensive or overly off-putting (or some other social faux
pas) in an actual email, please contact me privately and let me know.  *