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March 13, 2006

Process Queen

I've overheard members of our board kid about how they are "process queens." The term of endearment is self-used by particular board members when they remind our board of proper bylaw procedures and the correct use of Robert's Rules of Orders. Its a good thing, but it reminds me a bit of growing up the son of a Southern Baptist preacher - where every church in the denomination seemed obsessed with approving every communion wafer through the proper committee, and where every church had its bureaucracy capped by a "Committee on Committees."

Most of you know that our Executive Director Eric has decided to step down and take time off from politics. Its that straight-forward. I wish he was staying. The board wishes he was staying, but he's leaving us in great shape so the normal anxiety that comes with a transition at the top isn't there.

The only anxiety I've gotten since Eric first made his announcement is from reporters trying to figure out if there is a "real" reason for him leaving. In Washington, public reasons for departure aren't usually the real ones. However, this is an exception (even I, when reading such announcements, think "okay, what is the real reason?").

I just put out our official announcement on Eric's departure. I spent a lot of time on the process, and it was one of the most difficult releases I have written. The difficulty wasn't in the subject, but trying to figure out how to make the very real reason I was putting down seem like the very real reason that it is. Maybe Washington has made me too cyncial, or maybe it has just made me into too much of a process queen. In any case, that's the real reason...really.

Posted by John at March 13, 2006 05:14 PM