April 23 - The Committee on Reference

In 1988, I observed at the Committee on Reference. Having sat in on the orientation of the committee led by someone from the Committee on the General Conference, I walked with him as he left after the break, questioning the rules about committee members controlling which petitions would be considered by the legislative committees they represented and that they could also determine the order in which those petitions were to be considered. I asked about the rule which said petitions could be dropped once a petition on that paragraph was accepted by the legislative committee. I pointed out just how manipulative that was. He simply said those were the rules passed by General Conference and he was only explaining them. When I tried to go back in to observe the meeting after their break, I was muscled out of the room. I learned many days later about Paragraph 721 which provides for open meetings with a very few exceptions. They really had no right to remove me. I guess my questions rankled someone, though to my knowledge no one on the committee was aware of them.

I have made it a point to attend as many of their sessions as I can ever since. In 2008, their sessions were the site of my having a kidney stone attack from which I ended up going to the emergency room. Up until that moment in Fort Worth, I had been impressed with the integrity of the group and its leadership. So leaving the committee was okay.

This Monday night in Tampa, I stayed long enough to learn that the person who chaired the committee in 2008 was elected to chair it again in 2012. I felt I did not need to return to observe any of their sessions.

Interestingly, the General Conference rules are much the same as they were in 1988 but I heard nothing like what was said back then.

Until the rules change, and if different people are elected the committee’s officers, that will be the first committee I will observe in the future.