JCD 1403

ee.umc.org/decisions/81529

 

On Who May Direct Delegates

 

Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference was challenged for trying it.  Efforts by annual conferences to give directions of any kind to delegates are forbidden under church law.  Some groups in bodies that send delegates to General Conference have wanted to control their vote.  They have seen how, occasionally, individuals elected have not voted as expected.  The reason they wanted that delegate who did not follow through as anticipated became to them a wasted effort and a set back for their agenda.

 

But the Judicial Council has struck down every such attempt because of the principle that they are “delegates” and not “representatives.”  Representatives are expected to vote the way their constituents ask them.  Delegates are to be free to evaluate and integrate any new information that comes up in the considerations of the body to which they are delegated to participate and vote their conscience, rather than whatever bias their constituents preferred.

 

This time, though, the issue was not as much content as degree of participation.  Apparently, the delegation did not always participate in General Conference meetings and the annual conference wanted to be able to require participation.  The Judicial Council, in its rationale and two concurring opinions, strongly struck down even that degree of control of their delegates, leaving enforcement of taking part in the hands of the General Conference.

 

Having attended many General Conferences as an observer, I do not recall there being “attendance police” grabbing delegates from the cafeteria and dragging them up to plenary.  I confess to finding much of what happens in the sessions of the full gathering to be a “dog and pony show” instigated by the Council of Bishops to promote their agenda rather than allow full discussion of some of the key topics before the assembly.  I’d seen it happen at annual conferences and can understand why delegates could slip out just to get away from the propaganda or other waste of what little time they had for real dialogue.  That allowed me time to meet with some delegates on the side during plenary, which I found to be helpful as I advocated for fair treatment of clergy and better legislation.

 

Most delegates were good about attending.  I seldom saw many empty seats among the delegations, except up in the front where the bishops could sit.  Up there, only a handful of bishops were usually present and they sat close to the presiding bishop in order to be available in case the presider needed to consult about managing a knotty issue before the “house.”  Otherwise, bishops rarely attended the legislative sessions.

 

Delegates have to be free to change their vote or they would become obstructions to the body being able to make a decision.  Delegates have to be free to come and go as the circumstances of the General Conference move.  Annual conferences rarely send irresponsible people to General Conference and their judgment of the best use of their time while there should be trusted.  The rules for delegates’ actions are established early by the General Conference, freshly drawn each quadrennium.  Expectation of participation is set pretty high from the beginning.  So the separation of powers over who directs the delegates is well established.