Talk:Archive:Ombudsman Appeals

Gareth, I must question some of this interpretation. From my understanding of the Charter text, and I drafted some of these sections, it was never the intent to have the Ombudsman be, other than in an extremely narrow sense, the final authority for appeals.

The model was, to a certain extent, taken from that of the U.S.Senate, where the Vice-President can only vote to break ties, although he may preside. In the case of the Appeals procedure, the preferred outcome would be that the MC designee and the EC designee would agree on the disposition of the appeal, so the Ombudsman would not need to vote. If they disagreed, the Ombudsman would break the tie, but even then, it's not a matter of the OMB making a ruling -- it's a matter of the OMB supporting the position of one designee.

My personal opinion, from the Charter work, is it was never expected for the OMB to be proactive, to be the authorityon interpreting the Charter, etc. If anyone was to be proactive, it was the ME. Some of the things we have experienced were not expected, and we need either interim rules or Chart amendments to deal with them.

For example, a mediator has to have the appearance and reality of neutrality. We don't want to cut off your wise comments, but I don't think the same person can be an early participant in increasingly heated discussion, and then try to mediate. What I believe would be a reasonable approach, if the OMB proper wanted to enter discussion, would be first to appoint an alternate mediator who will not participate in general discussion, but would act if mediation is requested. Personally, I don't think this needs the Charter to be amended, but others may not agree. Howard C. Berkowitz 16:38, 26 December 2010 (UTC)