Revised Wfo Rules

WORKING FAMILIES ORGANIZATION NEW YORK CITY COORDINATING COUNCIL CONSTITUTION & RULES (Revised April 2006) Under the state rules of the Working Families Organization (WFO) adopted on January 20, 2001 the New York City Coordinating Council is designated as the body that coordinates all WFO work within the five boroughs. 1. VOTING on the NEW YORK COORDINATING COUNCIL (“COUNCIL”) Voting is by organization – either by Affiliate, Chapter, Borough Committee or Club. A. An affiliate shall have the same number of votes on the Council that it has on the WFO State Committee, taking into account the amount it pays in affiliate dues, its participation in specific, approved party-building work, and the voting strength of its parent organization or of other affiliates of the same parent organization, provided that: i. Other than votes that an affiliate has earned through participation in specific, approved party building work, an affiliates votes are limited by the number of members it has in New York City, according to the following scale:1 100 members 1 vote 1,000 members 2 votes 4,000 members 3 votes 7,000 members 4 votes 10,000 members 5 votes 15,000 members 6 votes 20,000 members 7 votes 25,000 members 8 votes ii. No district-wide affiliate and local affiliate may affiliate the same members.2

For example, an organization that has affiliated 25,000 members statewide but has only 15,000 members in New York City may exercise only 6 votes through the payment of dues. 2 For example, if a district-wide organization with a total of 15,000 members in New York City has affiliated to its full capacity, it may not also affiliate its NYC local organizations. However, if a district-wide organization with 30,000 members in NYC affiliates 15,000 members, its NYC locals may also affiliate up to 15,000 members. 1

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B. “Chapters” and “Borough Committees” are borough-wide WFO organizations. Chapter and Borough Committee votes on the Council will be allocated according to the State Committee scale for chapter votes: C. 100 members 200 members 250 members 300 members

1 vote 2 votes 3 votes 4 votes

D. “Clubs” are neighborhood-based WFO organizations within each borough. Club votes on the Council are as follows: 50 members 1 vote 100 members 2 votes 200 members 3 votes 300 members 4 votes 2. COUNCIL LEADERSHIP The Council shall elect 4 co-chairs at the first meeting of the year. The co-chairs shall serve for 1 year. 1 co-chair shall be a City-based State WFO co-chair while another must be a Chapter or Club Steering Committee member or a Borough Committee representative. The remaining 2 co-chairs should be from affiliates. No co-chair should be from the same affiliate. The purpose of the co-chairs is to a) Develop the agendas for, and run Council meetings and b) represent the WFP at events, meetings and in correspondence regarding matters on which the Council has taken a clear position. 3. CHAPTERS A. A Chapter must have at least 250 dues-paying members to receive a full Charter, except on Staten Island where 100 will suffice. Dues paying membership for all WFO bodies within New York City shall be defined according to the definition in the State WFO rules. B. Chartered Chapters shall elect leadership at least every two years. Such elections shall be held during the first three months of the year. All members must be notified by mail or email of the meeting when the election will be held at least 10 days in advance. The Chapter leadership body shall be called a Chapter Steering Committee and shall have no fewer than seven members, with at least one-third elected on an at large basis by the general membership of the Chapter.

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C. Chapter Steering Committees shall meet at least 6 times a year. Quorum for Steering Committee meetings shall be 25% except for meetings at which endorsement recommendations are made for which quorum shall be 50%. Steering Committee members who fail to attend at least 4 Steering Committee meetings a year are subject to removal. D. As with non-NYC Chapters, local organizations within a borough shall affiliate first to the Chapter and receive an automatic seat3 on the Chapter Steering Committee, provided that: 1) The organization has paid its local affiliation dues, if the chapter has established such dues. 2) At least 10 members of the affiliate have joined as individual WFO members, including the representative on the Chapter Steering Committee. 3) The organization has agreed to promote voting on the WFP line among its membership. The at-large members of the Chapter Steering Committee shall be elected by the General Membership at the Annual Meeting. Steering Committee members elected at-large may be members of local affiliates as well. 4. CLUBS A. Neighborhood Clubs, formed inside a Borough, must have at least 50 dues-paying members to receive a Full Charter. B. Fully Chartered Clubs shall receive representation on the NYC Coordinating Council and shall have the right to make endorsement recommendations for their jurisdiction to the local Chapter. C. Chartered Clubs shall elect leadership at least every two years. Such elections shall be held during the first three months of the year. All members must be notified by mail or email of the meeting when the election will be held at least 10 days in advance. D. Clubs shall have a quorum requirement of 10%. 5. BOROUGH COMMITTEES A.

In boroughs with three or more fully chartered clubs, a majority of clubs in the borough may opt to form a Borough Committee.

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The right to an automatic seat on a Chapter Steering Committee is forfeited if attendance at SC meetings falls below 50% during a calendar year. 3

B.

Borough Committees shall be made up of representatives appointed by the elected leadership of every chartered club in the borough. The number of representatives from each club shall be based upon their membership numbers.

C.

Borough Committees are responsible for: a. Appointing borough-wide representatives to – and casting borough-wide votes on – the Council, the WFO State Committee, and the WFO State Executive Committee; b. Making endorsement recommendations to the Council on borough-wide elections and in races where all borough WFO members have notice of an opportunity to vote on endorsements.

D.

No borough may have both a Chapter and a Borough Committee.

6. CHARTERING OF CHAPTERS & CLUBS A. A group of individual WFO members in New York City seeking to form a Chapter or Club must submit a Charter Application to the Council. The Council shall approve or disapprove all applications for Charters within 60 days. No new Charter Applications will be accepted for areas for which we already have existing Chapters or Clubs. Chapters shall be organized on a countywide basis. New clubs will be chartered along Assembly District lines and shall in no case overlap with the jurisdiction of any already existing clubs. B. If a Chartered Chapter or Club falls under the required membership level, it temporarily loses its voting power on the Council. If the number of clubs with voting power represented by a Borough Committee falls below three, the Borough Committee temporarily loses its voting power on the Council. The status of Chapters and Clubs shall be reviewed by January 15 of each year. Reports shall then be issued to the leadership of each Chapter or Club soon thereafter. C. A Chapter Organizing Committee must have 50 members in good standing to apply for a Provisional Charter. This Provisional Charter provides 1/2 vote on all relevant bodies of the WFO for a period no longer than 12 months from the date it is granted, and prevents anyone else from receiving a charter in that jurisdiction. . D. The Council may revoke a Charter for any reason by a 2/3 vote. Such action shall also require State Executive Committee approval. E. Once a club organizing committee has recruited 15 members, they must apply to the Council for the club’s provisional charter. The Council will then determine whether or not to grant the provisional charter and for what jurisdiction. 7. MEETINGS A. Proxy voting is not allowed at chapter and club meetings. At Council meetings, organizational representatives may give their votes in proxy to other members of 4

the Council, but only in accordance with practices spelled out in the state WFO rules. B. When counting votes, abstentions will not be counted towards the overall vote total. However, votes for ‘no endorsement,’ will be counted towards the overall vote total. 8. ENDORSEMENTS A. All endorsement recommendations by Chapters, Borough Committees, and Clubs are advisory. Final recommendations by the Council shall be transmitted to the WFO State Executive Committee for final review and approval.4 B. Council endorsement recommendations for citywide races must be approved by a two-thirds vote. Other Council endorsement recommendations must be approved by a simple majority vote except as noted below. C. Chapter, Borough Committee, and Club Endorsement Recommendations 1) Any recommendation requires a majority of eligible votes cast. 2) Abstentions do not count as votes. 3) Where no candidate receives a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is dropped, and subsequent rounds of votes occur until a majority is reached. 4) “No Endorsement” is always an option in the first and all subsequent rounds. 5) A recommendation is not required and a chapter/club may always vote to make “No Recommendation,” thereby relieving the NYCCC of any override vote. 6) The preferred practice, although not required, is for all candidates for a given office be interviewed on the same day and at the same place and that all voters be present at all interviews for the office. D. Chartered Chapters may make endorsement recommendations to the Council on all races in their jurisdiction. Borough Committees may make endorsement recommendations to the Council on borough-wide elections and in races where all borough WFO members have notice of an opportunity to vote on endorsements. Neighborhood Clubs that are Fully Chartered, i.e. have at least 50 dues paying members in good standing, shall make recommendations for races in their jurisdiction to the Chapter or, if there is no Chartered Chapter, directly to the Council. For a Chapter to place a negative recommendation on a Club recommendation, or for the Council to overturn any lower body’s recommendation, a 2/3 vote is necessary. In such instances when a Chapter negatively recommends a Club’s recommendation, the Club’s recommendation is automatically forwarded to the Council for review. A 2/3 vote of the full Council is required to overturn a club’s recommendation.

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The State WFO rules require a 2/3 vote by the State Executive Committee to override Council endorsement recommendations, 5

E. NYC Coordinating Council Endorsement Votes 1) Where there is an applicable chapter/borough committee/club endorsement recommendation, the Council shall first vote on the recommendation. 2) If the chapter/ borough committee/club recommendation is overridden, the chair shall call for nominations. 3) A vote on the nomination(s) will then occur, with the same voting rules as for chapter/ borough committee/club endorsement votes being applicable. F. Chapters, Borough Committees or Clubs whose recommendations are not accepted shall not make independent endorsements in the name of that Chapter or Club. G. Chapters and Borough Committees shall make endorsement recommendations to the Council on a timely basis. Such recommendations shall be determined by vote of the general membership after receiving input from the Steering Committee or Borough Committee or a candidate screening committee, or by the Steering Committee alone in special circumstances. Each Chapter must have at least one membership meeting for endorsements each year, generally to be held in May, unless the membership votes at its annual meeting (when the Steering Committee is elected) to delegate that responsibility to the Steering Committee. Endorsement decisions that come up for consideration after the membership endorsement meeting has been held may be decided by the Steering Committee. F. Clubs must make endorsement recommendations to the larger Chapter (where they exist) or to the Council, on a timely basis. G. Only members in good standing, as defined by the WFO State rules, may vote on endorsement recommendations. H. In cases where a race overlaps more than one Club jurisdiction, or in cases where a race overlaps more than one Chapter or Borough Committee jurisdiction, the higher governing bodies should weigh the relative importance of each recommendation by considering two factors: 1) The number of members each body has in the district in question. 2) The number of election districts each body has in the district in question. For example: A congressional district in Queens overlaps the jurisdictions of both Club A and Club B. Specifically, the district overlaps with 6 Election Districts (ED’s) of Club A’s jurisdiction. 4 of Club A’s members live in those 6 ED’s. On the other hand, the district overlaps with 45 ED’s of Club B’s jurisdiction. 75 of Club B’s members reside in those 45 ED’s. 6

When reviewing the clubs’ recommendations for a race for that congressional district, the Queens Borough Chapter and the Council should give Club B’s recommendation more weight as it has both more ED’s and more members in the district. I. All Council endorsement decisions shall be transmitted on a timely basis to the WFO State Executive Committee for final approval. J. Early Endorsements by the NYC Coordinating Council 1) An early endorsement is one which occurs 120 days or more before the start of petitioning for the applicable office. 2) Any affiliate or member of the NYCCC who seeks an early endorsement vote shall notify the NYCCC Co-Chairs at least 30 days prior to the proposed vote. The co-chairs shall then promptly advise the applicable chapter/club of the application. 3) Unless waived by its steering committee(s), the chapter/club may make an early endorsement recommendation in the same manner as in regularly-timed endorsements. 4) Early Endorsements shall require a 2/3 vote of the NYCCC. 5) These rules do not apply to Special or City-wide Elections. K. Any club, chapter or NYCCC member who is an employee or on the staff (paid or unpaid) of a candidate in a race being considered for a WFP or WFO endorsement shall be ineligible to be present at an interview, or vote on an endorsement, of any candidate in such race. 9. Submission of Rules to Executive Committee Upon approval by a majority of the Council, these rules should be submitted to the WFO Executive Council for review and final approval, in keeping with established WFO procedures.

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