I thought it proper that the reply to the NARALO-raised questions should come from one of the NARALO-named committee members, but I believe that Beau is out of the country and I have not been able to make contact with Robert, so I will give my thoughts on this. They are solely mine and do not represent Robert or Beau. At the end of the last NARALO discussion, we were left with Hugh Dierker, Michael Geist and Evan Leibovitch, since Wendy was no longer a candidate. Michael later withdrew his name. None of the NA people on the ALAC personally knew Dierker, and were not comfortable with putting his name forward to the rest of the ALAC. That was not a statement that we felt he would not make a good rep, just that we did not feel comfortable with it. Although this may be troublesome to some RALO people, I would find it unconscionable if ALAC members from any region would present a name to the committee that none of the members personally felt comfortable with, especially if there were alternatives available. Evan has garnered a significant amount of respect in his short time working with the ALAC and was thus a definite possibility. But there was a feeling that he was not sufficiently familiar with ICANN and its component organizational functions, responsibilities and personnel requirements to sit on this year's NomCom. There was a consensus that another name on the selection list would be a good thing. Based on past knowledge, Robert suggested that Ross might be a good candidate. Although his day-job is for a registrar, he has shown significant concern for the needs of end-users. His intelligence coupled with his integrity seemed to make him a possible candidate. I had has worked with him on the GNSO and had a similar opinion. Ross is very familiar with ICANN and its component bodies, but at the same time, is not part of the "establishment". Arguably, we should have more pro-actively informed the NARALO of this decision at the time it was taken, and for that I apologize. Given the time-frame set by the ALAC for selecting the NomCom reps, there was no time for additional consultation. Although the Wiki was the only PUBLIC announcement that was made, there were messages on the internal ALAC list which made it evident why we had decided to add Ross to the list, and what the possible concerns were regarding selecting him (that is, his employment). The responsibility of the ALAC is to consult with the region, and that was done. Moreover, one of the two confirmed names submitted by the RALO was a candidate. We deliberately did not anoint Ross as the sole NA person for the job, but included both names on the list. Regarding the process used by the ALAC. Bret is correct that formal voting is not called for in the Bylaws. Although I have not been present for previous NomCom selections, I understand that in these cases, each region proposed one or more names, and the ALAC, through some mechanism which I think included face-to-face discussion, came to a consensus. I would have preferred such a mechanism this time, but partially due to time constraints (and I suspect partly because a new voting tool was available), the committee chose to take a formal vote. For the record, the only candidates for each slot were those proposed by the regional ALAC members, so there is zero probability that the rest of the committee could "hijack" the selection and name someone not supported by the regional ALAC members. I will be travelling this weekend, and will have no opportunity to read any responses or reply today, and little opportunity for the rest of the weekend. I will follow up as necessary when time permits. Alan