Hi everybody,
  
 I would like to thank Kathy Kleiman for nominating me for re-election to represent all of you on the GNSO Council, and would like to express my gratitude as well to everyone who indicated their support for the nomination. Special thanks go to Klaus Stoll and Marilia Maciel for their kind words. Marilia, if I'm only half as good as you describe I'd still be far better than I really am. Your kind words alone made the two years I'm about to complete on Council worthwhile. Thank you so much.
  
 I'm sorry it has taken me so long to make a decision about accepting the nomination. I love the job, love the work we do and after two years I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. It's a huge time commitment, though. Council functions as a bit of a project manager and to do the job properly you really need to be involved in multiple working groups, often in leadership roles, as welll as participate in normal Council activities.  It's a lot of work. My record was 17 calls in one week, 7 on a single day. Fifty to sixty e-mails a day are not unusual. It takes it's toll on friends, family and relationships. Before accepting Kathy's nomination  I needed to make sure it was OK with the people I'm closest to. In some ways, they make a greater sacrifice for my participation in ICANN activities than I do.  It wasn't automatic, and there were some gritted teeth,  but after a lot of discussion I think we've found a way to make it work. I therefore accept the nomination and would be honoured if you would consider returning me to Council for a final two year term.
  
 I look forward to submitting my candidate statement, participating in the candidate forum and answering any questions anyone may have, either on list or off list. Thanks for considering my candidacy and those of everyone else willing to volunteer to serve the NCSG in an elected capacity. Our wonderful members are what makes this all work. Thank you all for your efforts on behalf of the noncommercial community.
  
 Kind Regards,
  
 Edward Morris
  
  

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 From: "Marilia Maciel" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 3, 2016 11:48 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Nomination of Edward Morris   

Dear Kathy, thank you very much for this nomination. I fully support Ed for a second term in the GNSO council. I had the pleasure to serve with Ed in the council for the past year and I was extremely impressed by his substantive knowledge, his capacity to build bridges and negotiate with other SGs and his tenacity to defend NCSG's interests. Ed is also a wonderful person to work with, who defends his views passionately but also truly engages in frank dialogue with his peers, being open to change his mind, which is an important characteristic for this position.  

On his first term, Ed has been an outstanding councilor, with a unique understanding of legal aspects related to ICANN. Together with our colleagues Robin, Matthew, Avri, Brett and others, Ed has been key to ensure that the work of the CCWG Accountability took into account the positions espoused by the NCSG. He was tireless in negotiating paragraph by paragraph of the bylaws to ensure that our SG would have the necessary transparency instruments that would allow us to introduce adequate "checks and balances" into the work of ICANN. He gave support to our colleagues who were fighting hard to introduce human rights provisions into ICANN's bylaws.  

Many of the charters that we approved in the GNSO were carefully scrutinized by Ed, in terms of substance and procedural aspects. He fought to ensure that NCSG would have fair and equal representation in the composition of working groups. He also played a leading role in the discussion of ICANN's budget, an extremely technical topic, but a vital one for the future work of our SG. Ed pludged into complex issues that no one else would, he spent countless hours examining the budget and was responsible for making several amendments that leveled the playing field for non-commercial interests.  

Ed has a vast knowledge on intellectual property one, of the key concerns for our group. His presence as a GNSO councilor in the Rights Protection Mechanisms WG in the next terms will be very important for our SG to achieve and fair and balanced outcome, which also protects freedom of expression.  

Last but not least, Ed is a human being capable of deeply empathizing with his fellows, specially those who are somehow disadvantaged or suffering. During a time of heavy work and stress for him at the CCWG Accountability, Ed took the lead in campaigning for policy on sexual harassement. His passion and dedication to the topic were moving and made me admire Ed even more on a personal level.     

I hope we re-elect Ed Morris for the GNSO council. His presence would be key for the NCSG to make progress on some of the key policy and political issues that it will face in the next working cycle.  

Thank you for considering.  

 Marilia 
   
 From: "Klaus Stoll" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, August 1, 2016 1:41 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Nomination of Edward Morris   

Dear All,  

I fully support the nomination of Ed Morris as NCSG representative for the NCSG on the GNSO Council. Ed uniquely combines impeccable personal ethics with knowledge and smarts. I can not think of a better candidate that represents the whole spectrum of the NCSG with his heart and soul without ever selling out. Not to re-elect him would be a real shame to the detriment of the whole GNSO.  

I urge you to support Ed in the upcoming election  

Klaus 
  
      On 1 August 2016 at 15:13, Kathy Kleiman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:    

Dear All,  I am honored to nominate Edward Morris as European representative for the NCSG on the GNSO Council.   

Ed currently holds this position and, as we have seen, he takes his job very seriously. Ed works tirelessly as an NCSG representative in the Council's job of overseeing the policy development process. He fights to ensure that Issues Report and Charters - key documents that kick off a new Policy Development Processes - are fair and balanced. He works with our NCSG Counselors and others to guide well-developed policies (developed by the Working Groups) to the Board for adoption (without the changes and circumvention some parties often seek to add).   

Ed is a leader in the cross-cutting work of Council where he has led our GNSO response to ICANN's Budget with an in-depth review and critique, and key recommendations for changes. He regularly serves on Council subgroups working on responses to the issues the GNSO faces within ICANN.    

We know Ed best in the last two years as a leader in the CCWG process fighting for Transparency, Accountability and Free Expression. The thousands of hours he spent on these issue (alongside Robin, Matt and so many others) were critical to the provisions and bylaws adopted.   

As we continue the Transition, and three major Policy Development Processes (Registration Directory Services, Rights Protection Mechanisms Review and New gTLD Subsequent Procedures) now in progress, this is a great time to continue our outstanding leadership. Ed is a tireless advocate for our NCSG interests on Council and throughout ICANN. He is an attorney specializing in politics & government, free expression, intellectual property and cybersecurity and whose advocacy and legal skills are needed in this important time of change and trasition. His passion, advocacy skills, drafting skills, and Multistakeholder vision are well-known.    

My great thanks to Ed for his passion, commitment and thousands of hours of work for NCSG on Council, and I hereby submit Ed Morris' name to you for a second term as our European representative on the GNSO Council.    

Best regards,  Kathy Kleiman