When the ICANN board voted on XXX in the public meeting in San Francisco there were a number of people who abstained.
One of them was ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom, who said that he would provide a reason for his abstention at a later date.
That reason has now been provided: (thanks to @thereforeICANN on Twitter)
This was an extremely difficult decision. There were extensive discussions and debate by the Board on this matter.
As expressed in Brussels last June when this issue also came to another related vote, while I accept the contribution to ICANN’s accountability and transparency provided by the existence and the use of the independent panel review process, I nonetheless remain concerned about the determination by two of the three panelists that the ICANN board should not use business judgment in the conduct of its affairs. I recognize that the Board did not adopt this finding of those panelists, and that the Board affirmed its application of business judgment to this decision within the rationale for this decision.
In my view as CEO, it is important to reassert that the Board must be able to use business judgment in order to protect the global public interest in the coordination of the root of the Internet and the domain name system…
In addition, I note the concerns of the GAC, which while not expressed as a clear decision, was nonetheless directional.
It’s not a particularly long explanation, so you’d have to wonder why he wasn’t able to provide it during the vote.
It also, in my opinion, doesn’t actually explain why he abstained. If he’d had some form of “conflict of interest” it would be one thing, but it’s almost as if he’s trying to use his abstention to protest against the independent review.
Or is he trying to play politics in order to get himself a second term as CEO?
All in all I’m not particularly convinced either by the “explanation” or the inexplicable absence of it during the vote.
