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Dear fellow member of the Family Law Section. I wanted to take the time to post this email received today from Paris Eliades a member of our section. Paris felt it important to write this email and I feel it is important to get this message out to our section members. Kim is a quality candidate and is a friend to our section.
Some of you may know that I put my name in for secretary this year. I was not chosen but respect the hard work and diligence of the volunteer attorneys on the nominating committee and accepted there choice for secretary of the NJSBA for the 2015-16 year.
I would ask that you consider her qualifications and most importantly please take the time to vote.
Thank you!
Tim McGoughran
Dear Fellow Association Member:
Now that my year as President has ended I am free to support a candidate in this runoff election for NJSBA Secretary. I ask you to support the decision of our Nominating Committee and vote for Kim Yonta.
Despite what one candidate’s email erroneously stated, our Nominating Committee, pursuant to our bylaws, is designed to eliminate the ability of one individual, or a group of people, to control the result. Two of the members are elected at General Council, ten others are drawn from our sections, division and county trustees; only the chair is appointed by the President and he or she has no vote, except in the event of a tie. As president of our Association I was a non-voting member. I can tell you from my personal experience that the members of this nominating committee were respected men and women from all backgrounds, young and experienced attorneys, private and public sector, small and large firm, African American and Asian Pacific American. Our bylaws require the process to be confidential and we take great pains to maintain the sanctity of that confidentiality. There are no “published reports” as one candidate’s email falsely claimed.
These 15 volunteers dedicated untold hours to this process. Much like our Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee, a member of the committee is given a candidate to vet. They are provided with an extensive questionnaire that each candidate completes. Hours are spent outside of the committee’s many meetings calling references and others to gather as much information as possible about the candidate. Then each and every candidate is interviewed. They are respectfully asked relevant and probing questions. Each candidate is given multiple opportunities to address the committee generally and specifically. These interviews are invaluable. Broadly, they establish a candidate’s ability to articulate issues. It provides them with an opportunity to answer specific questions relevant to the real and substantive issues facing our association and members. More specifically, the committee has an opportunity to address any concerns the due diligence may have developed, whether there are potential conflicts and an opportunity for the committee members to hear the candidates’ views on the issues we face and their plan for the future.
I write to tell you unequivocally that none of the candidates vying for secretary was “scuttled” as one campaign email stated. No one was “unjustly snubbed”, nor was there a “baseless smear campaign” waged during deliberations. To criticize the Nominating Committee for choosing one candidate over the other four “without ever giving a reason” is nothing more than an effort to deceive you. I will not breach that confidentiality, but I assure you the discussions, the considerations, and the ultimate decisions were made respectfully, fairly and in strict accord with our bylaws.
I now speak out in support of the fine work of our Nominating Committee and ask you to reaffirm the decision of this wonderful committee and vote for Kim Yonta. While it is easy to proclaim otherwise, the fact is that the leadership ranks of this organization are open to all regardless of your gender, ethnicity and background. We only ask that you be willing to commit the enormous time and energy necessary to advance the goals of the NJSBA. Five individuals, all of whom serve or have served as trustees sought the nomination for secretary; only one was chosen, Kim Yonta.
The last couple of years, the officers of our Association have made it their priority to drive up and down this state to meet as many of you as possible, to hear your concerns and act on them. As they say actions speak louder than words and Kim has shown through her actions, by driving to untold events around this state that she will continue this work.
One of my main initiatives during my term as President was the establishment of a brand new committee, the Lawyers in Transition Committee. I needed and wanted someone to chair this committee who would work hard and give you a committee responsive to the vital issues this committee was designed to address. I chose Kim Yonta and she did not disappoint. In the short span of one year this committee, through Kim’s leadership, has been a wild and unprecedented success, helping untold attorneys successfully navigate the changing circumstances of their professional lives.
And in an effort to do something pure and good and indirectly spotlight the many great things lawyers do each and every day I created the Lawyers Feeding New Jersey campaign. As with everything she does Kim inspired her county, she rallied them to contribute and they raised an outstanding sum to help feed the less fortunate in our State.
These are the facts. Vote for Kim Yonta.
Respectfully yours
Paris P. Eliades, Esq.
Immediate Past President NJSBA
Your ballot was sent to you on May 27th between 9am and 11am. It was sent to you by the New Jersey State Bar Association and is entitled "Confidential NJSBA Voting Credentials." If you did not get an email you can request one by emailing[email protected].
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