Two additional candidates have entered the election process by way of petition for separate offices of AAPG.
Nominated candidates for president-elect, Alfredo Guzman and Peter R. Rose, will be joined on the ballot by petition candidate Charles R. "Chuck" Noll.
Nominated candidates for treasurer, Kay L. Pitts and F. Pierce Pratt, will be joined on the ballot by petition candidate Dwight "Clint" Moore.
The petitions mark the second and third time in the 86-year history of AAPG that a candidate has entered a race for international office by way of petition. The first was in 2001-02, when Moore entered the race for treasurer by way of petition.
AAPG Bylaws clearly state the methods by which candidates may appear on the ballot.
Guzman, Rose, Pitts and Pratt were on a list of candidates for the respective offices compiled by the Nominations Committee and approved by the Advisory Council and forwarded to the AAPG Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee is the governing body elected association-wide to represent the members, plus the chairman of the House of Delegates, chosen by the delegates elected locally to represent the membership. The Advisory Council, consisting of 20 people, includes elected members from AAPG's U.S. Sections and International Regions, the elected officers of each Division, the immediate past-president, two former presidents and the past-chairman of the House of Delegates.
At a May 10, 2003, meeting, the Executive Committee approved Guzman and Rose as president-elect candidates and Pitts and Price as treasurer candidates.
The announcement of the nominated candidates appeared in the August EXPLORER. Candidate statements by both Guzman and Rose, including biographies and photos, appeared in the September EXPLORER. Information from Pitts and Price was in the November issue.
AAPG Bylaws, however, also allow additional nominations by written petition of 50 or more Active members in good standing, to be received at association headquarters in Tulsa by Oct. 15.
Noll submitted the petition in early September. Moore submitted his petition in mid-October.
As petition candidates, Noll and Moore have signed the Election Campaign Policy as have the nominated candidates.
Following the precedent set in the 2001-02 election, the Executive Committee, in its desire for fairness to all candidates, has opted to make available in future EXPLORERs the biographies, photos and statements of each of the president-elect and treasurer candidates. Nominated candidates will address the same question addressed in previous EXPLORERs -- "Why I Accepted the Invitation to be a Candidate for AAPG Office."
All nominated candidates were given the opportunity to change their statement, if they so desired, as ordinarily these statements are made without the candidates having seen the others' statements.
Noll and Moore will address the question, "Why I Decided to be a Petition Candidate for AAPG Office."
President-elect candidate statements will appear in the January issue. Treasurer statements will appear in the February EXPLORER.
As in the past, candidates were asked to limit their comments to 500 words or less and biographies of 350 words.