[The paragraphs below are operating rules to be included
within the formal ATIPA and STIP bylaws, presently under construction.]
1. Purposes and Means
1. To create, perform, and perfect a scientific
testing program aimed at elevating the honesty and the dedication to the
U.S. Constitution of the legislative bodies - the U.S. Congress and the
state legislatures - which define the policies and the laws governing the
United States.
2. To identify to the public those candidates for
public office who take and successfully pass a VSA examination in which
they allege their intended honesty and support of the Constitution, as
well as those candidates who decline to take or who fail such an examination.
3. To build and maintain a Certified Examiner Corps
and a network of state administrative organizations, all fully trusted
by the public, to administer such VSA examinations and to present the results
of these science-based tests to the public.
2. General Provisions
1. These Bylaw provisions shall apply to the American
Truth in Politics Association (the national entity, hereinafter NTIP) and
to the several affiliated State Truth in Politics Associations (the state
entities, each hereinafter an STIP).
2. Every effort will be made to prevent this combined
Truth in Politics organization (hereinafter TIP) from becoming dominated
or destroyed by persons of great wealth or power who may fear its outcomes.
Thus, if the NTIP organization is attacked and destroyed, the STIP organizations
shall undertake to create a replacement NTIP entity. Also, the STIP
organizations will operate substantially independently of each other, so
that the destruction of one will not significantly impact the operation
of all the others.
3. NTIP shall derive its support only from the
dues of the STIP affiliates. These affiliates shall derive their
funding exclusively from their in-state registered voters, with no fee
or donation accepted in excess of a prescribed maximum (e.g., $1000) from
any individual over a fiscal year. No contribution may be accepted
to which restrictions are attached concerning how such funds are to be
used. No financial support may be accepted from any organization
or any branch of government.
4. Funds received by NTIP or an STIP shall be used
only for services rendered in furtherance of ATIPA's purpose stated in
its Articles of Incorporation. No TIP funds shall be contributed
to any political party, candidate, or campaign committee, or be used to
influence federal, state, or local legislation. Contributed funds
shall not be permitted to accumulate (beyond a normal contingency reserve),
but shall be spent within a reasonably short time after their receipt.
5. The TIP association shall have no shareholders
or other individuals having a personal or private interest in the resources
of NTIP or an STIP, and no TIP resource shall be used for the private profit
or selfish advantage of any individual.
6. The names of individuals contributing to or
purchasing the publications or other services of NTIP or STIP shall not
be rented, sold, or given to any individual or other entity (except as
may be required by the IRS to obtain or maintain tax exemption).
3. NTIP Functions
1. Establish a standard protocol for VSA testing
of candidates for public office. The questions to be asked, and the
methods to be used in assigning examiners and in evaluating the resulting
test materials, shall be applied uniformly throughout the country insofar
as practicable.
2. Establish a standard protocol for selecting,
training (if necessary and practicable), periodically testing, and ultimately
certifying candidate VSA examiners as Certified Examiners acceptable to
NTIP for the purpose of performing VSA examinations of candidates for public
office and of TIP administrative and testing personnel as required by the
TIP bylaws.
3. Establish a standard protocol for selecting,
periodically testing, and accepting individuals as Voting Members of an
STIP affiliate. The acceptance of such local membership shall be
communicated to and certified and archived by NTIP, upon which it shall
be made available to all other STIP affiliates.
4. Invite Voting Members of STIP affiliates to
be interviewed and otherwise examined for selection as Voting Members of
NTIP. Such Voting Members shall in turn be empowered to nominate,
examine, and elect from their own membership an NTIP Board of Directors.
In turn, the Board of Directors shall have the power, at its sole discretion,
to appoint or remove from office the several operating officers of NTIP,
including a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer.
5. Publicize and make economically available to
the public the standard relevant questions to be asked in VSA examinations
of candidates for public office, of VSA examiners, and of NTIP and STIP
administrative personnel.
6. Archive for all historical purposes, and make
such archives available to all STIP affiliates, the VSA examination data
and data analyses of candidates for public office and of Voting Members,
Boards of Directors, and officers of NTIP and of STIP affiliates.
7. Help to create and maintain throughout the United
States viable STIP organizations consonant with the provisions of the TIP
bylaws. NTIP shall have the power, upon the majority vote of its
Voting Members and the concurrence of its Board of Directors, to dissolve
any STIP affiliate which has become dysfunctional or nonfunctional, and
to create its replacement.
8. Tender to candidates running for President of
the United States invitations to submit to the standard VSA testing, administer
the test to those accepting it, and publicly report on the results of those
tests, all of which shall be completed a few months prior to the first
Presidential primary election, caucus, convention, or equivalent.
9. Modify the TIP Bylaws only in accordance with
the majority vote of the NTIP Voting Members so directing.
4. STIP Functions
1. Prior to primary elections in partisan contests,
or the earliest election for candidates for non-partisan offices, invite
all such candidates within the jurisdiction of the particular STIP to submit
to the standard VSA testing. For those accepting, organize and administer
the tests, and submit the test materials to the Certified Examiners for
analysis. Announce the results of that testing, or the declination
to be tested, to the electorate within the jurisdictional boundaries of
the offices being sought, and to NTIP for archival purposes.
2. Recruit Sustaining Members from voters within
the STIP's own state. An annual fee shall be required from such Sustaining
Members, constituting the STIP's sole source of income. A portion of that
fee shall be sent to NTIP for its maintenance, in accordance with the bylaws.
3. From the Sustaining Membership, recruit Voting
Members in accordance with the protocol established by NTIP. The
STIP Voting Members shall be empowered to examine, nominate, and elect
from among its own members an STIP Board of Directors, which in turn will
elect its officers, including a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer.
4. At its discretion examine and appoint Chairmen
of county TIP committees (hereinafter CTIP) to administer STIP functions
within that smaller jurisdiction, including recruitment of Sustaining Members
and the administration of VSA testing and reporting to the public.
5. Publicize to its Sustaining Members, and to
the general public within the jurisdiction of the particular STIP or CTIP,
via meetings, publications, news conferences, web sites, etc., the testing
status (NO- not offered, TO- test offered, TD- test declined, TA- test
accepted, TF- tested & failed, or TP- tested & passed) of all elected
public officials and all announced candidates for public office within
the STIP or CTIP jurisdiction.
6. Offer to waive the examination expenses for
any candidate for public office who requests such assistance, and for whom
such an expense is deemed by STIP to be a significant burden. If
the expense is to be borne by the candidate, the payment shall be made
to STIP. STIP shall always be responsible, and solely responsible,
for paying the fees and expenses owed to the Certified Examiners who analyze
the VSA tests. An Examiner may never accept a payment or anything
of value from a subject being tested.
7. If, in the judgment of a majority of the STIP
organizations, the NTIP organization becomes dysfunctional or nonfunctional,
join with other STIP organizations to develop a course of action to create
and emplace a replacement NTIP organization which will uphold the fundamental
TIP purposes and means stated in the bylaws.
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