I've had a pretty heavy involvement in Brent Ozar's interview of Matt Morollo. The reason for my intense activity is he was an unknown factor to me. I interact with Thomas LaRock and Jeremiah Peschka on almost a daily basis through Twitter. I follow their blogs. I exchange emails with them. There are some things we agree on, others we don't, and still others we've never discussed. As a result, you didn't see me "laying the wood" to them on their interviews because I have a good sense of what they'd bring to the board, of what they think of PASS and its constituency, and what they see as pain points in our community. Brian Moran has been around a while. I've seen his track record. So while we've never talked in any way, I believe I have a good sense of what I believe he brings. But I needed to know about Matt Morollo. So I stepped in and participated heavily in the conversation.
Stuart Ainsworth made a good point that the other candidates should be similarly vetted by voters as has been done with Mr. Morollo. I explained to him why i didn't (and you see my explanation here). Jorge Segarra made another good point about Thomas LaRock having done that well through the UStream presentations he did. The bottom line is to know who you're voting for. Your vote makes a difference. If you don't know the candidates, ask them the questions you want answered. Do the research on them. Determine for yourself whether or not that person is the right person for the board or not, as Joe Webb put so eloquently:
"But I will tell you that you should give careful consideration and follow up on the questions I’ve outlined in this post. Email the candidates. Ask them questions until you’re satisfied with your knowledge and you can confidently make your decision."
So where do you start? Before you do anything else, start here: PASS Board of Directors Slate of Candidates.
Then look at what the candidates have to say for themselves (these were the two who have put more out specifically about their candidacy):
Check the interviews with Brent Ozar (and these are in alphabetical order by last name, so no one can say I'm showing Tom favoritism due to his love of bacon... because if that were true, I think Jeremiah would be 2nd on the list):
And engage with them, such as through Twitter:
In other words, take the time to understand where each candidate stands and cast your vote accordingly.
