First, a reminder/disclaimer that I am serving on the PASS NomCom this year. The four candidates in the election are all qualified, I have no debate with that. I’ve waited until the slate was posted to make any public comment about the election. None of my comments here are based on anything I heard or read during the application qualification portion of the NomCom.

This year we have 3 incumbents and one new candidate running, see the election page for more information. I know all of them, and are all good people – this isn’t about people. No, the reason I’ve voting for only one candidate is the three incumbents were part of Board decisions that changed the mission statement and the name of the organization so that “SQL Server” is included in neither. We voted them in to safeguard the organization and to serve the members, I believe those decisions do neither. Such a change might be necessary some day, if SQL Server ceases to exist, or attendance at events drops dramatically, but for now attendance is solid and there is no competitive threat, making that change unnecessary.

Did you imagine when you cast your vote for these candidates two years ago that removing SQL Server was something even on the table? They’ve crossed over into a place I don’t understand, and while I’ll try to speak out more often, there is really only one way to cause change and that’s with the votes we cast. This year, as much as I appreciate the efforts of the three incumbents, I’m voting for the only new candidate, Grant Fritchey, hoping that he will be a voice for safeguarding the community built by a lot of people over a lot of years.