I respect these NO voters no more--and no less--than the rest of the MEC. They did what they are supposed to do. They participated in vigorous debate, examined the details of the TA, and then asked themselves, "is this TA worthy of my yes vote to send to the membership for ratification?"

After asking that question, and considering all the aspects of the TA, the answer for them was clearly "NO."

That is great! But if the answer was "Yes" then that would have been great too.

To say that no voters are somehow more "noble" than the yes voters is childish thinking. That's like saying your fellow citizen is less a citizen because they voted for a different candidate than you did for senator, president, etc.

What matters is did the reps take their job seriously and vote accordingly? They absolutely did in this case and I respect the hell out of them for doing so, and didn't fall in line for the sake of a "united front" or something like that. That is all that the membership should require.