Official 2009 UUA election results

Here's a PDF of the official final vote count in this year's UUA elections, showing vote totals by on-site and absentee ballots for all races.

Courter apologizes for missing post-election event

UUA Moderator Gini Courter apologized to the General Assembly during her annual report Sunday afternoon for not attending a post-election celebration Saturday night. Some delegates had interpreted her absence as a slight on newly-elected President Peter Morales, since she had endorsed his opponent, the Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman, but she told delegates that was not her intent.

Courter told the plenary session:

Being moderator is a great honor for me. The care that you entrust me with when I'm paying attention puts me in awe. So I want to begin with an apology for not being here with you last night. . . . My nights at GA are pretty short, so I got in the habit several years ago of not attending the Ware Lecture. I simply go and work on the things I'm doing today, and it's an evening I have off. . . .

So last night I came over for that wonderful worship service when the election results were announced, and then I scooted backstage and picked up my backpack and headed back to my hotel room and set up my computer and got some email and started typing and writing some things some things that you're going to hear later this evening, and then I went down to hotel lobby and somebody said, "There you are!" And I said, "Where did you expect me to be?" And they said, "Well, there were several thousand people waiting for you to show up with the other candidates afterwards." It is never my intention to no-show you, and it is so unlike me to do it at night. . . .

You have my deepest apologies for not being here with you yesterday evening. I wish I had been here for that celebration. (Flash video; Courter's report starts at 2:31:00)

She also posted an apology to her blog Monday evening.

(Full disclosure: This reporter had expected the candidates to speak during the 8:00 post-election worship service, and also didn't realize that the candidates were going to speak at 10:00. I had to run from the Electronic Communications Center to the convention center ballroom when someone close to one of the campaigns informed me that the candidates would be speaking.)

Trustees start awkwardly, but seek common vision

After a mid-morning break, the UUA Board of Trustees—which is meeting for the first time with newly-elected UUA President Peter Morales—acknowledged that they started awkwardly this morning. "We started weird," Moderator Gini Courter said.

The Rev. Jeanne Pupke, a newly elected trustee-at-large, said she was concerned that a statement read by the Rev. Will Saunders at the start of this morning's meeting had seemed to say to Morales, "sit down and shut up." She added, "Our president was duly elected and has a lot of support." Although she had supported the Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman's candidacy, Pupke said, she was eager to work with Morales and wanted to welcome him.

The Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, the board's chaplain and trustee from the Metropolitan New York District, said that she had invited Saunders to offer a statement during this morning's meeting in order to focus the board on its need to embrace a common vision after the divisions of the campaign season. (About half of the trustees had endorsed each of the candidates for president, but Saunders had remained neutral in the race.) McNatt said she regretted not thinking more about when such a statement would have been most useful on today's agenda.

Morales said that he recognized that "that was not an attack on me." He added, "Having spent eleven years in journalism, I have a thicker skin than most people."

Courter said that she hadn't read Saunders's statement in advance and "was regretting where it ended up being positioned."

"We started weird," Courter observed. "Just because I don't know what to do with the elephant in the room doesn't mean you don't," she said to her colleagues. "This is a board with a very deep culture, and some of it will not be evident, and some of it has nothing to do with the current president of the UUA, or even with the previous president or the president before that. And I hear Peter saying that he knows it's not about him."

Board welcomes Morales, asks about new relationship

After each trustee briefly introduced himself or herself at this morning Board of Trustees meeting in Salt Lake City, UUA Moderator Gini Courter said, "I don't know if you're as excited as I am, but please welcome our new president, Peter Morales." The trustees applauded and cheered.

Morales offered a few reflections on the campaign. "Happily," he said, "the discussion was not about competence nor was it really about personality. I'm delighted about that." He said he interpreted the election results as a mandate for ambitious action. Unitarian Universalists "really want us, as their leaders, to be ambitious about moving into the future."

Morales said he would be traveling to Boston next week to hold initial conversations with Executive Vice President Kay Montgomery, to look for an apartment, and to begin setting up a travel schedule. "My head's still spinning," he said, "but I'm anxious to shift gears and make this transition."

He then invited questions from the trustees.

David Friedman, the trustee from the St. Lawrence District, asked how Morales planned to respond to travel invitations. Morales replied that he hoped to be "as strategic about it as possible, looking for ways to move the vision forward." He said he would be accepting invitations from diverse regions and speak in "venues that have some leverage to them," but added that this would not restrict him to large congregations or gatherings.

Tom Loughrey, the new UUA secretary and trustee from the Pacific Southwest District*, asked about staff anxieties about a new administration. Morales said he would meet soon with the UUA's staff and Leadership Council. "I've been through this drill before," he said. "There's always some anxiety—and it's not all bad. There's a kind of anxiety that brings heightened awareness. My style is, I don't come in with a submachine gun and shoot the place up. But there will be some changes."

"I like to talk about the distinction between anxiety and panic," Morales continued. "A certain kind of urgency can be invigorating and healthy. I want to bring some of that atmosphere into the Association."

Executive Vice President Kay Montgomery said that the staff has been anxious on two fronts: feeling grief about former President William G. Sinkford's departure, and feeling relatively unfamiliar with either of the candidates for president. "I want to affirm Peter's comments that a certain amount of urgency and anxiety will be healthy," she added.

Linda Laskowski, trustee from the Pacific Central District, asked Morales what makes the relationship between a board and chief executive work well.

Morales replied that he saw no conflict between his and the board's values and goals. "I see Policy Governance as a means toward our ends, a way of achieving certain values."

He continued: "The values that appeal to me are real clarity about roles, transparency and accountability—I'm totally committed to that. I'm someone who believes that secrets are terrible things; one has to have a compelling reason for something to be confidential—personnel issues, litigation—and I am committed to this administration being as absolutely transparent as possible."

Morales said, "I don't believe there are any significant differences between the values I've been campaigning for and the values the board is focused on. I don't see any misalignment with the board." He added that, in general, "a lack of disagreement bothers me; I see it is not as a sign of health."

John Blevins, the trustee from the Prairie Star District, asked how Morales intended to begin a conversation about arriving at shared vision with the board. Morales replied, "One advantage we have is that Laurel and I have been [attending board meetings] for a while. I feel like I'm part of the board culture. I kind of know what you think already. Also, I don't pretend to have all the answers."

Nick Allen, the youth trustee, asked about Morales's plans to meet with UUA leaders. Morales said he and Kay Montgomery will sit down to talk next week. Courter said she and Morales will talk by phone next week as well.

Lew Phinney, trustee from the Mountain Desert District, responded to the Rev. Will Saunders's concern in his opening statement (mentioned in the preceding blog post) that the board was too invisible. "Unfortunately, we disagree. I see the role of the board as being largely invisible if everything is going well. If something is not going well, the board has dropped the ball or something has intervened and we have to get involved." He asked, "Should we be out there in front leading the parade, or sitting back and watching the parade we launched?"

Morales replied, "That's the board's to talk about and decide, not mine." He added as an observation that he knew who was the president of each college his children attended, but did not know who was on the board of either school. "I hope the board doesn't set a target that's unattainable."

Correction 7.1.09: As originally published, this blog entry left out part of the name of the district represented by trustee Tom Loughrey. Click here to return to the corrected paragraph.

Peter Morales installed as UUA president

The Rev. William G. Sinkford has given a charge to his successor as UUA president, the Rev. Peter Morales, quoting from each of his surviving predecessors in the office. Sinkford then took the stole he had been wearing and placed it on Peter. The Rev. Victoria Safford has led the General Assembly in laying hands on and blessing President Morales. He sits beside Sinkford, with his wife and daughter behind him, and the Board of Trustees and other leaders surrounding them. Moderator Gini Courter is now leading the congregation in a prayer with a sung response led by the choir.

Saying goodbye to Sinkford, welcoming new leaders

During the closing ceremonies of the 2009 General Assembly, UUA Executive Vice President has just thanked the Rev. William G. Sinkford for his ministry as president of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Newly elected trustees and members of elected committees and commissions are now making a covenant with the delegates in the plenary hall, effectively their oath of office. President-Elect Peter Morales will be formally installed shortly.

A few final figures from the 2009 General Assembly

The General Assembly raised $29,726 in Sunday morning's collection for the Salt Lake City Pride Center.

UUA Secretary Paul Rickter reported Sunday afternoon that 1,991 delegates attended the General Assembly this year, including 1,545 member delegates, 416 ministerial delegates, and three credentialed religious educator delegates from 582 congregations. One hundred forty-five youth attended. The total registered attendance was 3,385.

G.A. opposes violence against sexual minorities in Iraq

The General Assembly has adopted Action of Immediate Witness 6, "Oppose Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity-Based Violence in Iraq," which urges UUs to pressure the U.S. government to work with the United Nations to protect the rights of sexual minorities in Iraq.

Laurel Hallman's speech at election celebration

The Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman, who lost to the Rev. Peter Morales today in her bid to become president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, addressed the General Assembly Saturday night. Her comments are transcribed below:

Thank you. I congratulate Peter and his campaign staff for all they have done and for their success. I thank all of you who have paid attention to this election, participating in candidate forums all across the country—Peter and I are bonded forever: We have been to thirty-three of them—reading and commenting on Election-L and various blogs. I believe that you've heard what we've been saying, and that each campaign, in the appropriate process that is the democratic process, each campaign has been influenced by the other.

So we have each been forced through the implications of what we have been saying and what the other candidate was saying, and we are both different because of it. This can only be good for our beloved faith. [Applause]

Well, this campaign has mostly been a joyful journey. [Laughs] It has had some harrowing moments. But I will be happy to put it behind me now, to regather our liberal religious movement together from two hard-working campaigns back into one free faith, one association of free congregations, all of us united by our love for Unitarian Universalism. We are united by our determination to widen its reach and strengthen its impact, and by our wish for as many people as possible to experience the saving power of our free faith that has saved so many of us.

I am grateful to Peter for lifting up the issues he has, and for being good company as we've toured the country, all over, telling all of you our dreams for this faith that all of us love.

Many people have told us that they feel lucky that Unitarian Universalism had two people this year so dedicated to our faith that we were willing to campaign and possibly serve as president.

I am more grateful than I can say to the people of First Unitarian Church of Dallas that generously gave me time and space to do this campaign, and to all the colleagues and friends who encouraged me to seek the presidency and supported me every step of the way. I couldn't have done it without you, I have been enriched by the journey, and I thank you all.

Morales wins UUA presidency decisively

UUA President-elect Peter Morales won the UUA presidency decisively with 59 percent of all votes. He won 55 percent of the absentee vote (1,020 to 827) and 61 percent of the on-site vote (1,041 to 654). His margin of victory is 580 votes. Seven ballots were disqualified for discrepancies; one vote was cast for "No."

Outgoing UUA President William G. Sinkford won by the largest margin of any UUA president in a contested race when he was first elected in 2001. Sinkford won that election with 67.7 percent (2,218 to 1,043).

Official: Morales elected eighth UUA president

UUA Secretary Paul Rickter has just declared in a worship service celebrating the elected leaders of the UUA: "I can announce that we have elected as the eighth president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations the Rev. Peter Morales."

Peter Morales elected UUA president

The Rev. Peter Morales has been elected the next president of the Unitarian Universalist Association by a vote by 2,061 to 1,481.

Votes still being counted in UUA presidential race

Unitarian Universalists are waiting for an announcement of the winner in the 2009 UUA presidential election. At 7:00 p.m. MDT, votes are still being counted. An hour from now, a formal announcement of the winner is expected in the General Assembly plenary hall, but we will publish the election results as soon as we hear them.

Voters line up in UUA presidential election

Today is election day in the Unitarian Universalist Association, as delegates to the General Assembly cast their ballots for president of the UUA. Polls are open from noon until 5:30 p.m. MDT; although a winner will be formally announced at 8:00 p.m. MDT, UU World will announce the winner as soon as UUA Secretary Paul Rickter and UUA Executive Vice President Kay Montgomery confirm the outcome sometime after 6:00.

Here are some scenes from the voting area this afternoon:



Signs in the General Assembly Exhibit Hall lead delegates to the polling place.



An usher divides delegates into two lines, based on their congregation's state. Long lines formed promptly at noon.



Delegates formed long lines in the Exhibit Hall as they waited to cast their ballots.



Delegates put their completed ballots in the ballot boxes. At 5:30, the ballots will be scanned and then special software will count the votes on the scanned ballots. More than 1,800 absentee ballots will also be counted at that time.

Alice Blair Wesley receives Distinguished Service Award

During Saturday morning's plenary session, the Rev. Burton Carley presented the Rev. Alice Blair Wesley, a UU minister and author, with the UUA's 2009 Award for Distinguished Service to the Cause of Unitarian Universalism.

Reading from the citation, Carley said, "Alice is fiercely loyal to the free church and the congregational way. She constantly invites us to right relationship with one another through covenant."

He continued, "She has constantly called attention to the wisdom of the people in the pews and reminded us how we are gathered so that we might grow in love. Her candor, insight, and scholarship have blessed our congregations. And, indeed, our movement is stronger due to Alice’s unfailing persistence."

The annual Award for Distinguished Service is one of the Association's most prestigious awards. It honors UUs who "over a considerable period of time, have strengthened the institutions of our Unitarian Universalist denomination or clarified our message in an extraordinary way."

Accepting the award, Wesley thanked the UUA trustees, and said, "I was pleased to be told in May this honor was coming—and flummoxed. I never expected any such thing. Whatever I have done, usually the hard way, I could not have done but for others’ unlikely urging and support."

From 1978 to 1995, Wesley worked as a parish minister, serving congregations in Texas, New Jersey, and Maryland. Since retiring from parish ministry she has continued to be engaged with Unitarian Universalism, researching, writing, and speaking particularly on how covenantal theology remains at the heart of the Unitarian Universalist movement.

As the selected speaker for the Minns Lectures in 2000 and 2001, Wesley delivered a series of six lectures over 18 months on the topic of covenant. Meadville Lombard Theological School published the lectures as Our Covenant in 2002. She is also the author of the popular Myths of Time and History and wrote the introduction to The Cambridge Platform, published in 2008 by Skinner House Books. Wesley has written articles and poems for numerous publications, including UU World, the Register/Leader, the UU Christian, Kairos, Faith and Freedom, the Meadville/Lombard Reader, and the UU Ministers Association’s Selected Essays.

Wesley, who lives with her husband in Bellevue, Wash., and Allentown, Pa., has been an active leader in the Joseph Priestley District Women and Religious Committee, the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association, Unitarian Universalist Advance, and the International Association for Religious Freedom.

Concluding her acceptance speech, Wesley told the General Assembly, "Free churches by nature have it in them to be a light to the world. They have changed history for the better and shall. They are the world's best hope. If I could start all over trying to strengthen our free churches, I would. I pray that you beloved people will do so far better than I."

Keep up with all media coverage of GA

UUA.org's Press Room includes links to all media coverage of the Unitarian Universalist Association's General Assembly in Salt Lake City, along with press releases issued by the UUA.

Tellers are counting votes on Article II revision

After more than an hour of debate about the Commission on Appraisal's proposed revision to Article II of the UUA Bylaws, Moderator Gini Courter has called for a counted vote on the question. Tellers are counting the pro votes, and will begin counting con votes.

The arguments largely tracked the discussion at last night's miniassembly. The Young Adult Caucus joined the Youth Caucus in affirming the Commission's amendment, praising its Inclusion and Right Relationship clause.

Many delegates stepped to the procedural microphone to ask for clarification about how the amendment process can be changed.

Moderator Gini Courter suggested that the Board of Trustees would bring an amendment to Bylaw 15, which disallows any amendments to a proposed revision of Article II.

Local media coverage of UUA General Assembly

Both daily newspapers in Salt Lake City published articles today about yesterday's interfaith rally for immigrant families sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association. Both papers quoted the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Unitarian Universalist leaders who spoke at the rally. The Mormon Church-owned Deseret News, however, did not mention Larry Love, the Mormon congregational leader who described the arrest and pending deportation of his Guatemalan wife.

Interfaith rally points to spiritual side of immigration debate (Salt Lake Tribune 6.27.09)

Religious groups show support for immigrants (Deseret News 6.27.09)

KSL-TV reported, meanwhile, on the thunderstorm that ripped the UUA's banner from the front entry tower of the Salt Palace convention center: Northern Utah hit by quick-moving thunderstorm (KSL-TV 6.26.09).

Reports on the UUA's financial situation

Tim Brennan, UUA treasurer and vice president for finance, told the General Assembly during Friday afternoon's plenary session, "I won't mince words. It's been a very tough year for the UUA." He explained that the UUA's fiscal year 2010 budget is 15 percent below the 2009 budget.

He said that watching the UUA's investments decline in the midst of the worldwide economic recession last fall "felt like plunging down a roller-coaster in the dark with no idea of where the bottom is." All of the UUA's investments declined significantly, although less dramatically than the stock market itself, with a 23 percent drop in the UUA's nearly $100 million Common Endowment fund.

"But we didn't just cut," Brennan said. "We challenged ourselves to think about how we could serve the needs of our congregations with fewer resources by being smarter and more efficient." He pointed specifically to reduced travel and meeting costs using virtual meeting software and to reduced publication costs by distributing many periodicals and other publications electronically.

UUA Financial Advisor Dan Brody added that it "hasn't been a good year to be a financial advisor—and it hasn't been a very good year for many UUs, their congregations, or the Association."

"But this recession won't last, however," Brody continued. "And how Unitarian Universalists behave during it will be a real test of the strength of our movement."

Brody urged Unitarian Universalists who have been relatively unaffected by the recession to maintain or increase their gifts to their congregations and to the UUA. He encouraged congregations not to cut their Annual Program Fund contributions to the UUA, and cautioned that cutting church employees' health care benefits harms all of us, not just the employee.

Brody concluded his report by saying that he would be urging the UUA to adjust the way it calculates the draw from the endowment so that reserves would accummulate during high-performing years.

The Rev. Jim Sherblom, chair of the UUA Investment Committee, reported that the UUA has been diversifying its assett allocations "beyond U.S. treasuries and public equities to also include substantial commitments to U.S. high yield debt, international bonds, international equities, non-correlated equities, global asset allocators, and alternative investments."

Sherblom said the UUA continues to aim at an 8.5 percent nominal return over a full market cycle.

Morales, Hallman make final case to delegates

At the final candidates forum before the election of the next president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Rev. Peter Morales choked up as he began his opening statement and the Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman struck a defiant note as she responded to critics of her campaign. The candidates spoke at a Thursday evening forum at the UUA General Assembly in Salt Lake City that was also broadcast on UUA.org.

Delegates will vote for the next UUA president Saturday afternoon, June 27. More than 1,800 absentee ballots have already been cast.

Morales, senior minister of Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colo., spoke first. He choked up as he told a story about his practice of standing on the sidewalk outside his church each Sunday morning, greeting people as they arrived. He often didn't recognize people, he said, which led him to conclude that large numbers of people are visiting UU congregations all the time. Yet, despite all the visitors drawn to Unitarian Universalism, the membership of the UUA's congregations hasn't grown significantly.



"The central question for our faith," Morales said, "is, What is it we are called to be in the world?" He said we are called to change so that our congregations can "feed the spiritually hungry and house the spiritually homeless" who are already attracted to our ideas, but who often find our congregations unsatisfying.

Morales reviewed his four priorities: growing UU congregations, helping the UUA as an organization do more with less financial resources, build on the public witness work of President William G. Sinkford, and develop a strategic plan to recruit a more multicultural ministry to meet America's rapidly changing demographics.

Hallman, recently named minister-at-large by First Unitarian Church in Dallas, where she served as senior minister for twenty-two years, emphasized her spiritual groundedness. "It is my spiritual practice that has made me a leader," she said in her opening statement.



She repeatedly challenged "some" who had questioned her candidacy and responded to several phrases used by the Morales campaign. "I am less concerned with being 'the religion for our time,'" she said, invoking one of Morales's slogans, "than I am with being the religion for our future."

"I care that we deal with our issues not just as smart people," she said in her opening statement, "not just as strategic people, but as smart, strategic, liberal religious people."

She said that she was less concerned with people coming through the front doors of our churches. "It is our back door where the challenge is most evident," she said, because our congregations are not spiritually deep enough to meet many people's needs.

Supporters of each candidate approached delegates throughout the convention center, handing out literature and buttons. Morales supporters wore yellow T-shirts with the slogan "We can be the religion for our time" on the back" and handed out fans with the motto "I'm a Morales fan." Hallman supporters wore turquoise T-shirts that said "It takes more . . . ."

At the start of the candidates forum, the incumbents running for reelection to the offices of UUA Moderator and UUA Financial Advisor also spoke. Moderator Gini Courter and Financial Advisor Dan Brody are running unopposed.

After the conclusion of the candidates forum, Morales and Hallman jointly lit the chalice to start the Synergy worship service and bridging ceremony.