I concur with Richard here. The IETF is most successful when we get
input from people who are directly involved in the technologies that
we are standardizing, but of course that very often means that they
are working on those technologies for their employer. And indeed
one of the criteria we often use to ask whether someone is a good
fit for leadership is whether they have this kind of non-standards
"day job" expertise.
That, IMO, is why we encourage their participation in WG discussions and on lists.
But it is dangerous to have those parties directly involved in decision making. The actual and potential COI (esp. perceived potential COI) undermine the decisions made - even when those decisions are otherwise reasonable.
I.e., think of this as protecting the value of IAB decisions (and, as Ben noted, there are many, esp. during appeals, that are of a substantive nature that COI benefits).
