Interview with Judy Maciejowska

As I mentioned the Green Party conference is starting on Thursday and as part of that there are going to be a series of elections to some of the most exciting committees and governance bodies you can find. It's just a roller coaster of raves, illicit sex and fashionable cocktails, or at least so I'm told.

Anyway, we have a very important year ahead of us with a general election where there is a general expectation that the Green Party can and should be winning its first ever MPs. That means whoever our elections coordinator turns out to be they are going to have a whole weight of expectations on them and are going to be required to be cool under pressure, highly experienced and have a proven record of national level election organising.

Judy Maciejowska is standing for the post (and you can see her website here) so I thought I'd ask her a few questions to see if I could find out a little more about her;

You've got experience of national election strategy going right back to the Greens' high point of the 1989 European election, what do you feel are the key principles in getting an election strategy right?

First of all the strategy must have the support of the whole party. The election isn’t only going to be contested by GPEx and the target constituencies, but by all the local parties and every activist up and down the country.

So the election strategy needs to be addressed early in the election cycle to give activists the chance to have an input. Fortunately we already have an excellent paper produced by Sarah Birch, a former Elections Coordinator, and passed by Conference last year. Certainly it needs updating to reflect the current position, and this will be one of my priorities, but the framework is there and I’m very happy to adhere to it.

Secondly you need a good ‘nose’ for the important issues around the party, and how to get our message across to opinion formers and voters. It’s good then to be able to bounce thoughts and ideas around with colleagues and the elections team.

How do you see the role of national elections coordinator?

On a day to day basis there needs to be tight coordination of all the relevant teams and departments. It’s no good, for example, having Publications producing leaflets without liaising with Policy or External Communications. Also everybody needs to know that the fund-raising is on target, and budgets are being adhered to. So probably first and foremost the Elections Coordinator must have his or her finger on the pulse of all the campaign’s work, or you end up with a horrible mess.

But no election campaign goes according to plan. You have to expect the unexpected, and that’s where the coordinator’s role is so important, keeping in touch with the candidates, the communications teams, GPEx chair etc.

I also think the Elections Coordinator needs to be prepared to balance the expectations of the wider party with those of the outside world. Of course, that should be said of all GPEx’s externally focused coordinators, but none more so than the Elections Coordinator. Targets and messages must be challenging but realistic, and the figure work and statistics of Chris Rose, our so-dependable National Agent, will be crucial in those sorts of decisions.

How do we balance the crucial need of winning our target MPs at this election and the needs of the national party?

Of course we are putting our maximum efforts into our target constituencies. This is an exciting time for the party and we have a real chance at last, to get representation in Westminster and really start to put our agenda at the centre of policy making.

But we mustn’t forget that there are equally important elections all over the country, not least on local authorities, and these must be given as much support and validity as our target Westminster seats. The London Borough elections only come up every four years and success here is not simply a platform for Westminster, but a genuine way of making a difference in our communities, the foundation of the green agenda.

The same must be said of our candidates all across the country. I’d like to pull together a team of all the regional agents, to get advice and feedback from them, and ensure the campaign is as relevant to activists in the wider party as it is to the target constituencies.

If you're elected next week what do you think the most difficult challenges of the job are going to be, and what's going to be the most fun?

In one sense the biggest challenge comes after the election, when the excitement has died down and activists flop into exhaustion, hoping never to see another leaflet. That’s precisely when our successes and disappointments need to be managed even more carefully.

It will certainly be an exhilarating year, and I guess it will be a challenge just to keep the national election machine running smoothly without pulling my hair out, but that will also be the most fun.

Interview with Jayne Forbes

As I mentioned I'm supporting Jayne Forbes for national chair of the Green Party. Recently I conducted a quick interview with her about her GPEx candidacy which I thought you might find interesting.

What do you feel the main priorities of GPEx Chair should be?

The Chair of an organisation takes on a number of roles, the major role is that of ensuring the smooth and timely working of the organisation. For the Green Party, particularly in this important election year, this means we need to have a clear strategy for achieving the highest number of Green candidates in the 2010 General Election, thereby giving more people the opportunity to vote Green.

As Chair it would be my role to ensure that the officers on GPEx are enabled and supported to fulfill their jobs to achieve this. The previous GPEx have set up a good base from which we can operate with plans for an office move, a new database and the recruitment of a fundraiser and a Head of Media Relations . It is evident that we still have much to do to professionalise the party, such as developing a clear, long term strategic plan, with budgets, so that incoming GPEx members know what is expected, and, as Chair I would welcome any ideas to improve our ways of working.

A number of areas I know cause problems and could easily be solved, in particular, to improve communications between GPEx and members. For example, I would wish to set up a GPEx News page on the GP website, which would publish the agendas and minutes and also encourage members to contribute their views.

You've been a member of GPEx before, what did that experience teach you?

The work of GPEx officers is hard and time consuming, however it is also rewarding to know you have contributed to the success of the party. All members of GPEx do this with great commitment. Given this strength of commitment, there can be robust discussion on a diverse range of issues, in order for us to be successful, we need to treat each other with respect.

GPEx must focus on fighting a successful campaign.

You were also chair of the excellent World Development Movement, is there anything you learned there that would be worth importing into the Green Party?

The Chair needs to ensure there is clarity of vision and strategy and that everyone plays their part in contributing to meeting the strategy. All areas of the plan need to be fully discussed and agreed, details need to be attended to. It is vital that funding is sufficient and that systems are strong and fully understood by all.

This coming year could be the breakthrough year for the Greens, with the fact we've built up substantial bases in a number of areas. How do we spread that success to other parts of the country without taking the focus away from our target seats?

The more people who have the opportunity to vote for us, the greater our strength. This is a virtuous cycle as it will encourage greater success for our policies.

I have seen this at the Greater London Authority, where our success in electing Green members onto the GLA resulted in pressure on the former Mayor, who then implemented greener policies than he would otherwise have done. Therefore it is important to encourage a much bigger slate of candidates, in order to do this we need to provide more financial support to those areas which have not traditionally stood candidates, while at the same time remaining focused on our target to win strategy.

If you want to know more you can visit Jayne's campaign site here.

Jayne Forbes for Green Party chair

I'm going to be running a few posts on the ongoing Green Party Executive elections. In the first of these posts I want to quickly discuss the election for national chair and why I'm backing Jayne Forbes.

It seems to me that this coming year is one where we need a strong chair with experience and a sound reputation. Jayne is ideally placed to be that candidate with extensive experience in both the Greens and outside organisations.

Having served as the chair of the World Development Movement she brings with her an understanding of what it's like to chair a national body and her previous experience on GPEx means that she already knows the ropes.

Jayne has the support of leading members of the Green Party including Caroline Lucas and has a proven track record of solid team work.

The role of national chair needs to be filled by someone with a calm mind, genuine experience and who has the support of the majority of the executive. A chair cannot be prone to ego trips or petty factionalism. Jayne is the only candidate who even comes close to this description and that's why she has my full support.

This year's national executive elections

During last year's elections to the national executive of the Green Party (GPEx) I posted a number of hustings debates quizzing the candidates with questions put by the Maybe's readers (at least for those posts who were going to be elected via postal ballot). This year I think I'm going to play it differently and make less of an effort to remain neutral.

For those unaware, elections for GPEx posts take place in two stages. Each of the eleven posts that have more than one candidate by the deadline (two days ago) will be elected by postal ballot, nominations for the other posts are re-opened and then elected at September's conference.

The announcement of who's standing will take place tomorrow apparently so we'll have to wait until then to see who is standing for what and whether there are any positions that do not yet have two candidates. It's an important election as the composition of GPEx, especially particular key posts, will determine our performance at the General Election probably the most important election the Greens have ever fought.

Last year there were just three positions that were contested (and the leader post which is only elected every other year so we're spared that this time). I have a feeling we're going to top that this year, which in general is a good thing. Let's hope the quality of candidates is high shall we!