Statement of Candidacy
for GPCA Coordinating Committee Co-Coordinator
September 2006
by Mike Feinstein
Dear fellow CC members,
Thank you for considering my application for Male Co-coordinator of the GPCA Coordinating Committee.
In seeking this position, my objective is to help facilitate a positive order and direction for our work as a Committee, so we can serve as a productive influence within the state party and fulfill the important role we have been created to serve.
I believe this can be accomplished through two concurrent actions, which would be my focus as Co-Co:
1) Creating
transparency and certainly around CC schedules, rules, records, processes,
procedures, proposals and actions, and
2) Achieving CC
group 'buy-in' on the ordering and prioritization of our time
Despite inevitable differences of priorities and personalities within the CC (and outside of it), I believe that if we do accomplish these two things, we will move ahead as a group and do what we need to. At the same time, a more transparent structure will make unproductive actions more obvious and easier to deal with.
I helped create the CC back in 1990 -- I was part of the six people sent into a room on a Saturday night at the August 1990 General Assembly in Arcata that evolved this structure.
Now today sixteen years
later, despite a general malaise about the current direction of the CC, I
believe that we simply have not given ourselves the tools we need to succeed.
That's why I would want to
serve as Co-Co. Because if we enable the CC, that will synergize a lot of
other good things in the party. With this discussion
in mind, here are some of the basic housekeeping/structure actions I would
emphasize as Co-Co:
Mike
- Minutes: Establish a regular timeline and system for reporting/approving CC
minutes, include formally establishing what information should be included in
official minutes, and the process/timeline for posting this material on the
web, including how to regularly share agendas and minutes with GPCA members
at-large
- Minutes: Work with the GPCA Treasurer to establish a proposal to fund a
Secretary to do minutes, web-posting and other CC administrative tasks
(possibly as part of a larger GPCA staff administrative support person)
-
Agendas: in addition to more transparent scheduling of agenda items, ensure that
the text of each agenda item is published much further in advance of meeting
dates than is currently practiced. This would be accomplished with a web-based
agenda format that contains .html links to the text of each item (as was done
for the last GA on http://www.cagreens.org/plenary/archives/agendas/0609Agd_EDC_pro.htm)
Such a task
would be done in conjunction with IT, which would create a submission form to
facilitate and standardize this process (this process could also be grafted for
GA agendas and offered to Counties for their use). Once published, such agendas could be more easily shared
with CC members and GPCA members at large, increasing transparency and accountability
of the actions of the CC.
Clarity
of CC Rules and Procedures
- Create a more clear and formal web page, with all internal rules/processes
relating to CC in one place
(the
current page www.cagreens.org/cc/internal/admin/admin.htm is insufficient). Such
a page should list the rules & procedures themselves and also the process
by which they were approved
-
Identify the gaps/lack of clarities in the Co-Co's internal rules and procedures
and make recommendations to address them
- Clarify
whether any CC rules and procedures should be considered by the General
Assembly and work out a schedule to bring them forward, including consultation
with the Bylaws Committee
Clarity of Co-Co
(and Alt) Roles and Responsibilities
- Review the job
description of the CC Co-Cos and Co-Co Alts; see what has been done and not
done in the real world based upon this job description since the positions were
created, and make recommendations (www.cagreens.org/cc/internal/admin/coco.txt)
Achieving CC Group
Buy-In/Prioritization
- Schedule and hold the
CC retreat, and plan future dates/ locations a year in advance
- Publish draft work schedules for CC comment and prioritization, and increase
overall transparency of internal CC processes.
- Identify time for open CC brainstorming and discussion (in addition to that held at the retreat), that if free of decision-making.
- Ensure that facilitation of CC meetings and conference call has buy-in at
beginning of each session, by "Checking in" first to get group agreement
about
manner of facilitation.
- Finally, for the party at-large, I believe a weekend-long group session based
upon the Truth and Reconciliation Model they had in post-apartheid South Africa
is necessary to address the long-brewing interpersonal conflicts within the
state party. After the CC Retreat
was held and the Coos issues were addressed internally, I would then help facilitate
the state party holding such an encounter for the state level, if there was the
willingness to participate.
What About My Strong Will and Personality? Is it Suited for the Co-Co Role?
There should not be much doubt whether I have the productive ability to do the work . But about how well suited I am for the group?
It
would be easy to say that I can play any role to which I am elected,
because I've done that in the past.
As a City Councilmember, I was a strong and passionate issues advocate. But when I was the Mayor, I separated
that advocacy and passion, from my responsibilities as a group facilitator and
representative for the City and the City Council
I was chosen Mayor by
a
unanimous vote of my colleagues.
After I served, I was widely recognized across local
political lines in as being fair, inclusive and impartial -- both in running
City Council meetings and in establishing City Council agendas.
What is transferable
about this to my seeking to serve as Co-Co?
The objective in seeking to serve as Co-Co is not to win access for my personal positions on individual
issues. It is to be able to
facilitate the transparency and planning the party needs.
Would I have chosen this role if the state party were in better shape? No. But It's not.
I helped co-found the state party in 1989/1990 and was involved with my Green
local even before that. By this point I had hoped to be far less involved in
the internal organizational work of the party, and be far more focused on
promoting the Green Party through writing, creating video/audio and other
web-based content, recruiting quality candidates and doing public speaking.
But since the party is still facing such vexing times, I feel it necessary to focus on internal administration in order to make it possible for the creative work of thousands of California Greens to be viable.
I was the one who
proposed the 1998-2000 restructuring process at the November 1998 CC meeting
at
Nancy Marmol's office in San Francisco. As one of its primary objectives, at
my instigation, that process was to bring to the state party, the same kind
of order, transparency and planning on the state party level, as I am
suggesting the CC needs now.
I personally benefit from a vacuum. Then as now, I am well able to take
advantage of such a vacuum to advance my individual agenda items. But I knew then and still know now that
our party is only going to be successful if it blends the energies of
dozens and hundreds and thousands of us -- not only those of a few strong
and/or manipulative individuals and factions.
I had great hope in April 2000 at the Berkeley GA when we passed the Restructuring Proposal. But without laying blame or responsibility on any particular individual or groups, the open and transparent, long-term planning envisioned at that time did not occur, and at a result, we have lost our way.
Today we are a party
without a strategy in a political world that is already hostile to an
independent, alternative and progressive political party. Internally, without needed transparency
and planning, we are also more at mercy of the lesser tendencies among us as
human beings, our Ten Key Values nevertheless
That is why I have come back to the structure of the state Green Party, after
being away since 2001. It is not because I need to hold some kind of position
for personal aggrandizement or power struggle. I've served on so many local, county, state, national,
international and global Green Party committees; I cannot even count them
(although
they are summarized here, including my previous stints on the CC).
I pledge to work with the other three people on the Co-Co team and with the CC as a whole. With our common efforts, we can get back on track.
In Conclusion
I believe whether you choose me as Male Co-Co should not be based upon whether
I
can physically and mentally do the work. I can. I believe the question is both:
- whether being Co-Co is the right job for me and
- whether I am the right Co-Co for the CC
At this point in my
life path as an activist, transparency and planning within the CC and the state
party is what needs to be dealt with, to free myself up for the future creative
things I want to focus on.
By contrast, if the dysfunctional continues, my future creativity will be
frustrated by the lack of a functional party vehicle to carry it. So I have a very strong personal
incentive to do the job well as CC Co-Co.
As for whether I am the
right Co-Co for the CC, I have
- the focus to identify the big picture needs we have
- the talent and productivity to address them
- unparalleled experience with how Green Parties work around the country and
the world to help inform me
- a record of being able to administer in a fair and balanced manner when I was
Mayor of a significant city
With all due respect to our present situation, what I have seen is a lurching
from one item to another, and from one crisis to another, without any plan,
clarity or big picture in mind. A
meaningful part of that failure lies with the Co-Cos.
By contrast, I can bring foresight and planning in a way that facilitates the
group's and the party's priorities, not just my own, because I know that is the
only way our overall work will truly succeed.
I became a Green in
part because of the belief in the 'wisdom inherent in diversity', that our value
of Ecological Wisdom implies.
Now I want to help our state party better embody that principle. If you chose me as Co-Co, you will have
my 100% commitment to achieve just that.
Thank you for your consideration.
Mike