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To the Coordinating Committee of the Green Party of the United States
Submitted 6-15-04

Short Background:
The Coordinated Campaign Committee (CCC) is a standing committee of the Green Party of the United States, which is made up of ten (10) individuals who are elected annually by the national Coordinating Committee (CC). The CCC was created in early 2002 by vote of the CC. The current CCC was elected at the July 2003 national meeting in Washington, D.C. Its term ends at the June 2004 National Convention in Milwaukee, where a new CCC will be elected.

Any questions or clarifications about this report, or inquiries about running for CCC, can be directed to Juscha Robinson, co-chair, at jrobinson@greens.org or 608-239-4296. There will also be an opportunity to ask clarifying questions during the Coordinating Committee meeting in Milwaukee.

Notes on Format:
In the autumn of 2003, the CCC began its first strategic planning process. This annual report follows the format of the strategic plan that emerged from that process, providing with developments and updates for each of the categories included within the plan. The underlined titles after this section in the report indicate the broader categories of CCC programming; the italicized titles indicate subsections of each category, usually individual programs.

CCC Coordination:

Web page

The CCC's website has been administered by the website manager, and compiled largely by Masada Disenhouse (NY). The CCC made efforts to keep the materials, including updates, minutes, reports, manuals and announcements, updated. The website was advertised extensively to campaigns and state parties, largely through email and the regional campaign schools, as a good source for ideas and tools for campaigning. As always, there was much more that could have been added to the website and many more ways it could have been publicized.

State Associates

CCC bylaws empower the CCC to organize and work with a network of electoral liaisons from each affiliated state party. Over the past year, the CCC has worked to formalize this network of State Associates (SAs). There are now SAs for all state parties, plus Puerto Rico. [x number] of SAs have submitted official permission from their state parties to fill the position: as recognition of the position grows, the CCC hopes to have all SAs officially vetted within three months of the Convention. Efforts are underway to familiarize SAs with their responsibilities to communicate with campaigns in their states about CCC resources and to make sure that GPUS and CCC are informed about election developments in the states. This is moving along well. In November 2004, SAs will have primary responsibility for entering election results in the online elections database. Another recent development in this area: the CCC has launched a pilot regional SA conference call in the Pacific Northwest, aimed at increasing information sharing between neighboring states. If the model seems useful, the CCC hopes to foster more regional SA calls.

Staff

In February 2004, Brent McMillan was hired by the CCC and Steering Committee to be GPUS' Political Director. The position's purpose, as described in the job description (which follows this section), is to support the CCC in carrying out its programming mandate. Brent moved to Washington, D.C. in early February and has spent the last three months adapting to a new work environment, a new organizational culture, and high expectations. He has met those expectations, and the CCC is very pleased with its first ever hire. In June 2004, the CCC conducted a three-month review of Brent, who also had an opportunity to offer his suggestions and thoughts on the CCC and the position. Despite the distance between the national office and most of the CCC members, there has been active supervision. Brent and a personnel subcommittee hold weekly supervision/check-in calls to go over tasks and problems, in addition to near-constant email and telephone communication. In addition, Juscha Robinson traveled to the office in April to spend three days with Brent. The visit was very productive, and everyone agreed that face-to-face visits are needed more often. Brent averages 40-50 hours per week of work, and tracks his activities in 15 minute increments. He also submits weekly reports to the CCC and monthly reports to the CCC and Steering Committee.

There has been some difficulty surrounding Brent's job title "Political Director", because it does not accurately reflect his job description. At this stage in GPUS' development, with no outreach or field director, there were many requests made of Brent's time, which, had they all been done, would have taken his full time and attention, leaving little for his actual job. To remedy this, the CCC discussed a change in the position's title to "Election Resource Director", to accurately reflect the position's responsibilities, but decided to hold off on the change for the duration of the current contract, and focus instead of educating GPUS on the position itself. In addition, the CCC recommends that the next position hired be a Field or Outreach Director.

Here is the Political Director job description, as it was advertised and contracted for:

· Maintain, verify and update information in the national elections database;
· Track election results;
· Provide administrative support for fundraising efforts, including the solicitation of contributor lists from past candidates;
· Submit regular reports to the CCC, and stay in close communication with the co-chairs of the CCC;
· Supervise CCC interns;
· Attend CCC conference calls as requested;
· Administer the CCC, Ballot Access Working Group, and other related listservs;
· Produce a monthly update on news and resources for campaigns and GPUS;
· Receive and distribute resource applications from campaigns;
· Perform routine office tasks, including answering the phone, retrieving and forwarding voicemail and email;
· Keep CCC and BAWG website updated, or communicate needed information to webweaver;
· Track deadlines for submissions to publications, including Greensweek and Green Pages;
· Assist CCC co-chairs with media work;
· Work with GPUS Steering Committee to arrange election of the CCC at the national meeting;
· Organize state associates program;
· Communicate regularly with state associates and campaigns;
· Assist with editing and publication of the CCC's campaign manual and other materials;
· Distribute requested materials to campaigns and trainings;
· Work with groups planning campaign trainings;
· Arrange for presenters as requested for state and local parties and campaigns;
· Travel on occasion to assist campaigns in their organization;
· Assist with new programs and projects of the CCC as they develop.

Database

Various committees of GPUS have been working together with web people to develop the national party's database of information. While the work has not yet progressed to this stage, the CCC hopes to participate in and benefit from the database's volunteer sorting capacity, which will enable easier information sharing with campaigns about volunteers in their areas.

Committee Governance

There have been many internal governance actions taken by the CCC this past year. Roy Williams (TX) and Juscha Robinson (WI) served as co-chairs for much of the year, with Tom Sevigny (CT) coming on as a third co-chair toward the end of the term (CCC bylaws allow for up to three co-chairs). The committee operated largely through email listservs and via bi-weekly conference calls. Facilitation and notetaking on the calls rotated, and all decision-making was by consensus. The CCC developed and approved committee rules in March, which have been submitted to the Steering Committee for scheduling of a vote by the CC. The rules are largely based on the CCC's bylaws, which were approved by the CC in 2002. In addition, the CCC developed and approved job descriptions for CCC members and co-chairs.

Campaign Assistance:

Targeting Program

The CCC's Targeting Program provides valuable resources, such as consulting, media work and financial assistance, to qualified campaigns that complete the CCC's application and vetting process. After two complete cycles of the targeting program, the CCC continues to constantly streamline and refine the application and application process, aiming to make it a more effective tool for analysis, and more user-friendly for the applicant campaigns. Additionally, the CCC continues to develop additional resources for targeted campaigns. This process of providing resources to campaigns that qualify has made clear the need to coordinate with other, involved national committees (for example, with the media committee for targeted participation in press conferences and quotes in press releases, and with the fundraising committee for procuring donor lists for state parties and their campaigns). The targeting program is administered by the Resources Subcommittee, a group of three CCC members and two members as alternates, who are responsible for analyzing submitted applications and making a recommendation for targeting to the full CCC, which votes on the recommendation. In 2003, the CCC allocated $5,000 in funds. As of June 2004, the CCC had allocated $2,000 to campaigns, with the largest cycle of applications due on July 20. The overall number of applications submitted for each cycle has grown, but remains small compared to the number of races run nationwide. Judging from the applications, the overall sophistication and strategy of Green campaigns is growing, but remains on average low.

Over the two cycles of targeting, an unforeseen problem has emerged - many (but not all) states' campaign finance laws restrict or prohibit contributions directly from national political committees (such as the CCC, via GPUS) to local or state candidate committees. While this complicates matters, it need not stand in the way of direct national support for local and state campaigns. The CCC has been working with the Finance Committee to create a Political Action Committee (PAC) in Arizona to assist the campaign for County Attorney of Claudia Ellquist. This is a pilot project, to test the feasibility of setting up PACs. This solution was guided by the specific restrictions of Arizona campaign finance law, and will not necessarily be legal or appropriate in other states. Nonetheless, the CCC is committed to helping campaigns and will seek to do what is necessary to provide that help.

Volunteers/Green Wave

When individuals sign up on GPUS' website to volunteer for the party, they have the choice of indicating that they are interested in helping out on campaigns. These volunteers are routed to contacts within state parties. In addition, the CCC has begun routing volunteers indicating they wish to help out on campaigns to the State Associates and targeted campaigns. The efficacy of this system is doubtful, however. The CCC has followed up with volunteers within a few weeks of forwarding, and found that very few of the volunteers are ever contacted.

Campaign Schools

Working with local and regional groups of Greens, the CCC helped organize campaign schools around the country from 2003-2004. The campaign schools utilized local as well as national campaign talent, and aimed to teach basic campaign skills to grassroots Green candidates and campaign workers. The following schools were held:
1. Pacific Northwest Regional: Portland, Oregon; September 2003
2. Great Lakes Regional: Racine, Wisconsin; December 2003
3. Chesapeake Bay: Baltimore, Maryland; January 2004
4. Prairie Regional: Conception, Missouri; March 2004

The following schools are planned:
1. Nominating Convention: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; June 25, 2004
2. Southern California: Los Angeles, CA; July [when?] 2004
3. Future Focus Institute (Campus Greens): Davis, CA; August [when?] 2004
4. Tentative: Pacific Northwest Regional: site TBA, date TBA

In addition, regions that hosted campaign schools in 2003-2004 expressed the desire to host schools in 2004-2005. In the coming year, the CCC would like to sponsor schools in other regions of the country, in particular, in the South West, Southeast and Mountain States. As more of the schools are held, they will become more sophisticated, with multiple tracks of sessions allowing for the teaching of increasingly advanced campaign skills, together with the basics for those just beginning. Efforts have been made and should continue to be made, to involve Green officeholders in the organizing and presenting at campaign schools. Greater use could be made of the website in supporting the campaign schools - the CCC plans to post materials and handouts from campaign schools to its website, so that the materials are available to all Greens around the country.

Coordinated Congressional Campaign

In 2002, the CCC facilitated declared Green Congressional campaigns in the discussion and creation of a statement, entitled "Green Commitment to America", which was signed by 44 Green Congressional candidates. The statement was used in press releases, as well as in other media work. This coordinated campaign bought an ad on the back page of the Progressive Review, which cost only $25 per campaign. The general consensus after the election was that the coordinated campaign had been a useful tool to extend the individual campaign to a much broader audience that any one campaign otherwise would have reached.

The CCC has begun to facilitate a 2004 Green Coordinated Congressional Campaign. As of June 2004, listservs have been set up and a number of campaigns have begun participating in calls to develop a common platform, as well as to discuss what else a coordinated campaign could become. If the energy is there, this project could become much more than it was in 2002. Some of the campaigns will participate in a press conference for Congressional candidates at the National Convention.

Campaign Hotline/Consultants

In the fall, the CCC launched a campaign hotline. Green candidates and their campaign staff can email or phone in questions. Messages are answered within 24-48 hours, depending on the urgency. The CCC has identified Greens with expertise in various election-related fields. These consultants, whose number include elected officials and seasoned campaigners, have indicated their willingness to help out campaigns on a short-term basis. Campaigns seeking longer-term or more involved help are encouraged to fill out the targeting program application and to request consulting. The hotline is underutilized and underadvertised, but response time to queries has thus far been excellent.

Campaign Manual

At the June National Convention, the CCC will release the 3rd edition of the Green Party's Campaign Manual. The manual is available in hardcopy and online. The 3rd edition features an expanded listing of topics covered, and includes a listing of state party and government elections contacts. The manual, which has improved greatly over three years, will continue to improve every year, but is the single most used and appreciated resource for inexperienced campaigners.

Subcommittees/Working Groups + Liaisons/Representatives to Other Committees:

Ballot Access Working Group

The Ballot Access Working Group (BAWG) was created by the CCC in January 2003 to assist state parties seeking ballot access. With regards to ballot access, it has been a varied year. State parties gained ballot access in 2003, through various means, including Alaska, South Carolina, and Vermont, bringing the number of states where the Green Party is ballot qualified to 23. As 2003 ended and 2004 advanced, state parties mobilized to collect signatures around the country. Some states are still organizing and petitioning, and expect to be success. Other states, thwarted by repressive state ballot access laws, have thrown in the towel for the 2004 election cycle. As of the time of writing, we know that Green Party candidates will not appear on the ballot in 2004 in Georgia, North Carolina, Kansas, and Texas.

Beginning in Summer 2003, BAWG facilitated a discussion group of Greens from ballot-seeking states, aimed at sharing experience and tips. BAWG did attempt to hold conference calls, to share ballot drive updates and exchange information, but never attracted enough participants to warrant continuing. Instead, a group of ballot access mentors, Greens with experience in seeking ballot access, paired up with state parties seeking ballot status, to consult by phone and by email. With the limited funding allocated to BAWG, consultants traveled to Virginia, Idaho and Illinois, to assist with the setting up and organization of petition drives. Finally, BAWG released a handbook - A Green's Guide To Ballot Access - available for download on the CCC's website, to help people organize their petition drives.

While BAWG's priority has been to assist parties seeking party-wide ballot access, as of Spring 2004, BAWG has also been working with state parties that wish to petition for a presidential ballot line (usually in cases where that is much easier than party-wide access).

Presidential Campaign Support Committee

While the CCC played a role in the creation of the PCSC, the PCSC is now a CC-approved, permanent, standing committee. Along with other committees and state parties, the CCC has a seat on the PCSC, which is currently filled by Susan King (CA). Since it began functioning in January 2004, the PCSC has been addressing mostly structural and procedural issues and needs of the presidential nomination process. It is anticipated that the PCSC will soon begin focusing on issues of supporting a presidential campaign, and that there the CCC's programming and skills will become much more relevant.

Officeholders Network

Officeholders are invaluable to the Green Party and to the work of the CCC as examples of those who "have done it", as well as experts on campaigning. Green officeholders are presenters at campaign schools and volunteer consultants for the CCC campaign hotline. The CCC would like to build a working relationship with the Officeholders Network itself, to better explore areas of mutual interest. For example, the CCC would like to develop programming aimed at helping Green officeholders win reelection.

Miscellaneous:

Candidate Recruitment

Difficulties recruiting quality Green candidates is a common theme heard from local and state parties around the country. The CCC will debut its handbook on recruitment at the National Convention campaign school in hard copy, and online in downloadable format.

Elections Database

An extremely valuable tool, the online elections database (www.greens.org/elections) is maintained jointly by the CCC and Mike Feinstein. Mike, who is 99% responsible for the good shape the database has been in, has agreed that the database will be transitioned over entirely to the CCC. Since Brent was hired, this has come much closer to reality, as Brent has put in many hours updating the database and taking precautions to maintain the high quality. Discussions have been ongoing with the database designer, Kendra Markle, about what features and changes might be made to make the database even more user-friendly. The ultimate goal is to have state parties (through the trained state associates) responsible for keeping their entries updated (with CCC quality control), to provide rapid election results, and to accurately archive our Green electoral history.

One of the policies adopted by the CCC in the past year defines a Green candidate/elected official for GPUS purposes (state and local parties may have their own definitions). The purpose of the policy is to maintain a clear and consistent definition of who is a Green candidate/officeholder. Because state election and ballot access laws varies so widely nationwide, it is difficult to characterize a rule that captures every state's situation. The official policy for inclusion in the national database (and to qualify for the CCC's targeting program, for example) is as follows: a candidate or elected official must
a) be a Green Party member, as defined by his or her state party (this includes being registered as a Green where that is possible, and registered as independent or no-party where there is voter registration but it is not legally possible to register as a Green); and b) not be a member of some other ballot-qualified party.

For a full explanation of this policy, please go to www.greens.org/elections and click on the Officeholder Statistics link. The policy appears on the right hand side.

Greensweek/Green Pages

Mike Livingston (MD) acted as CCC liaison to the media committee and Green Pages, making sure that reports and updates on CCC programming and targeted campaigns are featured. Greensweek has also proven to be a very useful tool in getting out important CCC-related announcements to a wider audience of Greens.

Observations:

Budget 2004 - With all due respect and admiration for the hard work the fundraising committee and director are putting in, the CCC must acknowledge time and again that there are simply not sufficient funds to accomplish what might be done with adequate funding. While unlimited resources are not to be expected, better funding is necessary to ensure the continuation of growth and support of local and state campaigns and parties. The CCC is very grateful for the addition this past year of a full-time support staff position (Brent), whose hire has enabled the CCC to rapidly increase the quality and quantity of services and programming provided. The CC should renew its commitment to this position in the coming budget cycle, so that this growth and progress may continue.

CCC Elections 2004 - The entire CCC (10 seats) is up for election at the National Convention, by the Coordinating Committee. 2 members, Tom Sevigny (CT) and Roy Williams (TX), will be seeking reelection. Many of the members who are not seeking another term have already served two or more, and feel that it is time to turn the work over to new Greens with new ideas. Greens with campaign experience who are interested in running for CCC can find out more by contacting Juscha Robinson at jrobinson@greens.org and 608-239-4296 or Brent McMillan at brent@gp.org and 1-866-41-GREEN.

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