Campaign Shambles

[Note: This is my personal blog, expressing my personal opinions, often working out my frustrations. If you don't want to know my personal opinions and my frustrations, then don't read it. And certainly do not ask me to censor my personal blog because my opinions don't match yours. If you disagree, or if I have any facts wrong, I encourage you to Comment, or to contact me. Please respect my openness, and share your opinions and response with me at least, with all if you can. But please, no behind my back whispering]

Well, here I am unexpectedly at work early, so time to write a blog for a change.

Why at work early ? Because I got up early this morning to do campaigning at the train station. But first I had to go pick up materials from the verandah of the Campaign Manager. But, what do you know, the materials for station handouts were not there. Another abortive effort to help in the campaign.

I seem to spend every journey to work and back musing, perhaps fuming, over how shambolic this campaign has been, right from the beginnings. But first, a bit of history.

Having picked up a fair amount of experience in the NSW 2011 state election, I was looking forward to contributing at the 2012 Local Government elections, but when I was selected as a candidate, finally and very belatedly, I declined to be the Campaign Manager too, and stood down as Secretary. But, I soon had to adopt the signature "Acting Campaign Manager", as no-one else would do the job, or contribute much at all. One of my fellow candidates was fantastic in looking after the media side of things, while the other, much more experienced candidate, did zip, nada, nothing toward the campaign. And the supposedly experienced volunteer who was going to look after printing and a few other things, well, he just disappeared for weeks and simply did not answer any emails, text messages of voice mails. And the secretary never appeared or did anything.

Fortunately, a couple of the stalwarts helped out, while the usual suspects came to meetings, but really did nothing much at all.

So, having learned from that experience, I was determined to make some changes for the Federal 2013 election campaign.

• Get the candidates selected early
• Get the campaign organisation in place early
• Be the campaign manager, or at least the logisitics manager.

But I failed on all three counts

• The local group dragged it's feet for 6 months before finally choosing candidates, much too late for them to really build any sort of profile with the community
• The local group simply kept prioritising other business over getting the campaign organisation established early
• Circumstances, or maybe something more suspicious, conspired to defeat me in my objective to be the campaign manager.

The group had fallen in to such dysfunction, with a secretary who never turned up to meetings. meeting notices being either late or none existent, meeting schedule changes, venue changes meaning we were down to really small numbers. Culminating in April in me, a regular attendee, not being able to find out when the monthly meeting was supposed to be on.

• No email notice of the meeting, nothing on the fledgling website (started by the convenor of the group), nothing on the group facebook page.
• No response to any of the emails, voice mails and text messages I sent to the convenor.
• No one there when I went at the usual regular schedule place, day and time

So I missed the meeting.

And what do you know, at the next meeting I find that our completely non-communicative Convenor has nominated himself as the Campaign Manager.  Somehow that struck me as all rather too much of a convenience. But, whatever, let's run with it.

At last some action on candidates. But for weeks no organisation being put in place.

Finally, after much pushing, we start to have campaign team meetings. Usual mix of suspects, those who want to do something, but won't volunteer to be an organiser, and those who are there just to make sure no-one does anything they don't agree with, calling for the right of veto over anything.

But talk about shambolic meetings. Just one excited campaign manager telling us how much wonderful stuff he is doing. Never any time to talk about real organisation, getting volunteers on board, getting organisers, an organisation in place.

Oh yes, and just to make it more interesting, suddenly declaring that he is only going to campaign in one electorate, not the two we are responsible for !

Finally, by some back door manoeuvring, we get at least one meeting that is at least partially organised. By this stage I was pretty weary of the whole thing, but still volunteered to do a few things.

But then - what do you know, the damn Campaign Manager suddenly starts doing the things I had volunteered for. Says how easy it is, but nevertheless does it wrong and massively over orders materials.

And at a non-campaign meeting, my proposal to start to put in place some local group "jobs" is undermined and rejected by this same campaign manager/convenor. The same campaign manager who, to my face, said it would be hard to find a good candidate, when I felt I had been a pretty good candidate at the council elections.

Quite simply, I could not work with this totally disorganised person, who is not a manager's armpit! But have to admit, is good at creating events and press releases. Just would be good if the events were in the right place and properly publicised, at least to our members and supporters. As long as they don't take precedence over the really necessary work of the campaign logistics.

Since then, I've done a little bit of work here and there,  quitting Campaign Team meetings and avoiding any further contact with the Campaign Manager. Doesn't help being patronised by a Candidate either. 

And frankly, the campaign is now seriously failing in some of the basic tasks.

• We are half way though pre-polling, with 4 pre-polling stations to man. And so far not one person has been there to hand out how to vote cards. While, unbelievably, the candidate and other excitable volunteers are busy Flash-Mobbing lowly populated rural areas of the electorate that have a low % of support for us, against all the advice from seasoned campaigners, and the statistical analysis I did for the team.
• With only 10 days to go, we have probably only around 25% of the polling day slots filled (and most of them by my early efforts)
• Broadcast calls are going out for volunteers to come forward, which confuses and probably irritates those people who have already volunteered, but have not been told where they are rostered, and have not been used for the things they volunteered for earlier.
• I am the only one so far to have done any station handout, done with the old materials I happened to have at home. Whilst the only other volunteer for station handouts is unrealistically saying from 7:45 to 9:00, when the real traffic is from about 6:45 to 8:00

So that is why I am so pissed off, fuming. It could have been done so much better. It reminds of some sports teams I have played in, where the self appointed best player also appoints himself as coach, thinks he can do it all on his own, but in fact his efforts just make the whole team just less effective, even angry, and not even bothering to turn up. But try telling the "star" that. Or others, who are dazzled by the star, but cannot see the damaging effect the star's narcissism is having. The "Manager" is not really even supposed to be on the field. They are supposed be making sure we have the right players, we all understand the tactics, and giving a bit of coaching on skills, lots of encouragement to those players trying, exhortations to those not really puling their weight, looking for more players to bring into the squad to gain experience for future games and seasons.

Last time a coulple of us managed to pull the fat out of the fire by working our butt offs. But I had a job then where I could spend a lot of time. This time I doubt I can "work miracles" in the last week as I did before.

But then I remember what I am doing this for

• Greens are the best chance we have of having a decent voice in parliament
• Cate Faerhmann is a great candidate, deserves every support, every effort
• The local Greens group is not reflective of some of the great people who are in the Greens

So, I've cancelled stuff I had booked for this weekend, and let's see if I can get my mojo back. A weekend working bee to put signs and kits together will probably be a make or break. If I have to put up with our over excited but bloody useless campaign manager, I think I'll probably break.

Postscript: The expected weekend working bee never materialised. I checked with several people who had expected the working bee, who were willing to help, but no notice about it went out.

[Note: This is my personal blog, expressing my personal opinions, often working out my frustrations. If you don't want to know my personal opinions and my frustrations, then don't read it. And certainly do not ask me to censor my personal blog because my opinions don't match yours. If you disagree, or if I have any facts wrong, I encourage you to Comment, or to contact me. Please respect my openness, and share your opinions and response with me at least, with all if you can. But please, no behind my back whispering]