[Sosfbay-news] Recruiting for CC Rep from Silicon Valley

Jim Stauffer jims at greens.org
Sat May 17 14:28:28 PDT 2008



It is time for the Silicon Valley Region to elect a new state Coordinating 
Committee (CC) Representative. Counties are allowed to elect a rep and an 
alternate rep. In this region, we typically elect the rep and the alt from 
different counties.

The term of office for a CC rep is two years. San Mateo and Santa Clara have 
adopted an alternate elections procedure so we can elect the rep in our 
county meetings rather than at the general assembly, if we so choose.

The CC is the administrative body of the GPCA. It's main duties include 
organizing the state General Assemblies (plenaries), executing the decisions 
of the General Assemblies, and coordinating the work of the various state 
committees and working groups. The committee description from the state 
bylaws is:

7-1.1 Duties and Authority
The Coordinating Committee shall be generally responsible for coordinating 
meetings, internal communications and other administrative tasks, including 
the following:
a) Establish agenda and select facilitators for general meetings.
b) Monitor and assist committee work and refer matters to committees.
c) Request and receive regular reports from committees.
d) Authorize and ratify specific expenditures
e) Authorize and carry out the decisions of the GPCA general membership and 
make executive decisions (but not set policy) between General Assembly meetings.
f) May make statements in the name of the party
g) Is authorized to retain legal council on behalf of the GPCA.
h) Is authorized to make decisions which legal counsel advises.
-----------------


This is a good opportunity for someone who wants experience administering a 
large organization. Or, for someone with administrative experience who can 
lend their skills to the party.

The GPCA has a decentralized structure and uses a consensus-seeking decision 
model. These high ideals of democracy require a well-functioning 
infrastructure, since it constitutes a leaderless structure that relies on 
personal responsibility to move the party forward. It is the job of the CC 
to make this work.

CC reps are required to attend CC teleconferences. There are one or two each 
month, depending on how busy the CC is that month. Also, since this is an 
administrative body, CC reps are expected to help with various tasks. One 
common task is acting as liaison to one of the committees/working groups.

A common question is, "how many hours per week does this take?" Well, it 
depends on how busy we are and how many jobs you've volunteered for. A busy 
week can find you putting in 10 hours; an easy week requires one or two 
hours. Time management is a skill all CC reps come to learn.

A personal opinion:

Over the past few years the CC gained a reputation of being a dysfunctional 
body. That was true, but no longer. Any body is only as functional as its 
members are functional. The last several years has seen the CC brought to 
dysfunctionality by a group from LA county that has kept the LA Green Party 
dysfunctional for many years. Dysfunctionality is contagious. But, like most 
contagious diseases, it runs its course and slowly abates.

The dysfunctional people are mostly gone from the CC now. There are still a 
few that try to obstruct progress, but their influence is minimal. Today, 
the CC is mostly a group of nice people who care about the party. But most 
of them are new to the CC and feel somewhat unsure of what they're suppose 
to do, or how it's done. There are three "old timers" currently on the CC -- 
myself, Mike Wyman and Michael Borenstein. We are called on frequently for 
advise and guidance.

Given the current state of the CC, I'm willing to stay on as the alternate 
rep if this helps recruit someone for the main rep position.

Feel free to call me if you have any questions.

Jim Stauffer
408-432-9148




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