[pf] (2) running for election - do it!

· I tried to send this 7 1/2 hours ago, At 09:31 17/10/2001 +1300:

· I've got Metiria's agreement to send this on, in the hopes it might
encourage somebody to stand for election.  D.

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At 12:54 16/10/2001 +1300, Metiria Turei wrote to GN-NZ, about her campaign
for the Mayoralty in New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, responding to
someone's request for details of how it went:

Kia ora,
  I will send the copies of my election material and photos to Liz
directly, with a copy of the 150 words [that the Government sent out with
the postal ballot papers.  D.].  Below are my answers to the other questions.


- A summary of what you did

[Metiria: ]
For about a week I drove around with Genie the Genetically-modified cow,
stopping in shopping centres (Otahuhu Onehunga Grey Lynn and Pt England) to
hand out leaflets.  She had a photocopy of my billboard taped to her sides
so that when we drove around, especially during rush hour people could see
what campaign she was supporting.  I also took her to meetings, Krd market
and Avondale market.  She was very useful for added visibility and more
interesting than just a giant wood sign.

I had a stand for one of the small billboards and took that out with me to
shops, where I handed out pamphlets.  The sign was useful for cars and
those who didnt want to walk past me.

I went to markets and rallys and handed out pamphlets.

Lots of campaign meetings. 

Reasonable media coverage, Mana news, Ruia Mai, BFM, Newstalk, 2 frontpages
in the community rag, early coverage in the Herald, Queer nation and
Triangle TV


- Living billboard - on key intersections.

10 Chairs street theatre to demonstrate the poverty gap in Aotearoa;
Critical Mass ride; Clean up NZ in Panmure basin


- How many leaflets you printed/delivered?

We printed 5000 leaflets, not many at all given there are about 120,000
households in Auckland city.  They were a third of an A4 size and cost
about $202. I also had business cards printed which I used when the
pamphlets ran out, they cost $150 for 1000.   We did a targetted street
delivery, Onehunga, Grey Lynn, Pt England, Avondale, Otahuhu and otherwise
gave them out atmeetings, various markets and on the street.


- How much money you spent (approx)

I spent $3385, about $1800 in donations and $1600 myself. 


- How you fund raised for your campaign?

I confess my fundrasing was very sad, partly because we started so late,
that I found it difficult to fundraise and campaign at the same time. We
recieved donations from party members and did a ring around of people I
knew who were not attached to the party.  


- How many billboards you put up?

We had 15 4'x4' billboards, with my face and words on it.  We used Sue's 14
smaller billboards and used stickers to replace her name with mine.  So 15
large and 14 small, 29 in total.  There were 84 authorised sites in
Auckland City.


- Did you have any living billboards?  

Yes, Catherine produced a huge canvas, about 10 metres long that said "Tick
Green Met for Mayor GE Free Auckland".  We needed at least 3 people to hold
it.  For one week we held it up from 7.45am to 9am weekday mornings at key
intersections.  Since most volunteers did not want to get up early inthe
morning for two further weeks we did it at 4.45pm to 6pm at key
intersections.    There was some difficulty getting people to volunteer to
hold it so we were a bit sporadic with it, but I think we did a total of 14
days with it.


- Did you use the website?  Have your own web page?

We had a website but it was not up and running until quite late in the
campaign.  We did not use it as effectively as we might have, partly due to
not having a specific person to take care of it.  James set it up and then
I took it over.  I thought it was good but not everyone did.  There was an
article in the NZ Herald about candidates using the web and we were listed
on it.


- Did you put any paid ads in the paper - do you think they were worthwhile?

I did not run any ads, we just didn't have the money.  They would have been
worthwhile if we could have run them weekly for about 4 weeks.


- Did you run any stalls?

I attended some of Joyce's stalls, and I went with some friends to Avondale
markets with Genie the Cow and to waheke markets.  We did not have any of
our own particular stalls tho.


- Were you pleased you stood as a Green Party candidate (if you did)?

Absolutely. 


- What you would do different next time?

1.  Start earlier, although this time I really had no choice but to start
late.  Early starts allow for fundraising and getting the admin like
billboard design and pamphlets etc out of the way.

2.  Gather a bigger campaign team.  My team consisted of Catherine, Sandra
and myself.  We did have help from lots of others but we needed a core of
maybe 5-7 people to take on specific responsibilities. It was hard to run
the media, the billboards etc with only a few people and over the school
holidays as well.

3.  Do a survey of candidates and publish as Green Voting Guide.  This
would help voters with their choices and get our issues out to the public.
This cost money which is why I didnt do it.  

4.  Run our own candidates forums on Green issues, we tried to do one in
Avondale on the treaty but it didnt work out, also partly because of money.

5.  Get more votes. Although I am not disheartened by the result.


- Lessons learned which could be useful for the general election campaign:

1.  Media management.  Any extra media training would be useful.
Particularly in writing press releases and learning how to manipulate
stories to your advantage.  I didn't have much trouble with public
speaking, but trying to get the media interested in you was hard.

2.  Fact sheets.  I needed facts to back up my ideas.  I didnt have the
capacity to research facts and I also dont have the memory to rattle them
off the top of my head.  This is a preparation issue that can be readily
sorted out for the general election.  We would need both national fact
sheets and local ones.  The Council Buy-Local guide was very helpful in
this way.

3.  Cost.  Sandi and I are already beginning the fundraising for next year.  


Hei te wa, na
Metiria Turei
waea: 021 1405504
imera: metiria@noggon.co.nz
Morningside 
Tamaki Makaurau
Auckland NZ

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sent on to the PF list by David. (Metiria's about 31yo.)
David MacClement [davd @ ihug.co.nz] (remove spaces)
http://davd.tripod.com/GrRR-011012_titles.html#top
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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