Duke - Board of Governors Nomination

[Duke]

I will also stand for a position on the Board.

For those that don't know me, I am a 22-year-old part-time law student and mathematician (although I hope to soon be in part- or full-time employment as well). I have been involved with the Party since June and since then ran the Privacy Policy Working Group, helped draft the manifesto and established and led the Press Office and helped represent the Party at the Counter2010 Conference in March. I was interim Chief Administrative Officer of Pirate Parties International for six months and chaired the recent PPI Conference in Brussels. I will be leading the upcoming discussions with Ofcom with regard to their obligations under the Digital Economy Act 2010.

Naturally, while I remain in the Press Office, I will abstain on any votes related to it (although I would expect that such votes would be unlikely).

[azrael]

I will also stand for a position on the Board.

If no-one else beats me to it, Duke, I'd like to second you.

[borgs8472]

Hi duke

* Where do you see the party in 1 years time?
* What do you imagine as your role within the board and party within the same period?
* Assuming growth and success on our part, how do you plan of balancing the responsibilities and commitments of both PPI admin, Press officer and Board member in the future?
* Do you have any contingency plan if you were unable to spend the same hours or less with the party in the future? e.g getting a full time job.

[cabalamat]

I have some questions I'd like to ask of the candidates standing for the Board of Governors:

1. What level of autonomy should regions of the Pirate Party have? (I'm thinking particularly here of Scotland, but the same issues apply to other parts of the UK with devolved administrations -- Wales, London, and Northern Ireland.)

2. Regarding Scotland, if there is a devolved party, should there be a Scottish leader?

3. What about policies/manifestos for Scottish elections; should they be decided by the Scottish Party or the whole of PPUK?

4. Regarding our manifesto, the constitution says (2.1): "The principal aim of the Party is that the United Kingdom reforms its copyright and patent and privacy laws in a manner consistent with the opinions of the Party’s members." In your opinion, does this preclude us having policies outside these areas?

5. Does this part of the constitution need changing? If so, what to?

6. Should PPUK have policies outside our core policies?

7. What other constitutional changes, if any, would you like to see?

8. According to the constitution (8.3): "The Board may have other governance responsibilities which are as yet undefined in this constitution." what other responsibilities do you think the board should have?

[Duke]

Ok, now voting is open, here are some answers (I left it to see if any other questions came up so I could combine answers if needed);

1. Where do you see the party in 1 years time?

Much where it is now, but bigger and better. Ideally, we would have a significant increase in the "active" member-count. In particular, I would like to see more frequent (and varied) blog posts and press statements. I would consider it a successful year if we could get to the point where people were coming to us for quotes after any news story related to our policies and we already had something for them.

2. What do you imagine as your role within the board and party within the same period?

An extension of the role I currently play within the party; working out how to get things done, trying to think of consequences of actions and offering (limited) legal knowledge and advice. For example, one thing I would certainly be keen on doing would be checking any constitutional amendments very carefully for any unforeseen consequences; inconsistencies or technical issues they might raise. I am less interested in making sure policy etc. is politically/morally good, as legally/technically accurate.

3. Assuming growth and success on our part, how do you plan of balancing the responsibilities and commitments of both PPI admin, Press officer and Board member in the future?

I am no longer an admin of PPI (and have not been since mid-April). Ideally the press work would be lessened by increasing the size of the team and by making sure there was a larger "core" group who were able to manage the team.

4. Do you have any contingency plan if you were unable to spend the same hours or less with the party in the future? e.g getting a full time job.

Part of the attraction of a board position over a NEC or similar position is that it is more long-term. I would hope that issues the Board needs to deal would not be particularly urgent, allowing a certain amount of flexibility. While the NEC meets weekly, I would expect the Board to meet monthly at the most with most discussions being done via either the forum or a mailing list.

5. What level of autonomy should regions of the Pirate Party have?

My idea would be that each region should have complete control over candidates, finances (being allocated funds by central Party combined with the possibility of raising its own funds), activities, officers, local merchandise and local press. However, core policies, membership, national finances, national press, general merchandise and so on should be handled by the central Party. In terms of policies, I would suggest a similar strategy to what was done in the last election; the core policies are decided by the Party and come first. Any candidate (or region, if they decide to do that) is then permitted to add anything else to that, subject to it not "bringing the Party into disrepute".

6. Regarding our manifesto, the constitution says (2.1): "The principal aim of the Party is that the United Kingdom reforms its copyright and patent and privacy laws in a manner consistent with the opinions of the Party’s members." In your opinion, does this preclude us having policies outside these areas?

No. The key word is "principal". Having said that, freedom of speech/communication/expression might need to be added. However, I do not think that it is for the Party as a whole, to try to expand our policies beyond the three "core" areas - for now.

7. What other constitutional changes, if any, would you like to see?

There are no specific changes I would like to see, however, elected or not, I will gladly look through any proposed changes and voice any opinion I may have on them.

8. What other responsibilities do you think the board should have?

The other main responsibility I see the Board having is a "balance" to the NEC. At the moment, we have something of a division between the ordinary members and the NEC and I would hope the Board would be granted some measure of (very specific) control over the NEC (such as calling an NEC meeting, adding points to the agenda of their meetings, being allowed to attend etc.) and act as an alternate point of contact and authority for the Party in the event that the NEC are unreachable. Obviously this would all have to be very carefully drafted and worked out. Other than that, I see the Board acting almost entirely in an advisory role on any matter; having the mandate to look more at "the bigger picture" than the NEC or regional officers (or even ordinary members).

[tdobson]

Week to week administration and ongoing tasks to keep an organisation running is by no means glamorous and requires a good deal of stamina, patience and persistence - quite different from the cut and thrust [no pun intended] of an election campaign.
If you've not mentioned already, what experience do you have sitting on committees and boards in the past?

Not everyone on the board will always agree with your take on things.
What makes you think you have the patience and self restraint to be able to continue to work harmoniously with board members who hold different opinions?

Detailed and concise minutes are crucial to making sure the outcomes of any series of meetings are recorded and pushed out to those who attended as reminders.
Bearing this in mind, would you be willing to take minutes for meetings you have?

Lastly:
Do you have any opinions that this government or legal system has a conspiracy going on or anything?
and:
Are you on twitter or identi.ca?

If ever need advice about anything I can help with, my door/email is always open/td[at]tdobson[dot]net.

Best of luck!

[Duke]

9. What experience do you have sitting on committees and boards in the past?

As mentioned above, I was the CAO of Pirate Parties International for about 6 months - most of what I did there involved persistence, patience and stamina (not least in chairing the April conference) and was certainly lacking in glamour.

10. What makes you think you have the patience and self restraint to be able to continue to work harmoniously with board members who hold different opinions?

I tend not to be that big on having opinions; I much prefer presenting cases rather than picking a side. I guess this may lead to me trying to find the middle ground in any disagreements were I to be elected.

11. Bearing this in mind, would you be willing to take minutes for meetings you have?

I took minutes for PPI while I was on the coreteam; but those were of IRC-based meetings. While it wasn't particularly fun and I wouldn't particularly want to do it again, I could if needed.

12. Do you have any opinions that this government or legal system has a conspiracy going on or anything?

I'm slightly puzzled by this question; generally I don't really think our governments are competent enough to keep any sort of major conspiracy secret.

13. Are you on twitter or identi.ca?

I am on twitter, under [firstname][surname] - you are already following me - however I tend to only use that for discussing Pirate business, generally commenting on live events (such as Parliamentary debates).