TERRACE — It's Gail
Murray's first time as a cam-
paign manager, but she’s no
stranger to election battles.
_ Heavily involved in the 1986
provincial..and 1988 federal
campaigns, she. was an active
member of the Canadian Union
of Public Employees prior to
that. Cy 7
Although she carries the
Mmanager’s title, Murray em-
phasizes the NDP effort is very
much @:{eam one with a lot of*
the work being done by commit-
tees which have specific.
assignments. , .
For examplk, all canvassing
whether by phone or door-to-
door is handled by one of those

signs. of,

TERRACE — If you'te finding
it" hard to round a comer
without running into a sign urg-

Helmut Glesbrecht

shortage of vol

The third candidate in this
election, Liberal Juanita Hat-
ton, ‘doesn’t have @ campaign
manager, an office or a large
‘budget. ©. .

“I’ve'not been overwhelmed

with offers of help. People are

staying away like you wouldn't
believe,"" she said last week,

” One aspect Hatton is working
on is connecting with a
‘telephone answering service in
town, oct ;

‘ She. estimates it'll cost her
$200 so thatthe service will take
campaign-related messages and
then: forward them.on to her. if.
she is away from her home
phone. Pye Tate ‘

Chris Shaffer

committees while another has
responsibility for getting infor-
mation to the media.

There are also parallel
organizations in Kitimat and
Kitwanga as well as individuals
wha look after the smaller com-
munities such as Usk,

Murray says her job is simply

to co-ordinate all those efforts. _

However, it does mean long
hours. Although the Terrace of-
fice is nominally open 9 a.m, to
9 p.m., Monday-Saturday, clos-
ing the office doesn't always
signal the end of her day. -
And how’s she finding the
job. “I love it,’’ she says. "I en-
joy people and [ like working

- with people,’”’

times being:

Tey peer year oat) gent

ing you to vote for Helmut
Giesbrechi, it’s not surprising.
Campaign manager Gail
Murray says the New
Democrats ordered 1,300 plastic
Signs and they are being snap-
ped up by local supporters.
Add the plywood signs they
made and you have a propogan-
da forest appearing on lots both
private and public. As far as the
latter are concerned, Murray
says the rule is if the NDP see a
Parker sign there, they plant
one of their own right next to it;
Also available are Giesbrecht
buttons and hard hat stickers
(both free) and ‘Recall Rita’
buttons (they cost). And for
those looking for something a
little different, they can order a
“Social Credit Farewell Tour”
sweatshirt from the provincial
NDP. ,

Altogether, Hatton estimates
she has spent a little over $700
on preparations ‘leading up to
the dropping of the writ and

- work thereafter...

“All the money. I’vé spent ‘is

‘mine. I'm keeping receipts so 1
. can send them to the'(Liberal) _
party for repayment,” she said. ©

- And you won’t be seeing any
Liberal campaign signs around
the riding because they-are ex-
pensive and are subject to van-

Even though Hatton-says she
isn't-getting @ lot of support and
no monetary help, she has had

‘the occasional offer of.
”- assistance, be

TERRACE — Chris Shaffer
figures she's putting in 16-hour
days right now.

She’s Skeena MLA and
Social Credit candidate Dave
Parker’s campaign manager,
says she's riew to the job. :

“I’ve never run a campaign

. before,”’ says Shaffer who has

worked for Parker as consti-
tuency secretary and executive
assistant since 1986. ‘I’m

‘following the .formula. In

theory it's great. But I haven't

’ seen anything that hasn’t had to

be adapted to, your cir-
cumstances,”’

' One of the theories a cam-
paign is run on, says the local
mother of three, is that the can-
didate does whatever he’s told.

“Dave is pretty good,’ she

says. ““Every now and then I re-
mind him that his leader is a
strong lady. And I try to be
likewise,”’

She credits the NDP for mak-
ing her politically aware during
their years in power. .

“I became very definite in my
commitment during the 1972 to
"75 years,” she says, ‘'That im-
pacted my family personally to
quite. a degree. My husband
worked in the logging industry
and everything virtually shut
down. 1 wanted to know why
what was happening in the pro-
vince was happening,’’

Shaffer says she realized the
NDP were to blame for the
economic destabilization of the
province then and has been ac-
tive in Social Credit ever since.

nap

mopeve Piopak on

It’s all part ofa campaign
Murray says couldn’t be going
better.

But there's also a high tech
side to the battle — the com-
puter sitting in a quiet corner of
headquarters, That machine is a
mine of information, informa-
tion that helps the campaign run
smoothly and will prove in-
valuable on election day.

For starters, its bank carries
the names of alf voters in the
Fiding. Punch up a name and
the screen tells the reader
whether the individual is a party
member, asked for a sign at-the
last election and donated money
or worked on the campaign
then. © an

The computer also kicks out
the list of names telephone or
door-to-door . canvassers need
when they swing into action and

unteers

j Juanit

Gall Murray

p

dos few

ed up.

records ‘the results of those

surveys. _ .
There are nine different
classifications for a voter's
response to the canvas ranging
from staunch NDP supporter to
those who say. they won’t be
voting at all. All those replies
are fed into the computer accor-
ding to voter’s polling station.

Murray said that means they
can call up any poll at any time
during the campaign and sce
‘where we're solid or where we
need to do more work,’’

On election day, scrutineers
at the poll take note of who has
voted and that information is
passed back to headquarters.
That's also fed into the com-
puter allowing campaign
organizers to call up the lists
again and see ata glance who
has voted to that point and who
has not.:

However impressive the
system is, however, she em-
phasizes it only eliminates ‘“‘an
awful lot of pencil-pushing”’, it
doesn’t remove the need for
people, for volunteers to make
the contact with voters,

And that, says Murray, is an
area of strength for the NDP.
Describing the response as
“‘marvellous'’, she said phone
calls offering to help had started
coming in even before the elec-
tion was announced, Since then,
there had been a steady stream
of volunteers,

The response meant the Ter-
race end of the campaign had
225 names of potential workers
on its computer list before the

first week of the campaign was _

over, an

Terrace Standard, "Wednesda

, October 2, 1991 —

NDP.

again, Murray points out.

government.

,

dollar.*"

good government,” she says,

’ And raising that money takes the party tight back to people

As a matter of policy, she explains, the party does not ac-.
cept corporate donations. In part, that’s because it doesn't
want to appear to owe industry any favours should it form the

_Another reason, Murray explains, is it’s in keeping with the
‘NDP’s vision of itself as a party “‘of the people and for the

It therefore relies on the donations of ‘Tegular working
people’’. Individual contributions to date have ranged from
$5 up to $400, depending on what the individual can afford.

Some of those donations are ‘‘walk-ins” at the office while
others are solicited from party members and supporters as:
part of the telephone canvassing effort. an

Murray says the flow of money to date is on target to meet
the campaign’s projected needs but adds the NDP can't af-

- ford to relax its effort in that area. ee

And because it’s not a rich campaign, the organization has
to be careful to spend “where we get the most for our

Although she concedes the local NDP campaign will lack

the “glitz and glamour” of its Socred opponent, Murray is
not concerned. ‘‘We’re not trying to buy votes, we're offering

Social Credit candidate Dave Parker would not reveal how
much his campaign is expected to cost,

Campaigns cost :

TERRACE — People are important to the success’of any | :

election effort but so is money. a
‘New Democrat campaign manager Gail Murray estimates :

the Giesbrecht campaign will cost ‘up to $40,000, making it
the most expensive provincial election ever for the Skeena’

Cabinet, campaign

cause time trials _

TERRACE — It’s carly in the
morning at the Social Credit
campaign headquarters and
Skeena MLA Dave Parker is
signing letters to his consti-
tuents.

Like the morning cup of cof-
fee, it’s a ritual, On this par-
ticular morning, while his cam-
paiga organizers review the plan
for the day, he scrawls his name
on nearly 3,000 letters. it’s the
kind of personal touch Parker
believes in.

The day unfolds more or less
as planned — Parker and cam-
paign manager Chris Shaffer
knock on as many doors as
possible. But, besides . being a
candidate, Parker’ has. ‘other
duties to fulfill,

He's still an MELA and a sit-
ting cabinet minister, and has
several’ extra functions to per-
form each day. —

Shaffer says that means an
ever-changing campaign
schedule, “‘My favourite expres-
sion is ‘Written in stone, subject

to change,”"’ she says.

It all makes for added
challenges in running a cam-
paign.

More than 250 volunteers are
working for Parker in the of-
fices here and in Kitimat.

Like the NDP campaign,
Socred workers have a com-
puter system to track their sup-
Port through to election day.
It’s a provincial party system
that’s been specially improved
and modified by the local
organization.

“Our tracking system, our
computer is so good that it was
aur people that instructed at the
provincial seminar,’’ Parker ad-
ded.
The system is used to assess

Dave Parker

strengths and weaknesses and
identify areas where canvassers
need to work harder. —

And it'll play a key role on
election day. Scrutineers at the
polls keep track of who votes,
and phone those names back to
the campaign office. They’re
then fed into the computer,
which generates lists of sup-
porters who haven't yet voted
— people who should be phon-
ed by the election day team
dedicated to getting the party’s
vote out.

“Election day is different and
unique,’’ Shaffer says.
“Nobody knows what happens
when a person walks in to the
ballot box. If you're told one
thing, it’s a very good idea to do
whatever you can to back it up,
to confirm that support, That’s
the whole idea of your door-to-
door, telephone campaign.”

TERRACE — They say that
politics makes for strange
bedfellows.

It also makes for an in-
teresting combination of
renter and landlord, at least
as far‘as the NDP is concern-
ed.

Just before the election
was called, the party moved
its campaign offices from

owned by the local firm of

Election notebook

Kalum ‘to quarters on Park.

Crampton, Brown and Am-
dt.

Interesting part about this
is that the firm has strong
Tory connections,

No: surprise with Social
Credit. Its campaign office is
located in the Almarlin
building. The building is.
under the management of
local long time Social Credit

supporter Al Purschke, — ,

ow to vole

You must be on a list

from the Mohawk gas

EMMA -KOERNER
grows apples. She lives

TAZ tee eect TO

in Old Remo. They |].
have a greenhouse |.

there. She sells
vegetables from the
greenhouse at. the =
Farmer's Market. The -
Farmer's Market is.
beside the park on.
Saturday momings

to vote in the election. It _

‘ station.
. is calied the voters List,

You can go there
_ from Oct. 8 to Oct. 11
_. from.9 am. to 9 p.m.
<-'The-office is also open
_, Oct. 12 from 9 a.m. to 5
es 2 paime
| no Qn Oct. 13 and 14,
- /°;¥You cango to the — the office is open from
. government agent of-  noon'to 5 p.m. The last
~ floe.'Itis in the building day is Oct..15, from 9

S The Start
learning how

fr

>