Ben Meiklejohn

Benjamin Meiklejohn
Member of the Portland School Committee from At-Large District
In office 2001–2007
Preceded by	Jeffrey Peters
Succeeded by	Jaimey Caron
Personal details
Born	(1971-05-28) May 28, 1971 Melrose, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Political party	Maine Green Independent Party
Residence	West End, Portland, Maine
Alma mater	University of Maine; University of Southern Maine
Occupation	Musician and Journalist

Ben Meiklejohn (born 28 May 1971) is an American politician from Maine. A member of the Maine Green Independent Party, which is an affiliate of the Green Party of the United States, Meiklejohn served two three year terms (2001 to 2007) as an at-large member of the Portland School Committee.^[1] He was the first Green ever elected in the City of Portland.

Education

He received a B.A. in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing at the University of Maine, where he served as President of the Student Government from 1995 to 1997. He currently attends the University of Southern Maine for Music Performance on oboe since 2002, and served as the University of Southern Maine's Student Representative to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees from 2002 to 2007.

Green Independent Party

Meiklejohn has been active in local Green Party politics since 1994. He founded both the University Green Party (University of Maine) in 1996 and the Portland Green Independent Committee in 1999. He has run for office three times with the party designation officially listed with his name on the ballot (UMaine Student Government President (1994), District 31 State House (1998) and District 120 State House (2006)). From 2000 to 2004 he served as the statewide chairman for the Maine Green Independent Party. He is also an important figure in the Cumberland County party, formerly its chairman and treasurer.

School committee

Meiklejohn is one of eight registered Green Independents to have served on the School Committee, and was the first Green elected in the city of Portland. The Committee is technically non-partisan, but from December 2005 to January 2007 it had four Green Independent members, and was at one point the second "Greenest" governing body in the United States.^[2] From 2004 to 2006, significant media attention had been attributed to conflicts between the committee's Democrats and Greens.^[3]

In October 2007, after a controversial vote by the Portland School Committee to allow birth control to be distributed in King Middle School, Meiklejohn appeared on the O'Reilly Factor as a political guest. He voted against the proposal due to problems with the consent form.^[4]

Other careers

Meiklejohn is a musician, journalist, and public relations specialist. He has played the oboe since age seven and founded the rock band Hoboe in 2000, which features amplified oboe with various effects pedals as the lead instrument. Meiklejohn has performed rock oboe on stage with notable rock celebrities Vince Welnick (Aug. 19, 2004) and Tom Constanten (May 10, 2012), both of the Grateful Dead, and Chris Barron of the Spin Doctors (Feb. 28, 2013).^[5] In 2012, he performed with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary to debut a Stookey composition.

Meiklejohn appeared in the January 20, 2000 issue of USA Today for an advertising agency attempting new ways to recruit talent.

He was on the Board of Directors for the Maine Songwriters Association from 2002 to 2004. He has written numerous classical music columns for the Portland Phoenix.^[6]

Meiklejohn is the staff writer for the Courier newspaper, owned by Mainely Media LLC, covering news in Biddeford, Saco and Old Orchard Beach, Maine. He has also written for the Free Press at the University of Southern Maine, the Leader in Scarborough, the Post in Arundel, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, and the Sentry in Cape Elizabeth and South Portland. Meiklejohn used his electoral experience to analyze and grade the use of executive sessions by governing bodoes in a column titled, "Executive Session Watch."^[7]

Electoral history

2008 Candidate for Portland Water District Trustee, Portland Representative, 12125 votes, 41.85% (not elected)^[8]
2008 Candidate (Write-In) for Green Independent Party nomination for State Representative, House District 120, 5 votes, 9.80% (not nominated)^[9]
2007 Candidate for Re-Election to Portland School Committee At-Large, 2737 votes, 12.73% (not elected)
2006 Candidate for Maine State House of Representatives, District 120, 1190 votes, 43.05% (not elected)^[10]
2006 Candidate for Green Independent Party nomination for State Representative, House District 120, 36 votes, 100% (nominated)
2004 Candidate for Re-Election to Portland School Committee At-Large 16880 votes, 34.1% (re-elected)
2001 Candidate for Portland School Committee At-Large 5176 votes, 50.1% (elected)
2000 Candidate for Portland School Committee At-Large (not elected)
1998 Candidate for Maine State House of Representatives, District 31, 639 votes, 26% (not elected)^[11]