Ben Meiklejohn

Ben Meiklejohn (born 28 May 1971) is a Maine politician and member of the Maine Green Independent Party, an affiliate of the United States Green Party. Between 2001 and 2007, he served two terms as an at-large member of the Portland School Committee, and 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 1995-1997. 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 2002-2007.

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 2000-2004 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 currently its Treasurer. He has served longer than any other elected Green in the county with the most number of elected Greens in the nation.

Meiklejohn has run for state legislature as a Green Independent twice, once from Portland's District 120 in 2006, and once from the former District 31 in 1996. In 2008, he also declared a write-in candidacy for the Green Independent Party nomination, but was unsuccesful.

School committee
During his tenure on the school committee, Meiklejohn introduced several new proposals to the committee. These include a successful measure recognized by the National School Board Association, to limit military recruiters' access to city high schools. He also authored a policy to create student representatives to the Committee from each of the city's high schools, based upon the University of Maine System Board of Trustee's policy on the same.

Meiklejohn is one of five 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 12/2005-1/2007 it had four Green Independent members, and was at one point the second "Greenest" governing body in the United States. From 2004-2006, significant media attention had been attributed to conflicts between the committee's Democrats and Greens.

Meiklejohn was appointed by the newly elected School Committee in December 2006, to be the Finance Committee Chairman for the year.

Music
He has played the oboe since age seven and founded the rock band Hoboe in 1997, featuring amplified oboe with various effects pedals as the lead instrument. He was on the Board of Directors for the Maine Songwriters Association from 2002-2004. He has written numerous classical music columns for the Portland Phoenix.

Electoral history

 * 2008 Candidate (Write-In) for Green Independent Party nomination for State Representative, House District 120, 5 votes, 9.80% (not nominated)
 * 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)
 * 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)
 * 1996 Candidate for Re-Election as University of Maine Student Government President, 712 votes, 51.12% (re-elected)
 * 1995 Candidate for University of Maine Student Government President, 1137 votes, 47.76% (elected)
 * 1994 Candidate for University of Maine Student Government President (not elected)