Gracius Maximus for Attorney General

Gracius Maximus

Gracius Maximus

Tyrant (Ret.)
I thought about this over the weekend and decided to give it a go.

I have been a part of the North Pacific community for over a decade. I have served as Attorney General in the distant past and as an Election Commissioner, Minister of Culture, Minister of Defense, Justice, Chief Justice and member of the Security Council. I also served as Delegate.

I don't get along with most people. Many find me abrasive and sort of a dick. But, I tend to get the job done when it is necessary.

I think logically and make every attempt to seek a common sense solution to problems. I know the law and precedent of this region and while I do not consider myself an 'e-lawyer' I tend to do okay with my presentation and arguments.

Basically, I think the system here is broken. I think it has been broken for some time. That said, I believe I can work within the system as it exists currently and at least forge a path towards sanity in regards to cleaning up the mess that is the AG's office.

I am willing to answer questions but if they are ridiculous then they will likely get ridiculous answers.
 
What would you do as AG, to clean up "the mess that is the AG's office" as you call it?
 
Lord Nwahs:
What would you do as AG, to clean up "the mess that is the AG's office" as you call it?
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I will streamline the complaint process so that you don't need an associates degree in law to figure out how to post one. The general structure is fine but the directions on formatting are not so clear. Also, civil complaint processes are still pinned, which makes it confusing for the average citizen. The most recent post, which included a lot of effort on the part of the complainant, could have been avoided with just a minor amount of housekeeping.

I will also outline timetables for responses so that those making complaints or petitions to the AG's office do not have to sit in limbo for an indeterminate amount of time before receiving a reply.
 
mcmasterdonia:
What individual would you put on your campaign banner if you were to make one?
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Palpatine
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Gracius Maximus:
I don't get along with most people. Many find me abrasive and sort of a dick. But, I tend to get the job done when it is necessary.
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I think this position is perfect for you. Full support.
 
Excellent to see you running again GM! A couple questions for you, if you don't mind.

1) Within the decisions rendered by the Court within the last term (or two, if you'd prefer, since both were relatively full), what would you say is the most significant error in the Court's reasoning?

2) As Attorney General, are there any legal questions you currently anticipate yourself bringing before the next Court? Are there any criminal cases you plan to pursue? (A yes or no is sufficient, particularly for the latter question - no need to divulge details).
 
With the recent "joke" "test" "troll" complaints the AGs office recently has seen, how would you handled them differently?

Do you feel the current AG has really done a terrible job? Even in the absence of complaints based on actual criminal code violations? Was this a term too soon for them? Do they just need more experience serving in the office? If elected would you consider the incumbant for a deputy position under a leader such as yourself to just get more experience? Inquiring minds want to know.
 
SillyString:
Excellent to see you running again GM! A couple questions for you, if you don't mind.

1) Within the decisions rendered by the Court within the last term (or two, if you'd prefer, since both were relatively full), what would you say is the most significant error in the Court's reasoning?

2) As Attorney General, are there any legal questions you currently anticipate yourself bringing before the next Court? Are there any criminal cases you plan to pursue? (A yes or no is sufficient, particularly for the latter question - no need to divulge details).
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1. I do not, necessarily, believe that any decision made by the Court over the last two terms were significant errors in reasoning. I do believe that the logical arguments made in most of the cases are sound with the possible exception of the Judicial Inquiry filed by Mall on Regional Assembly Membership. I consider the end result of that decision to be sound but do not personally agree with the rationale that led to the conclusion. That said, while I do believe the last two terms of the Court have been two of the more productive sessions in recent memory, the time to decision still seems very slow to me. I know that outside factors are often to blame for such temporal delays but the lack of notification in regards to those delays is unsettling.

2. Since the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Legal Code are somewhat fluid documents that have been amalgamated over time from previous iterations of those documents, I believe that some precedent level rulings could stand to be re-evaluated. While I am aware that all rulings noted within the Laws are dated after the ratification of the current Constitution (sans amendments), I am not so certain that the oldest precedents are representative of current reality within The North Pacific. I would like to review the precedent log and challenge those that may need to be readdressed. Outside of this, there are some questions that continually arise regarding the separation of powers within the region that I believe could be clarified a bit more succinctly. I have no current plans to pursue criminal charges, but since they tend to stem from election cycles anyway, who knows what the 7th may bring.
 
PaulWallLibertarian42:
With the recent "joke" "test" "troll" complaints the AGs office recently has seen, how would you handled them differently?

Do you feel the current AG has really done a terrible job? Even in the absence of complaints based on actual criminal code violations? Was this a term too soon for them? Do they just need more experience serving in the office? If elected would you consider the incumbant for a deputy position under a leader such as yourself to just get more experience? Inquiring minds want to know.
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You seem defensive. You shouldn't be.

I do not believe you have done a terrible job. I believe you have been absent due to unforeseen RL circumstances and that has led to a terrible job being done, which is different.

In regards to the complaints that have been posted into the AG's Office, it is not the role of the Attorney General to determine the state of mind of the nation making the complaint. Some nations may make what they feel to be a legitimate complaint that others see as simplistic, juvenile or a joke.

Aside from that, and noting your statement of 18 Sept that you were away for RL circumstances, there doesn't seem to be any structural integrity to the AG's Office at present. From your post on 18 Sept in response to McM's complaint against Flemingovia, there is a large gap until your next response on 3 Oct, in which you simply point out that you are not obligated to give updates.

Considering that the position of Attorney General is elected by the members of the Regional Assembly, I believe it is the obligation of the office to inform those making requests of an expected timetable.

To Flemingovia's point at the end of his counter-complaint against McM, I do believe the AG's Office can pursue legal interpretation from the Court outside of criminal trials and believe that if a member of the region believes that their rights have been violated in a form that is not strictly within the criminal code that certain precedential remedies can be sought.

As far as assistant AGs are concerned, I do not necessarily believe anyone working for me will gain some miraculous font of knowledge, but their will be a secondary rotation posted within the office for all AAGs to see that outlines precedent for responding to inquiries from the public if I am not immediately available. This goes back to the issue with McM's complaint. From my account, you have had 2-3 assistant AGs on staff throughout the bulk of your term. It seems that at least one of them could have replied to the requests for updates within that thread while you were away.
 
I appreciate your comments. Though for the record and you can confirm with my Deputies Romanoffia and HuAt. While I may not have been online every hour on the hour or every day. Ive checked the forum every couple of days...the last several months..Ive noticed personally forum activity kind of on the slow side..and find it unnessicary to constantly be refreshing the forum.

However, I must say there has absolutely been structure in the AGs office, what lay people who are not in the office fail to realize is they do not have acess to all the subfora elected officials have.

Those complaints were actively being investigated and discussions on strategy, evidence, and looking at past case presidence were going on. In the AGs back office area (as you should be aware of, being a past AG and past assistant) is where most of the case discussion happens. From Sept 18th the day I acknowledged McMs complaint clear thru October 4th around the time he withdrew it, I was in constant communications with my deputies on the matter. In fact we have the most posts on that investigation in a long time in the AGs office. The last time any AG has had that much discussiom on a case seems to be from the intelligence gathering on the many exploits of JAL.

And as I told McM, and I want to reinterate, I understand being elected is being accountable to the people, but I told him that I on purpose refused to post updates as a strategy, because I did not want to accidentially tip off any potential defense until an indictment was accepted by the court and discovery was started. Loose lips sink ships as it were. (Not to mentiom it is president sat by former AG gaspo that the AGs office act with the utmost secrecy. Per a still pinned topic of AG rules)
 
PaulWallLibertarian42:
I appreciate your comments. Though for the record and you can confirm with my Deputies Romanoffia and HuAt. While I may not have been online every hour on the hour or every day. Ive checked the forum every couple of days...the last several months..Ive noticed personally forum activity kind of on the slow side..and find it unnessicary to constantly be refreshing the forum.

However, I must say there has absolutely been structure in the AGs office, what lay people who are not in the office fail to realize is they do not have acess to all the subfora elected officials have.

Those complaints were actively being investigated and discussions on strategy, evidence, and looking at past case presidence were going on. In the AGs back office area (as you should be aware of, being a past AG and past assistant) is where most of the case discussion happens. From Sept 18th the day I acknowledged McMs complaint clear thru October 4th around the time he withdrew it, I was in constant communications with my deputies on the matter. In fact we have the most posts on that investigation in a long time in the AGs office. The last time any AG has had that much discussiom on a case seems to be from the intelligence gathering on the many exploits of JAL.

And as I told McM, and I want to reinterate, I understand being elected is being accountable to the people, but I told him that I on purpose refused to post updates as a strategy, because I did not want to accidentially tip off any potential defense until an indictment was accepted by the court and discovery was started. Loose lips sink ships as it were. (Not to mentiom it is president sat by former AG gaspo that the AGs office act with the utmost secrecy. Per a still pinned topic of AG rules)
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I can agree with many of your comments. I am aware that much discussion takes place 'behind closed doors' here on the forum.

That said, I can not agree with your reasoning for failing to update petitioners about ongoing complaints. It would not compromise any level of any investigation for you, or one of your deputies, to post something to the effect of 'we are looking into it and discussing it, sorry for the delay but we expect to have an answer by X'. Even if X doesn't materialize you aren't leaving people wholly in the dark about the situation.
 
I do understand, and realize in hindsight we should have posted a generic "we're working on it"...rookie jitters as it were. This is my first term serving. And I would like it to not be my last. And to be frank, I was not expecting to be AG this soon, but with the sudden bailing out of Treize, I stepped up to the electorate. My plan was to be a deputy under him for a term and get more experience before deciding to run. But despite the potential frivilous complaints...and the oversight of public communication (though we were working it in private) I wouldnt trade in this experience. It has been illuminating.
 
Drawing this thread back to being about Gracius Maximus rather than about PaulWall....

You have my full support in this race. We have not always seen eye to eye, but i recognise quality when i see it.
 
flemingovia:
Drawing this thread back to being about Gracius Maximus rather than about PaulWall....

You have my full support in this race. We have not always seen eye to eye, but i recognise quality when i see it.
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Thank you.
 
I was not trying to make this about me. But in any election there is an incumbant, I was curious on Maximus's opinion as a challenger in the AGs race toward the incumbant AG.

Best of luck to you "Minister" I believe some still call you that...
 
Were Pierconium to be accused of a crime under TNP law, how would you decide whether to prosecute or decline to do so?
 
Thank you for your answers, GM!

Would it be inappropriate to request a comment on the two criminal cases that were filed today? :P
 
Eluvatar:
Were Pierconium to be accused of a crime under TNP law, how would you decide whether to prosecute or decline to do so?
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Since the nation of Pierconium is a citizen of The Pacific and not TNP, it would be problematic. But, I would almost definitely prosecute.
 
SillyString:
Thank you for your answers, GM!

Would it be inappropriate to request a comment on the two criminal cases that were filed today? :P
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Yes. :P

Actually, considering that one has been withdrawn and the other is supposedly to be decided prior to the end of the election, I will comment briefly on both.

In regards to the use of the seal of office, while I agree with some of the commentary there that the use of the seal does seem to imply governmental support for one candidate over the other, I believe that it could be argued that the seal of office being used by the incumbent party is acceptable. I think that a disclaimer would be necessary to outline this distinction, similar to those used by political candidates in some RL countries that maintain a small footnote on their political ads specifying that X does not support Y.

For the other case, this is more simple in my opinion. And since it has not been resolved at present I will not go into any sort of detail except to state that a vote for, or the expression of support of, a re-opening of the nominations is no different than a vote for, or the expression of support of, a specific candidate.
 
I'm surprised by your thoughts on the seal complaint...but you have my support.

Being a 'dick' is actually a plus for the position of AG.
 
punk d:
I'm surprised by your thoughts on the seal complaint...but you have my support.

Being a 'dick' is actually a plus for the position of AG.
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Thank you.

Might I ask what surprised you about my thoughts?
 
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