Artemis for Speaker V2

Oracle

The Disappointed Father
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TNP Nation
Oracle
Discord
Hyperion#1325
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*May 2019; Logo coming soon

Artemis for Speaker of the Regional Assembly
~IF I LOOK BACK, I AM LOST~
How fitting that it is time for elections when the Games have returned. So please feel free to read my previous campaign from January. Much will remain the same. These are goals that I intend to continue to work towards if reelected as Speaker of the Regional Assembly.


Here we are once again deciding the fate of the North Pacific in choosing who shall lead? Here we are deciding on candidates who are examples of the wheel from years past or the candidates who intend to break the wheel.

Now that I have gotten my Game of Thrones out of my system, hello. For those who don’t already know, I am Artemis also known as Oracle to some. I currently serve as a member of the Security Council, Election Commission, Deputy Speaker, former Minister of Culture, and member of various Ministries. I am seeking the Office of the Speaker of the Regional Assembly and hope to have your support in the coming election.

While often I state I do not intend to run for office, a number of individuals have approached me asking me to run. Some thought Vice-Delegate would be a competitive place for me to seek higher office, but ultimately I felt that running for speaker would be where I could help lead TNP.

Ultimately I do not have any grand plans for the Speaker’s Office. I never believe in grand campaign promises and am wary of individuals who offer such promises. Realistic and attainable goals are what I intend to offer to the electorate and to the Regional Assembly.


An Active and Engaged Speaker’s Office

While my experience as a Deputy Speaker has offered me quite a bit of experience, I fully intend to surround myself with active Deputy Speakers. I hope to blend the makeup of the Deputy Speakers with experienced members and newer individuals to help train future speakers.


As part of an active and engaged Speaker’s Office, I intend to bring the RA Digest back into the works. This is where the Deputy Speaker’s and members of the Speaker’s Staff will work to engage the public about the workings of the Regional Assembly and ways for members to get involved with the legislature.


A Consistent and Stable Speaker’s Office
Training of inexperienced Deputies can take time for them to learn a job that in essence mirrors the duties of the Speaker. This is where an experienced Deputy Speaker will play a major role in assisting me with the training of the Speaker’s Staff. As with my RL job, I intend to put together a training manual of sorts to help guide Deputy Speakers and to help provide consistent and stable training for future Speakers, Deputy Speakers and members of the Speaker’s Staff.


I would like to thank you for reading through my platform for Speaker, and I hope that I have convinced you to vote for me for this vital Office.

I will be updating this post with changes that I intend to explore during this next term. Feel free to drop any questions or comments and I will respond as soon as possible.


Warmest Regards,

Artemis
 
Would you be comfortable with leaving your term in the hands of another Speaker? Do you think that what you might leave behind will be upheld by your potential replacement?
 
Would you be comfortable with leaving your term in the hands of another Speaker? Do you think that what you might leave behind will be upheld by your potential replacement?

If the citizens voting feel confident enough to vote in a new speaker, I am comfortable with their decision. I am happy to pass on the mantle of Speaker to the next individual at any point in time. I know there are individuals who probably could and would do a better job at speaker. I would also be happy passing the position to a newer individual to bring new faces into the elected office.

I think what I would leave behind, or hope I leave behind at least, is a consistent and fair office. I think that any future speaker needs to have at least those two qualities to be successful. Consistent in their decisions and actions as well as being fair within the confines of the law. The Speaker does wield quote a wide array of powers within the legislative bodies. So they need to be consistent in that manner and be fair with that authority.

You’ve been an excellent Speaker. You have my continued support.
Thank you for your support! While I wouldn't characterize my term as excellent, definitely been a few bumps along the road, I truly thank you for that.

Are you disappointed not to be running against the esteemed speaker of the house, El Fiji Grande?
When I saw the news that I would not be facing the Esteemed Speaker, I was delighted and dismayed at the same time. It has been quite the rivalry between the House and the Assembly and I hoped to continue that relationship into the future.
 
Do you have any plans regarding the RA Digest?

Currently, the Speaker’s Office is working with the Ministry of Communication in publishing the RA Highlights in the Northern Star publication on a monthly basis.

I think you've done a great job this last term and am pleased to see you running for reelection, you will have my vote.
Thank you for your support!
 
Can you detail and explain the rationale for the recent changes you made to the standing procedures?

Standing Procedures for Reference. I will go over each section that was added because each section has its own reasons for being added. For those who are unaware, the Standing Procedures are established by the office of the Speaker to further define or clarify sections of the Rules of the Regional Assembly. Additionally they establish guidelines for speakers to provide consistency from one speaker to the next. I have further amended them to help cover specific instances that do not happen regularly, such as Recalls and Votes regarding the Vice Delegate Checks. These are two very serious types of motions that are vague in aspects of procedure.

Recall of Government Officials Procedures
  1. In accordance with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, members of the North Pacific have the right to recall officials from their office.
  2. Any citizen may introduce a proposal to recall any government official from office.
  3. The citizen who introduced the proposal may call for a vote by posting "motion to vote", or a functional equivalent in the thread.
  4. The five days after the motion to recall an official has been made shall be referred to as Formal Debate. Once Formal Debate has ended, the Speaker will schedule a vote to begin no fewer than two days hence.
  5. The motion to recall an official requires a two-thirds majority vote.
I included this in part due to my mishandling of the recall of Romanoffia from the Security Council. As you can see in this section, it references the rights of members to recall officials from office. With the seriousness of this motion, I felt that it was best that the citizen proposing the motion be the one required to make the motion for a vote. It further establishes a mandatory 5 days of formal debate to ensure that a motion is not being rushed and adequately debated.

Vice Delegate Rejection of Citizenship
  1. In the event a member applying for citizenship is rejected by the Vice Delegate, the Regional Assembly will immediately begin debate on the rejection.
  2. The Vice Delegate shall introduce the motion to uphold the rejection of the applicants citizenship. The Speaker shall schedule the vote to commence two days after the rejection occurs.
  3. Aye votes shall be those cast in favor of upholding the Vice Delegate’s decision to reject the application.
  4. Nay votes shall be those cast in favor of overturning the Vice Delegate’s decision to reject the application.
  5. If the Regional Assembly upholds the Vice Delegate’s decision, the Speaker shall record the name of the individual as disqualified from holding Citizenship in the North Pacific.
  6. The Regional Assembly may overturn a previous decision to uphold a rejection by a majority vote.
This procedure is pretty much defined within the scope of LC 6.1.7-8. This helps elaborate on the procedure and hopefully resolve any confusion around the actual motion and what each vote means. This will also help remind the Speaker that the name of the rejected individual needs to be added to the list of disqualified individuals.

List of Motions and Required Votes
  1. Legislative and Non-Legislative Motions not defined below require simple majority votes in order to pass.
  2. Motion to override a NPA deployment by a majority vote. The Speaker shall accept these motions on an expedited basis.
  3. War may be declared by a three-fifths majority vote.
  4. Treaty Ratifications require a two-thirds majority vote to come into effect.
  5. Veto Override Motions require a two-thirds majority vote to overturn a Delegate’s Veto. If passed the vetoed proposal shall immediately come into effect.
  6. Election Commissioner confirmations require a majority vote.
  7. Security Council Confirmations require a majority vote. In the event the Security Council does not nominate an applicant or does not act on them within thirty days, the Regional Assembly may appoint an applicant by a two-thirds majority vote.
  8. A motion to remove a member of the Security Council made by a majority of the remaining Security Council for security reasons requires a two-thirds majority vote of the Regional Assembly. The vote shall be held immediately.
  9. Line of Succession proposal requires a majority vote.
  10. Motion to extend border security powers may be made by the delegate with a majority vote.
  11. Motion to Declare an Emergency shall require a majority vote. Emergency Declarations shall be expedited and last no longer than three days. Concurrent with emergency declarations may make both binding and non-binding recommendations related to the ongoing emergency by a majority vote.
  12. Constitutional Amendments require a two-thirds majority vote.
  13. Amendments to the Bill of Rights require a three-quarters majority vote.
This section is quite self-explanatory. To me, it makes sense to have a centralized repository of the types of motions and their requirements. Placing them here allows the Speaker to update them accordingly as laws are changed and defined motions made.

I hope that these explanations answered your question.
 
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I find that bills proposed in the Regional Assembly tend to be proposed by old members of the region, newer members tend to not propose legislation. Do you agree? If so, why is it this way? Is this good or bad? Should we be encouraging newer members to the region to propose legislation? If so, how?

If you are not elected, would you be willing to serve as a Deputy under Dreadton?

Should you be elected, would you be willing to have Dreadton as a Deputy?
 
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I find that bills proposed in the Regional Assembly tend to be proposed by old members of the region, newer members tend to not propose legislation. Do you agree? If so, why is it this way? Is this good or bad? Should we be encouraging newer members to the region to propose legislation? If so, how?

I generally tend to agree with this. For the most part, and I stress that, we see more established members of the community proposing legislation. Ever once and a while we do see newer members of the community introducing into legislation. I think this comes into play from general soundness of our existing laws. A newer member will generally take time, learn the ropes, and get involved with the community prior to proposing changes. Our more active legislators generally have the experience and seen where either we are missing something or see areas that can be improved.

This is neither imo a bad or good thing. It just simply is the reality. Newer members come with new perspectives and often new ideas that haven’t been considered. Established members bring changes to a system they have had dealings with.

I am often saying it’s good for new members to be involved and share their thoughts. If they wish to see change but do not know how to craft it, I would encourage the, to reach out and I would work with them or bring some more experienced members to assist crafting that idea into actual legislation.


If you are not elected, would you be willing to serve as a Deputy under Dreadton?

Should you be elected, would you be willing to have Dreadton as a Deputy?

I’ll answer both of these questions together. Yes.

To elaborate more, I was on the fence about rerunning for Speaker mostly due to RL concerns with work etc. But no matter what I decided about running for this position, I was fully intending to offer my services as a deputy for the eventual Speaker. I would help offer my experience with working with citizenship applications and checks because often at first it can be confusing to properly manage it. Additionally I would be able to help when needed with legislative action or be a source of advice on issues.

Ultimately if the citizens of the region re-elect me to another term I would be happy to offer @Dreadton a position as Deputy Speaker to help give them the experience working in the Speaker’s Office for future positions.
 
How would you encourage someone to apply for Deputy Speaker/run for Speaker, assuming that that person has almost no idea on what the Speaker does?
 
Currently, the Speaker’s Office is working with the Ministry of Communication in publishing the RA Highlights in the Northern Star publication on a monthly basis.
That's a good initiative. However, do you see value in additionally reinstating the RAD as a regular, stand-alone publication that goes only to citizens?
 
How would you encourage someone to apply for Deputy Speaker/run for Speaker, assuming that that person has almost no idea on what the Speaker does?
I would encourage those with interests to contact me and ask questions. As part of this, I will work with answering their questions about what the Speaker's Office does on a day to day basis.

That's a good initiative. However, do you see value in additionally reinstating the RAD as a regular, stand-alone publication that goes only to citizens?

TNS stands as a regular production which provides regular summaries of what has transpired within the Regional Assembly on a monthly basis. Often we sit at having 4-5 items that get discussed that are shared through the publication. Our members already receive a number of telegrams directed at them, so why fill their inboxes with more things they are unlikely to read.
 
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