Fregerson for Speaker

[Fregerson]

Yes, this is a second campaign thread from me. No, this is not for someone else. Yes, this is a serious campaign thread. No, I am not trying to push to reopen nominations for Delegate or Vice Delegate. Yes, this is me, running to be Speaker.

Admittedly, I didn't expect to throw myself into this race going into the elections. I was expecting some sort of race, but mainly thought the candidates will come from other, newer members of our community, or from the slate of the current deputies. It was only after the withdrawal of Venicea did I start wondering if there will be a suitable candidate for this position. And it was with that thought in mind, did I start figuring out a campaign to become the next Speaker.

I am not a person of fancy graphics. Instead, you are probably going to expect quite a fair bit of text for my campaign. Of course, if the questions and information below is not enough, I am open for further questions.

Who are you? What is your background?
My first involvement in the TNP Executive came from my time as a staffer in the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs. I later became a Deputy Minister for the Ministry, first under TlomzKrano, and later, McMasterdonia, Cretox State and Westinor. I am also an ambassador to Europe, one of TNP's major partners on the World Assembly front, with both regions being members of the World Assembly Legislative League. Apart from that, I have/had also been members of other ministries, including Culture and Home Affairs.

More people would likely know me as the Minister of Communications, taking over from BMWSurfer during McMasterdonia's term. I served 1 month as the Minister back then, before continuing to hold the position under Delegate Robespierre. Being in the Executive Council has changed my perspective of things in the Executive side of things. I wasn't playing any role in the Ministry's leadership previously, nor was I involved very much in the Ministry. Despite a shaky start, I would say that things have became slightly better now, with the Ministry releasing more editions of Polaris over my last term.

Apart from that, I have also been involved in the region as an Election Commissioner, having been in the position since March 2020. The Election Commission is in charge of running every single election here in TNP, making sure they are ran smoothly and the results are accurate. This has some similarities to the role of a Speaker, when the Speaker tallys the votes in the Regional Assembly (RA) and ensure the smooth running of the assembly.

My other exploits in NationStates includes being semi-active in cards (albeit on a much smaller scale as compared to the big players around), as well as RPing. I used to be a member of the TNP Roleplay map Eras, so I do have some knowledge of how things are ran over there, though I left the RPing world to focus on other commitments. I am also an active member of the NS Sports community, a gameside community that is dedicated to RPing various sports.

How do you see the role of the Speaker?
I think the Speaker and the deputies are doing a really thankless job. Quite a significant portion of the duties are administrative ones - checking on the bills that are filed in the RA, tabulating the votes for RA motions, checking on the citizenship status of every citizen in TNP, and processing new applications. The rest of what the Office does is basically up to the discretion of the incumbent. The Office can lend a hand in guiding newer citizens to legislating in the RA. The Office can do a part to encourage gameside users to apply for citizenship. However, these aspects should be considered as secondary taskings to the Speaker's role.

What are your proposals for the Office?
While I do not want to go into specific proposals, I would like to share some of the broader ideas that will guide my term as Speaker.

1) Improving current processes
The Speaker's Office has access to quite a number of tools that help them in doing their day-to-day activities. While these tools are good, there has been cases of errors coming out of the office, most notably, the case in late June where 35 members were found to not be meeting requirements for Citizenship. I believe that the current process of checking citizenship requirements, processing citizenship applications, could be improved. For instance, we can make checks to be more efficient, create more safeguards to reduce errors, as well as have periodic audits to sieve out under-the-radar cases. Should I be elected, I will personally oversee the plans to improve in these areas, and collaborate with the admins to improve the tools that are used by the office to meet the above-stated objectives. Ultimately, these improvements are done to reinforce the basic duties of the Office, which is, to process citizenship applications, ensure that citizens requirements are met, make sure that the Regional Assembly votes are scheduled properly, and count those votes.

2) Improving Legislative-Executive relations
It has been observed that throughout NationStates, there has been a declining population, and that means, less active users which can contribute to TNP. As a result of this manpower crunch, it is more important to reduce the overlaps between the initatives of the Speaker's Office, and the Executive branch. I would like to be more open in cooperating and collaborating with the Executive branch to solve some pressing issues concerning TNP as a whole. For example, one of the Delegate candidates, MadJack/St George, has proposed to look into the reliance on tech in the region and how to reduce the single point of failure. Given that the Delegate probably has lots of other matters to juggle, we believe that we can be a co-partner in addressing this issue, given the Speaker's Office utilisation and reliance on some of the technology, such as dispatch creations, and citizenship checks. Another example would be on encouraging more members of the region to be citizens. The Speaker's Office can collaborate with the Ministry of Home Affairs on guiding people through the citizenship process, as well as help these newcomers understand more about the Regional Assemblies. The Speaker's Office can also work with Ministry of Communications to continue to reproduce Regional Assembly updates for the gameside population. While it might be possible for the Speaker's Office to push these initatives on its own, such cross-branches collaboration would allow us to pool more manpower resoures together, and reduce any overlapping initiatives.

3) The Regional Assembly (RA)
The RA is a key area under the oversight of the Speaker's Office, and as such, it is the role of the Office to ensue the smooth running of the RA. The Office will maintain professionalism when handling the matters of the RA, such as scheduling votes and making sure every member's opinion is heard. Wherever necessary, I would be taking a more proactive approach in changing the Standing Procedures of the RA to ensure that things are done more smoothly.
A change from previous speakers is that I would not be adopting the stance of abstaining from all legislative votes and issues. While I am the Speaker of the RA, I believe that it does not reprive me of my rights, as a member of the assembly, to comment and be involve in legislating issues. Having said that, professionalism will not be sacrifised. Where necessary, I will empower my fellow deputies to make decisions, such as tabluating the votes and maintaing order, especially if I am an involved party in the matter.

What did you learn from your experience as a Minister of Communications?
I never really had to face an issue of not having enough activity in the ministry. Being more involved in World Assembly previously, there was generally some levels of activity in terms of pushing out IFVs, discussing the proposals coming to vote, and making sure that the administrative issue of opening voting threads are done. The same can't be said about Communications. And honestly, I came in as a complete outsider to the entire process, which contributed to the really shaky start I had in the position. I was glad to recieve some guidance and help along the way, but more importantly, I think it pushed me to think out of the box and figure out ways in which we can revitalise the ministry.
I had some brief plans on what could be done going forward, should the new Delegate pick me as the Minister of Communications again. Of course, should my run for Speaker be successful, it is unlikely I would get back into that position for quite some time. I would still, however, be sticking around in the ministry, now that I know its workings better, and contribute to the ministry like any other Executive Staff.

Will being a Speaker mean that you will pull back from your commitments in the Executive?
There will definitely have to be some give and take. When I became a Minister, I reduced the time I had on looking at the World Assembly, because the time I had was simply finite and insufficient. There needs to be a nice balance in order to ensure that we don't get burnout by the commitments we have to the positions. Having said that, I don't see myself reducing, in any form, the commitments to the Executive, and I will be happy to be involved in a senior position if necessary.

You mentioned something about involving the Speaker's Office in the tech review of TNP. Could you elaborate more on it?
Basically, I plan to work with the admins and the Delegate on the issue of maintaining the technological tools of the region. It can start from looking at some of the tools that the Speaker's Office use, such as the current citizenship spreadsheet, and the vote tabulation tools. Given my background in technology, working with spreadsheets and some web programming, I can even be personally involved in the upgrading and maintaing of these tools.

Those are the points I have for now, and thanks for reading through that wall of text. Hopefully, by posting this earlier, everyone will have more time to digest and consider my campaign. It also means that we can have more time to answer any questions that come my way, so feel free to voice your opinions!

 

[Yuno]

GOOD LUCK FREGERSON WITH YOUR TNP ELECTION FOR TNP SPEAKER!!!

 

[Tim Kasto]

GOOD LUCK FREGERSON WITH YOUR TNP ELECTION FOR TNP SPEAKER!!!

 

[Simone]

I am quite supportive of any serious candidacy since we don't have anyone running right now. I have never had an official role in TNP so I don't feel I can genuinely comment, but I am grateful that at least someone is doing the dirty work.

 

[Pallaith]

For an outsider candidate who has no actual experience in the Speaker’s office, I found this to be a very solid campaign. As a former Speaker who took the job without having prior experience, I know that that experience isn’t everything, and that you can still be capable going in fresh. I’m not worried that would be a significant obstacle for you.

With that said, I’m not sure I quite like the heavy emphasis on the tech stuff in this campaign. Simply put, I don’t think it’s as big a problem as you seem to think it is. A tech review for the Speaker’s office should reveal the obvious truth: people in the office lacked knowledge of how to properly use the tools and communicated poorly either their issues using them, or the things they did which caused issues with the citizenship management.

Your line of questioning in Venicea’s campaign thread caused misunderstanding to spread and ultimately led to this election being reopened. It turns out we learned some vey important info about Venicea as a result of that, and he confronted some harsh truths about how much time he spends on this game, but the premise of all of that was flawed from the start. Without the tech issue there’s not a whole lot more to your campaign. You seem like a competent and capable person who will be diligent and communicative in office, and will keep a sharper eye on what the office is doing particularly with how it uses technology. That’s good and reassuring, but I think you’ll be disappointed in how little you end up doing with this whole tech review collaboration thing.

I don’t really have a question about that stuff I just wanted to say that. I would also note that the matter of you possibly being Minister of Communications again has been resolved. Would you pursue a position as deputy speaker in the event you lose this election?

 

[Fregerson]

For an outsider candidate who has no actual experience in the Speaker’s office, I found this to be a very solid campaign. As a former Speaker who took the job without having prior experience, I know that that experience isn’t everything, and that you can still be capable going in fresh. I’m not worried that would be a significant obstacle for you.

Thank you for the vote of confidence!

With that said, I’m not sure I quite like the heavy emphasis on the tech stuff in this campaign. Simply put, I don’t think it’s as big a problem as you seem to think it is. A tech review for the Speaker’s office should reveal the obvious truth: people in the office lacked knowledge of how to properly use the tools and communicated poorly either their issues using them, or the things they did which caused issues with the citizenship management.

Your line of questioning in Venicea’s campaign thread caused misunderstanding to spread and ultimately led to this election being reopened. It turns out we learned some vey important info about Venicea as a result of that, and he confronted some harsh truths about how much time he spends on this game, but the premise of all of that was flawed from the start. Without the tech issue there’s not a whole lot more to your campaign. You seem like a competent and capable person who will be diligent and communicative in office, and will keep a sharper eye on what the office is doing particularly with how it uses technology. That’s good and reassuring, but I think you’ll be disappointed in how little you end up doing with this whole tech review collaboration thing.

Sometimes I find myself finding other ways to make sure that the candidate knows what they are talking about, especially the part about updating templates and making sure that the proper audits are done. So I chose to ask them if the Speaker's Office, as a user of the tech, has something to say to the incoming delegate's campaign to push for a tech review. I must say, I was quite confused to what evolved after that, since the answer and the subsequent conversations wasn't what I would expect it to be. I can't say I am glad to have accidentally dug out some additional information, but given the seriousness of the information, in hindsight, it doesn't seem too bad.

I think the tech review aspect of my campaign is something that stands out, but I don't think that is all about my campaign. I also mentioned something about increasing cooperation with the Executive side, to see what is the gap that can be filled by the Legislative side in improving the entire new-player experience. Sure, we can be specific, but in the end, I don't want to end-up double doing certain things. For instance, mentoring new forum members and citizens is being done by the Home Affairs Ministry, yet previous Speakers (and even Vice-Delegates) have proposed playing a role in this. We could reboot the monthly Regional Assembly summaries, but if that is getting covered by the Ministry of Communications, we don't have to double do it again.

Whether the tech review aspect is going to dictate my term as speaker, I would say, it is unlike to dictate. And you are right, I did spent quite a bit of this campaign on it. But to me, improvements to the current tools will go a long way in improving the job scope of the Office. If we can make checking for citizenship requirements easier and more straight forward, and also, improve the citizenship application administrative process, we could devote more time on other matters, and even give the speaker and their deputies more leeway to contribute to other parts of TNP.

I don’t really have a question about that stuff I just wanted to say that. I would also note that the matter of you possibly being Minister of Communications again has been resolved. Would you pursue a position as deputy speaker in the event you lose this election?

I don't see why not. Whichever of the other candidates win, should they want to employ my services, I am happy to take it up.

 

[Gorundu]

Another example would be on encouraging more members of the region to be citizens. The Speaker's Office can collaborate with the Ministry of Home Affairs on guiding people through the citizenship process, as well as help these newcomers understand more about the Regional Assemblies. The Speaker's Office can also work with Ministry of Communications to continue to reproduce Regional Assembly updates for the gameside population. While it might be possible for the Speaker's Office to push these initatives on its own, such cross-branches collaboration would allow us to pool more manpower resoures together, and reduce any overlapping initiatives.

So this is the part of your campaign that caught my attention the most. Speakers since Madjack have largely focused on performing the fundamental duties of the office well rather than any broader initiatives. This would appear to be a reversal of that philosophy. Can you 1) elaborate on your philosophy on the role of the Speaker's office; and 2) elaborate on what exactly you will be looking to do to guide people through the citizenship process and help newcomers understand the Regional Assembly?

 

[Fregerson]

So this is the part of your campaign that caught my attention the most. Speakers since Madjack have largely focused on performing the fundamental duties of the office well rather than any broader initiatives. This would appear to be a reversal of that philosophy. Can you 1) elaborate on your philosophy on the role of the Speaker's office; and 2) elaborate on what exactly you will be looking to do to guide people through the citizenship process and help newcomers understand the Regional Assembly?

1) Personally, I think times have changed. Months ago, expecting the Vice-Delegate to perform some sort of role in the executive government wasn't the norm, but we had Cretox and now Kasto, both of which built on strong performances in the executive to bring themselves into the position. The Speaker's Office, to me, can also do other things to improve the new citizen proccess. It will be something between the forum mentors and the Gameside Advocates, purely on creating a touch point to help new and aspiring citizens through the process, and introduce them to "what it means to be a citizen" and the benfits of being one.
It's true that speakers since MJ have been focusing on the fundemental duties of the office. Maybe it wasn't clear to you, but to me, apart from that, I also want to do things that provide some value-add to the office as a whole. If we were to simply go on the details for the basics, such as stating how many deputies we will employ, how fast we will do Speaker's checks, then you are unlikely to find a huge difference between me and any of the other candidates. I take the basics as a given. Something that we have already been doing in the Office, and a benchmark we will follow. Like I previously mentioned, the reason why I want to do a tech review is because I want to make sure the tools are in place for us to speed up the whole application process, and make it easier for the Office to do their job of checking citizenship requirements.

For the part about how do we guide people through the process, I think it is being that bridge from gameside to forumside. The details could be ironed out should I be elected, since there is some sort of potential overlap with the duties of GAs and forum mentors. But if it means having to create a dispatch to show exactly step by step how to be a citizen, the Office can do it. For the part about understanding the GA, I will be proposing to come up with a "Newcomer's guide to the Regional Assembly", stating what the purposes of the Assembly, and a brief run down of some important laws. I think this is some sort of a missing gap that we haven't really addressed, because for new citizens, generally the feeling is that 1) I thought this is a GA/RP-ish platform to push nation policies out, or 2) I don't know what to do in terms of providing feedback or voting. It isn't going to be enough to make a person a pro at legislating or commenting on proposed motions, but at least, hopefully it allows citizens to understand the basics of the Assembly.