Azul,
You may have received an email recently from the Free Democrats urging you to vote for my opponent in the ongoing Senate election. The email contains several bold claims, many of which misrepresent my record and views. Please give me some time to prepare a response before voting based on the information in that email.
EDIT: Here is my response:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me58aT9CbK8
Many thanks,
Ian Plätschisch
Senator for Maritiimi-Maxhestic
An unethical party would have not sent the LCC leader our campaign emails in order to "sideswipe" him. The Free Democrats took the high road to as to allow for precisely this right of reply. You're welcome.
In any case, the email is reproduced below:
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¡Azul, estimada/estimat citaxhien dal provincù Maritiimi-Maxhéstic! Greetings, dear citizen of Maritiimi-Maxhestic province!
As incumbent Prime Minister of Talossa and leader of the Free Democrats of Talossa, it gives me great pleasure to recommend to you that you vote for Cresti dal Nouacastra as your new Senator.
Cresti says: "Having served as Attorney-General, Túischac'h, Grand General Secretary of Maritiimi-Maxhestic, and Maximally Magnificent Majordomo of Maritiimi-Maxhestic, I am more than qualified, and eager to be the positive leader and face of our province as your Senator! If elected, I will be the change that we need in this ever-progressive Talossa!"
This election is particularly important in that there is a large bloc of Senators who quite literally vote against everything that the Government puts forward. If you do not elect Cresti dal Nouacastra, you risk adding to this number, and causing Talossa to get stuck in the mud.
Maritiimi-Maxhestic is conducting an independent election for Senator - you must post in this thread on Wittenberg to vote! https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=364.0
If you have any question for me or for s:reu dal Nouacastra, please respond to this email, or post on Wittenberg. I wish you the very best in this election season.
Restéu voastra,
Miestra Antônia Schiva
Prime Minister of Talossa / Seneschal dàl Regipäts Talossan
Leader of the Free Democrats of Talossa / Ducea dels Democrätsen Livereschti da Talossa
I'm not sure you even could instruct the SoS to send a campaign message to everyone in a province except the other candidate, but nonetheless I appreciate being able to respond to what you wrote.
I wasn't trying to imply any bad intent; only that you described my record in a way I think is inaccurate.
Well, that wasn't a Chancery message anyway. It was a message sent to the list of M-M voters who had "opted in" provided to all party leaders by the Chancery.
I don't think I said anything about your record, but of what you would probably end up doing in an anti-FreeDems Senäts bloc of Pôl Briga, BenArd and Guy Incognito. And of course your announcement in advance that you'd vote down the Ranked Choice Referendum bill.
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on July 16, 2020, 08:28:40 PM
Well, that wasn't a Chancery message anyway. It was a message sent to the list of M-M voters who had "opted in" provided to all party leaders by the Chancery.
I don't think I said anything about your record, but of what you would probably end up doing in an anti-FreeDems Senäts bloc of Pôl Briga, BenArd and Guy Incognito. And of course your announcement in advance that you'd vote down the Ranked Choice Referendum bill.
Ok, perhaps I wasn't as precise in my language as I could have been, but when you say things like
"This election is particularly important in that there is a large bloc of Senators who quite literally vote against everything that the Government puts forward. If you do not elect Cresti dal Nouacastra, you risk adding to this number, and causing Talossa to get stuck in the mud"
It heavily implies that I have a record of doing that, and I clearly don't.
Also, unless you only sent the mailer to emails that were public, you would have had to send your message through the Chancery, given there are some people who can be sent political mailers only via the Chancery, which hopefully explains what I was getting at, but that is neither here nor there.
On a tangentially related subject, I am talking to one M-M voter who has been inactive for a while, had no idea that this separate election was going on until I told him, and needs to get
@the SoS to approve his NewWitt account before he can vote. I think it was a drastic mistake to run this election "in-house".
Here's an interesting point. What happens if this election ends in a tie, which seems likely?
M-M electoral law says:
QuoteTies at any iteration shall be broken by the Grand General Secretary.
As far as I can tell, the GGS went AWOL a long time ago; and his deputy is one of the candidates.
Can someone reassure me that a tie won't be an unholy clusterfudge?
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on July 23, 2020, 08:27:27 PM
Here's an interesting point. What happens if this election ends in a tie, which seems likely?
M-M electoral law says:
QuoteTies at any iteration shall be broken by the Grand General Secretary.
As far as I can tell, the GGS went AWOL a long time ago; and his deputy is one of the candidates.
Can someone reassure me that a tie won't be an unholy clusterfudge?
I became the GGS at the beginning of the current Convocation. The wiki just hadn't been updated yet.
Well, that just makes it worse. I assume you'll be making yourself Senator in the event of a tie, then? :(
I think we need an answer to this, on the record.
If the M-M Senäts election results in a tie, will GGS Plätschisch use his casting vote to make himself Senator?
Maybe we can also get an answer from Cresti d N about why he's personally refusing to hold elections to our provincial government this term, if the candidates are taking questions?
(https://www.liberaldictionary.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/whataboutery.jpg)
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on July 26, 2020, 03:57:06 PM
I think we need an answer to this, on the record.
If the M-M Senäts election results in a tie, will GGS Plätschisch use his casting vote to make himself Senator?
It's my job as GGS to break a tie in the Senate race in favor of the candidate I think would be best for Talossa and best for Maritiimi-Maxhestic. Naturally, I believe I am that candidate. I can't imagine anyone else in my situation, of any party, would act differently. I also did not seek out the position of Grand General Secretary this term; I took it because absolutely no one else was interested.
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on July 26, 2020, 04:21:14 PM
img
They're both provincial officials, and if you're asking how Ian is going to conduct himself in his job, I'd also like to hear about how Cresti is going to conduct himself in his.
Quote from: Ian Plätschisch on July 26, 2020, 04:28:54 PM
It's my job as GGS to break a tie in the Senate race in favor of the candidate I think would be best for Talossa and best for Maritiimi-Maxhestic. Naturally, I believe I am that candidate. I can't imagine anyone else in my situation, of any party, would act differently.
Repulsive. This is like the situation in the last Georgia governor's election, where the Republican candidate was Secretary of State and thus in a position to close down polling stations in Democrat-leaning areas, etc. You have just announced you are going to make a mockery of Talossan electoral fairness for your own partisan advantage, you are going to
vote twice in this election if a situation arises where the law allows it.
Free Democrats demand that the GGS delegate his authority to break a tie in this election to a respected non-political Talossan, not necessarily one from M-M.
Of course, there's a second option.
If the GGS/Senator/LCC leader doesn't drag his barely-active father to the polls, the likelihood of a tie is much lower.
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN
a respected non-political Talossan
Good luck with that, I suppose.
I have serious ethical concerns about the turn this particular election is taking. Putting aside the politics for a moment, candidates, as a principle, should NEVER hold any office that has any power to even remotely influence the outcome of the election—let alone be allowed to vote twice and decide the entire outcome with it.
In this particular instance, I have no doubt, Ian, that you think yourself to be the most qualified and natural candidate for the MM senate seat. I respect that as I respect your first vote. But to vote for yourself again and win all because of some legalese technicality is unethical and, frankly, undemocratic in my view. I urge you to ABSTAIN from voting again until we have exhausted all other alternatives.
(For those of you who are aware, this might give you some terrible flashbacks of the 2018 gubernatorial election in Georgia where Brian Kemp had unfettered oversight as then-current Secretary of State over his own election. This is too close for comfort and to stand on technicality despite the obvious moral questions is too great to just slide by. We have to resolve this issue systematically, not just in this instance)
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on July 26, 2020, 08:18:39 PM
Of course, there's a second option.
If the GGS/Senator/LCC leader doesn't drag his barely-active father to the polls, the likelihood of a tie is much lower.
Come on. My father has just as much of a right to vote as anyone else in this province. He regularly participates in the TMT20, which is more than can be said for many citizens.
I will provide a fuller statement tomorrow.
Today I learned that Ian's dad is a Talossan citizen.
***
This situation reminds me of several similar situations that have arose in Vuode between myself and V. As far as I can remember, both of us, even at the height of our previous hostilities towards each other, always voted against ourselves in favour of the other on final deciding votes.
Whenever a vote has come up concerning myself, such as my recent nomination for the Senatorial Medal of Honour, I have abstained.
To be in the position to hand yourself the casting vote and then follow through and actually hand yourself the casting vote would be utterly shameful. George W. Bush and his daddie's buddies would be proud of such a move.
The fair and right thing for Ian to have done, is resign the GGS position so to not find himself in such a compromising position.
I would also be fine with Ian resigning the GGS position if he does need to break a tie and letting another active member of the Assembly take it up. But fair warning: I am the only other active member of the Assembly.
The best thing would be for voters to make this moot.
Quote from: Sir Alexandreu Davinescu on July 26, 2020, 10:34:45 PM
I would also be fine with Ian resigning the GGS position if he does need to break a tie and letting another active member of the Assembly take it up. But fair warning: I am the only other active member of the Assembly.
The best thing would be for voters to make this moot.
Mark it on the calendar: I agree with AD on both counts. I would gnash my teeth about option A because we all know the result, but it would be as "fair and square" as can be expected.
The thing about Option B:
- this election is only open to votes on Witt.
- there are a grand total of 2 M-M citizens who currently have Witt accounts and could therefore vote, who have not done so already.
- if one of them votes, but not the other, lol.
Whoever wins, this election is a clusterfudge which must never be repeated.
I resign as Grand General Secretary of Maritiimi-Maxhestic effectively immediately.
I will defend my integrity to the bitter end, though. In the election to which this one has been compared, the incumbent Secretary of State (who was also running for Governor) was accused of using his position in illegal or otherwise shady ways in order to get the outcome he desired in the Governor's race. In this race, however, it is clear as day in the statutes of Maritiimi-Maxhestic that the GGS is authorized to break ties in the Senate election. Therefore, I could have exercised this power completely legally and unambiguously, and it is a power everyone knew I had when I was elected GGS at the beginning of the term.
However, I cannot ignore the desire of Maritiimi-Maxhesticans that I resign as GGS in this situation. Therefore, very much understanding their concerns, I do, and I look forward to presenting electoral reforms in the next Convocation of the Assembly.
Quote from: Eðo Grischun on July 26, 2020, 10:27:31 PM
Today I learned that Ian's dad is a Talossan citizen.
Odd, considering he posted on Old Witt almost 100 times.
I didn't realise the family connection. The two Davinescus aren't related. It makes sense now seeing as your surname isn't particularly common.