Senäts SNAFU

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

I think that's hasty, and you should hold off.  I apologize -- you're right, that did look I was implying that you personally were trying to exclude someone.  I'm not sure why you want to have an election so fast, but I have no reason to think that's the reason.  I shouldn't have phrased things in such a way that implied that was your motive.  I'm sorry.

[Sir Lüc]

Congratulations!

[Sir Lüc]

Also, common sense says that electing a leader from a group of eight people probably should try to wait for everyone.  There's no reason to rush and try to get it done when there are empty seats unless you're trying to exclude someone from the vote.

Eiric followed the Standing Rules of the Senate to the letter and performed admirably under messy circumstances. He wasn't trying to do anything you insinuated just now. If you have an issue with the rules, 1) get someone to propose a rule change; 2) blame it on me who wrote them in the first place.

Besides, you know full well that when the vote began, the race was settled and the Senate had a full roster.


EDIT: I wrote this before even noticing the outcome of the Mençei election vote, which again Eiric handled perfectly both in how he set it up and how he reacted to the outcome.

A flawless interpretation of procedure, and he's being pushed out like this. Worrying times.

[Sir Lüc]

We are simply asking that every province should have a siting senator in order to start to vote.

That, indeed, was the case.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Also, common sense says that electing a leader from a group of eight people probably should try to wait for everyone.  There's no reason to rush and try to get it done when there are empty seats unless you're trying to exclude someone from the vote.

Eiric followed the Standing Rules of the Senate to the letter and performed admirably under messy circumstances. He wasn't trying to do anything you insinuated just now. If you have an issue with the rules, 1) get someone to propose a rule change; 2) blame it on me who wrote them in the first place.

The standing rules of the Senats certainly cannot overrule the Organic Law.  But also, while I'm not a senator, I don't see where they do oblige the election commence immediately.  "At the beginning" doesn't seem like it has to happen right after the election is over.  I mean, here the process started on 10/6, which is a day before the election was even certified -- I think, anyway.

But even if a strict reading obliged it to start after the election was certified, any rule can be ignored or waived by majority vote: wouldn't that be the move here, under these unusual circumstances?  I mean, as far as I can tell, that's what just happened, and it was the right move.

My basic point is not even that ESB did anything wrong, anyway -- I was making the more narrow point that waiting for the election was not establishing the precedent he was suggesting.

[mximo]

Azul,

All of this is a bit dramatic. I humbly ask my esteemed colleague, the senator from Benito, ESB, to reconsider his decision and not to resign. The Senate has settled the matter; we must wait, and I understand that the court is asking the parties to provide their arguments quickly to regularize the situation in the province of Maricopa. Once again, it's normal for parties to defend their interests. But this should not lead to the loss of distinguished citizens.

I am not questioning the work of my humble colleague, the outgoing Mençei, who has, up to now, done his job. In fact, flawlessly in my opinion.

Sincerely,

Mximo Carbonèl

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid we *have* lost ESB. I've confirmed this in a Facebook chat with him. He says he just doesn't have the "spoons" for Talossa any more. So the election of a Mençéi is now dragged out even longer until Benito chooses a replacement.

I want to be very careful with what I say here. Eiric reacted badly to what he saw as an insinuation of wrong-doing, on top of an extremely stressful few days doing his job (as I think all agree) diligently and to the letter of the law. I myself had to quit Talossa for six months over a similar event at one point. But we all have to own our own emotional reactions, even if the provocation is deliberate (which I don't believe it was in this case).

I can only speak to my own feelings, but: the worst times in Talossa for me have been when I have felt wrongly accused of unethical behaviour, of "cheating" or worse. Of course, if such accusations come from barely-active citizen Joe Random, who cares, they're probably just funny. If such accusations come from a very prominent Talossan, a political leader of long standing, someone with *excellent* rhetorical skills and the energy to lead campaigns... then, I begin to think that those accusations will become reality in people's minds. And I will no longer feel safe or able to participate in Talossa. So, I get very defensive.

I'm sure that there will be reactions saying that things that I've said have made other Talossans feel unsafe, attacked or defensive. I invite anyone who has that reaction to speak up, now. The point that I'm making is that partisan temperatures in Talossa are currently so high that relatively innocuous comments are driving people to renounce. This is not safe for anyone. We all have a role to play in turning down the heat.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

For those unfamiliar, the spoons analogy is a common way for the disability community to describe their capacity to deal with events and decisions on a day-to-day basis. The basic idea is that you have a certain number of spoons each day, and everything you do costs you a spoon. And so sometimes you have to choose what can happen in a day, because you only have so many spoons. It's a very useful analogy so a lot of people have adopted it.

I definitely agree that we need to lower partisan tensions. I regret that my poor phrasing led to this. I tried to apologize as quickly as I could, to hopefully give him time to reconsider, but, yes, things are too tense in this situation. I know coalition negotiations are ongoing, but we should make efforts along these lines even if that doesn't work out.