Ukraine Donation PD

[Þon Txoteu É. Davinescu, O.SPM]

WHEREAS there is an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and

WHEREAS many Talossans are
expressing a desire to assist in some way, and

WHEREAS The Government believes the financial position of the Kingdom allows us to make a contribution

THEREFORE I authorize the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue to disburse $100 to the Ukraine Crisis Fund of the International Red Cross.

Respectfully,
Gen. Txoteu Davinescu, O.SPM
Seneschal of Talossa

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

WHEREAS there is an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and

WHEREAS many Talossans are
expressing a desire to assist in some way, and

WHEREAS The Government believes the financial position of the Kingdom allows us to make a contribution

THEREFORE I authorize the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue to disburse $100 to the Ukraine Crisis Fund of the International Red Cross.

Respectfully,
Gen. Txoteu Davinescu, O.SPM
Seneschal of Talossa

Excellent. As one of those Talossans encouraging this I applaud this action by the outgoing government.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

I note that the King needs to countersign this PD for it to become valid

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

I note that the King needs to countersign this PD for it to become valid

@King John

[Duke John]

El Regeu en volt.

-- John R

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

WHEREAS there is an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and

WHEREAS many Talossans are
expressing a desire to assist in some way, and

WHEREAS The Government believes the financial position of the Kingdom allows us to make a contribution

THEREFORE I authorize the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue to disburse $100 to the Ukraine Crisis Fund of the International Red Cross.

Respectfully,
Gen. Txoteu Davinescu, O.SPM
Seneschal of Talossa

So this PD was like two weeks ago, counter-signed the next day -- did the donation actually get made?

[King Txec]

WHEREAS there is an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and

WHEREAS many Talossans are
expressing a desire to assist in some way, and

WHEREAS The Government believes the financial position of the Kingdom allows us to make a contribution

THEREFORE I authorize the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue to disburse $100 to the Ukraine Crisis Fund of the International Red Cross.

Respectfully,
Gen. Txoteu Davinescu, O.SPM
Seneschal of Talossa

So this PD was like two weeks ago, counter-signed the next day -- did the donation actually get made?

The burgermeister has not been responding to emails I've been sending about the election, so I wonder if he even knows about this.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

WHEREAS there is an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and

WHEREAS many Talossans are
expressing a desire to assist in some way, and

WHEREAS The Government believes the financial position of the Kingdom allows us to make a contribution

THEREFORE I authorize the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue to disburse $100 to the Ukraine Crisis Fund of the International Red Cross.

Respectfully,
Gen. Txoteu Davinescu, O.SPM
Seneschal of Talossa

So this PD was like two weeks ago, counter-signed the next day -- did the donation actually get made?

The burgermeister has not been responding to emails I've been sending about the election, so I wonder if he even knows about this.

This is genuinely concerning.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Besides email, are there any phone numbers or, heck, mailing addresses to reach the Burgermeister?

[King Txec]

Besides email, are there any phone numbers or, heck, mailing addresses to reach the Burgermeister?

I only have an email address for him.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

If he is going dormant there may need to be exploration of a replacement for whom we have multiple modes of contact.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

This is kind of a huge problem.  I mean, obviously it's very bad that the Seneschal's PD was passed and then no one followed up on whether or not it actually got done, but that's not an enormous surprise.  It's extremely bad if the Burgermeister is ill or incommunicado for the long term, on the other hand.

[Baroness Litz Cjantscheir, UrN-GC]

@Istefan Perþonest was last online today, perhaps a PM on Witt (along with this tag) might bring this to his attention?

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

@Istefan Perþonest was last online today, perhaps a PM on Witt (along with this tag) might bring this to his attention?

I will confess I am not optimistic.
I tagged him repeatedly in the election preparations thread as I was having difficulty using PayPal for party registration fees payment. I got one initial response and then nothing to follow-up questions. Emailed. No response.
I am honestly curious as to what is going on.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

He's always been trustworthy, just sometimes he gets very busy.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

This is not surprising. At the time of the Budget on the Second Clark, you may have noticed that there was no financial report from the Burgermeister. At the time, Istefan commented that he was prevented from completing his statutory duty in this regard due to "overwhelming anxiety". Our friend is clearly not in a good place.

One of the things we have found out in Government is that, if someone is just not in a position to be able to work, there's nothing you can do apart from (a) wait for them to become available; (b) fire them. Either way, you become the subject of bad faith attacks from people who want to blame you for everything. We have also found this re: the National Database; MPF is just not in a position to fix it, so it doesn't get fixed, because we can't replace him.

Those attempting to get political mileage out of other people's apparent "failures" should take note of this dynamic.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

This is not surprising. At the time of the Budget on the Second Clark, you may have noticed that there was no financial report from the Burgermeister. At the time, Istefan commented that he was prevented from completing his statutory duty in this regard due to "overwhelming anxiety". Our friend is clearly not in a good place.

One of the things we have found out in Government is that, if someone is just not in a position to be able to work, there's nothing you can do apart from (a) wait for them to become available; (b) fire them. Either way, you become the subject of bad faith attacks from people who want to blame you for everything. We have also found this re: the National Database; MPF is just not in a position to fix it, so it doesn't get fixed, because we can't replace him.

Those attempting to get political mileage out of other people's apparent "failures" should take note of this dynamic.

As someone with clinical anxiety, it concerns me even more now. I hope our sitting Burgermeister is getting help and relief for what, I know from personal experience, can be a devastating and debilitating illness. But we need to investigate a replacement either permanent or acting, should it continue to be the case that our friend is not able to perform the duties of the office.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Well, let's just hold our horses.  Does anyone have him on social media?  Any number of things could be going on, like maybe he just has the flu or COVID-19 or something.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN-GC]

we need to investigate a replacement either permanent or acting

Easier said than done:
1) find someone who would do the job;
2) get the "keys" away from Istefan (i.e. the password to the national PayPal account/Treasury). I don't even think the Finance Minister has those.

I have to repeat: this is the same problem we've had with the creaky, breaking-down National Database over the last six months. I and the Secretary of State repeatedly liaised with MPF to try to repair it. But MPF has been overwhelmed with extra-Talossan affairs. He can't do the fixes himself right now. We don't have any tech guys with the chops to simply take it over. So we have to wait until something changes.

This is of course precisely why, for ages, I have re-iterated that the Government should operate a more hands-on, supervisory role over the Civil Service. For which, we have been attacked as wannabe totalitarian dictators.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

we need to investigate a replacement either permanent or acting

Easier said than done:
1) find someone who would do the job;
2) get the "keys" away from Istefan (i.e. the password to the national PayPal account/Treasury). I don't even think the Finance Minister has those.

I have to repeat: this is the same problem we've had with the creaky, breaking-down National Database over the last six months. I and the Secretary of State repeatedly liaised with MPF to try to repair it. But MPF has been overwhelmed with extra-Talossan affairs. He can't do the fixes himself right now. We don't have any tech guys with the chops to simply take it over. So we have to wait until something changes.

This is of course precisely why, for ages, I have re-iterated that the Government should operate a more hands-on, supervisory role over the Civil Service. For which, we have been attacked as wannabe totalitarian dictators.

"Easier said than done" is something true of every manifesto and program presented by every political party since time immemorial.
It appears clear we haven't started looking into a replacement, permanent or acting, so I am hoping the next Government will do so.