Campaign Statement/Debate Thread, Himes West

[Jabberwocky]

Siuts
To all candidates: should you wish to make a campaign statement, here is the place to do it. Tell the voters how you view the political process; what you intend to accomplish while in office. 

This is also a debate thread, but rather than pose pointed questions all by myself, I would like to open it up to both the voting public and visitors as well.

[Paffnia]

The Senate Report has not been posted for two months. I know you have something in the works, but Siuts, could you please explain it to the public? And why the prior two months reports were not posted as required and why the public was not informed of the reason, unless I missed something?

If reelected, will you sign on to my transparency pledge?: 10000islands.proboards.com/thread/33503/small-step-transparency

What are your thoughts on this issue?: 10000islands.proboards.com/thread/35371/sensitive-council-debates-votes-public

[Sargon Reman]

Sorry I didn't realize there was a thread here.
I'm going to ask the same first question I asked in the other thread:

What legislative ideas/agendas do you have as a candidate?

[Siuts]

Jul 11, 2018 12:19:41 GMT -5 Paffnia said:

1. The Senate Report has not been posted for two months. I know you have something in the works, but Siuts , could you please explain it to the public? And why the prior two months reports were not posted as required and why the public was not informed of the reason, unless I missed something?

2. If reelected, will you sign on to my transparency pledge?: 10000islands.proboards.com/thread/33503/small-step-transparency

3. What are your thoughts on this issue?: 10000islands.proboards.com/thread/35371/sensitive-council-debates-votes-public

I'll answer your questions in reverse order;

3. I am all for transparency and democracy. I have no trouble stating my opinion publicly and I highly value the opinion of XKI's Islanders. I do not think I will hold back or tone down my opinion, just because a debate is held in the public eye. There are at least two exceptions, though. I am firmly against sensitive debates held in the public domain. I consider ban/unban debates too sensitive for such a public debate. Besides banning debates, I consider a debate about the Rookie of the Quarter also too sensitive. Both these types of debates are about individual people and have no place in the public domain. Embassy request on the other hand, are fine to debate in public, in my opinion. XKI takes a firm stand against raiders and most of the time that is the reason a request gets voted down. There's no need to be secretive about that.

Debating in the public realm does come with a few challenges, but I am more than willing to give it a try. Debate threads should be open to post in by Council members only. The public can have a separate thread alongside it, for their own discussion.

2. Short answer: no, I shall not. Long answer: I don't like to make promises I can't keep. While I have proven in my previous terms as Senator that I have nothing to hide, am more than willing to discuss plans in my open-to-all office here and actively seek input from all Islanders (for example by creating the XKI Values Poll here, if I were to sign that pledge I would promise to the voters to always post in my office (or elsewhere) what my plans and stances are. A promise I'll surely won't be able to keep. Mind you, that is not the result of ill-will, just that I'm sure I'll sometimes forget or am so pressed for time that I only post in Chambers, rather than in at least two separate places.

1. There are many reasons why the Council reports aren't published yet. Some of them are of practical nature; having a demanding full time job, a wife that due to her condition needs my care and  attention and a messed up family that needs lots of diplomacy to keep together, makes me pressed for time. Plus, it is normal practice for the various departments to provide the info/input for the report and only one department has done so over the past few months. So, lack of information prevented me from publishing it too. That brings me to more 'sentimental' reasons:

Out of the 1192 members in our region and the 286 that were online on our forum since May 1, only one person has inquired about the missing report(s): namely you. This leads me to believe the report isn't all that well read. Secondly, the report only contains information that is already found elsewhere, such as the Delegate's report, the job board, the immigration report and so on, making the Council report rather redundant. Our diligent Registrar-General already records and publishes in the public domain all the laws that were passed by the Council. Normally this info would be in the report too. Given the redundancy of the info in the report, in combination with the current discussion about Council debates held in public makes me question the validity of the report. And that made me rethink the layout of the report. So, I've been brooding on a new type of report. The Idea is to publish a list of links to the information, so that new(-ish) Forum Members who do not yet know where to find all the info can navigate to what they want to know simply by clicking a link.

I hope this answers your questions Paffnia. Please feel free to ask more, if you have them

[Siuts]

Jul 11, 2018 15:31:50 GMT -5 Sargon Reman said:

Sorry I didn't realize there was a thread here.
I'm going to ask the same first question I asked in the other thread:

What legislative ideas/agendas do you have as a candidate?

As Senator of Himes West, my first and foremost task is to run XKI Casino and keeping it active. I have done so for many months now and it will always be my priority. I don't believe in making legislation just for the sake of it. I do believe in practical and pragmatic solutions, though. In the past 9 months I have pressed for an easy to navigate forum and laws that use simple language (as simple as possible), because we are an international community and not everyone is brought up with English as their first language. I take a 'inclusive' stance of foreign policy; the more friends we make in NS, the better, imo.

Also, in light of my answer to Paffnia 's question about the Council report in the post above, I am going to suggest the Registrar-General (the one who records all our laws) shall also be in charge of comprising the Council report new style.

I hope this answers your question Sargon Reman . Please don't hesitate to ask more if you have them, or ask for clarification if my answer hasn't provided what you were looking for.

[Louisistan]

When you suggest moving responsibility for the Senate Report to the Registrar General, do you also propose to eliminate the position of Senior Senator? To my knowledge it doesn't serve any other purpose.

[Deleted]

Jul 13, 2018 5:06:12 GMT -5 Louisistan said:

When you suggest moving responsibility for the Senate Report to the Registrar General, do you also propose to eliminate the position of Senior Senator? To my knowledge it doesn't serve any other purpose.

I think there is the Rookie of Quarter selection which is their job.

[Siuts]

Jul 13, 2018 12:44:57 GMT -5 @kozmix said:

Jul 13, 2018 5:06:12 GMT -5 Louisistan said:

When you suggest moving responsibility for the Senate Report to the Registrar General, do you also propose to eliminate the position of Senior Senator? To my knowledge it doesn't serve any other purpose.

I think there is the Rookie of Quarter selection which is their job.

That, plus maintaining the calendar.

[Paffnia]

Congrats Siuts!

[Siuts]

Jul 20, 2018 12:06:15 GMT -5 Paffnia said:

Congrats Siuts!

Tnx Paffnia! Once back from vacation, i’ll try to make you proud