Abolition of Forum Affairs Department Bill

[MasterJedi]

Not sure if I'll support this either, right now I'm leaning towards nay though I'll still listen to all the debate before I make up my mind.

[MasterJedi]

After hearing clarification from Joe and having Q say it isn't that difficult I'll be voting Nay on this. We don't need more government positions.

[MasterJedi]

Maybe you should also listen to what Q has said here, which is one of the main reasons I'll be voting against this.

I would like to ask Q and all other former SoFAs to tell me whether they believe it was too much work for them to handle. I really don't want to be hard on a person by not supporting this if they truely think that it is too much work for one man.

I don't think it's too much work, except if some unweildy bureaucratic secret ballot scheme is introduced.  The census work is fairly easy; it's mainly the election monitoring that provides opportunities for issues of contention to arise.

I think encouraging more reasonable behavior by individual voters toward the SoFA would be more effective in making the SoFA's job easier than would dividing up the office's responsibilities.

Also, certain changes in election law and procedure would make the job easier as well.  One that comes to mind is requiring candidates to register officially in the candidate declaration thread (which as a Senator myself I lacked the foresight to support) rather than leaving it up to the SoFA to determine whether, for example, establishing an exploratory committee constitutes an official declaration, among other issues.

I don't wish to speak against the President's agenda here, as he is my boss after all, but I'm not sure that there are not less radical means of achieving perhaps more practical reform.

[MasterJedi]

Maybe you should also listen to what Q has said here, which is one of the main reasons I'll be voting against this.

I would like to ask Q and all other former SoFAs to tell me whether they believe it was too much work for them to handle. I really don't want to be hard on a person by not supporting this if they truely think that it is too much work for one man.

I don't think it's too much work, except if some unweildy bureaucratic secret ballot scheme is introduced.  The census work is fairly easy; it's mainly the election monitoring that provides opportunities for issues of contention to arise.

I think encouraging more reasonable behavior by individual voters toward the SoFA would be more effective in making the SoFA's job easier than would dividing up the office's responsibilities.

Also, certain changes in election law and procedure would make the job easier as well.  One that comes to mind is requiring candidates to register officially in the candidate declaration thread (which as a Senator myself I lacked the foresight to support) rather than leaving it up to the SoFA to determine whether, for example, establishing an exploratory committee constitutes an official declaration, among other issues.

I don't wish to speak against the President's agenda here, as he is my boss after all, but I'm not sure that there are not less radical means of achieving perhaps more practical reform.

Q may have little difficulty in managing the workload, because he is fully competent and capable.  That's why I nominated him.  However, what if we are faced with another Ilikeverin in the role of SoFA?

This amendment wouldn't help that, they could still not do their job and nothing would happen. This is really nothing but making the government bigger, sorry but I can't support this.

[MasterJedi]

I can go with what CheeseWhiz has proposed but one problem, our DSoFA is gone. (Yates)

[MasterJedi]

Anybody know how to write CheeseWhiz's idea into an amendment? I'd support his idea but not Joe's.

[MasterJedi]

could a senator please introduce the amendment I mentioned in my last post?  Please?!

I think Ebowed already changed it without any amendment, just look at the title of the thread.

Well look at that.  Thanks, Ebowed!

I told him about it and he did it. No need for an amendment to change the title when it's obviously wrong.

[MasterJedi]

I have an amendment:

4. Section 1 shall not take effect until the start of the next Presidential term.

[MasterJedi]

Aye


That amendment is so nothing happens now that screws things up if this passes. It makes it so the position is split up when the President can pick two people to do the job.

[MasterJedi]

With 5 Ayes, 1 Nay and 1 Abstenation this amendment has passed.

[MasterJedi]

This is how this bill reads now, if there is no debate before I return at 9:40 Central Standard Time I will open this up to a final vote.



Abolition of Forum Affairs Department Bill

1. Article VIII, Section 2, Clause 1 is hereby amended to read; "These Executive Departments are hereby established: State, Defense, Treasury, Justice, Federal Elections and Census. The Principal Officers of these Departments shall be Secretaries, with the exceptions of the Department of Justice, whose Principal Officer shall be the Attorney General, and the Census Bureau, whose Principal Officer shall be the Director."

2. Article VIII, Section 2, Clause 2 is hereby amended to read; "The Department of Federal Elections shall be responsible for administering all elections to the Presidency and the Senate."

2. Article VIII, Section 2, Clause 4 is hereby amended to read; "The procedure for absentee voting will be to make such declaration publicly to the Department of Federal Elections, and then for the absentee voter to email their vote to the Chief Justice, Secretary of Federal Elections and Attorney General."

4. Section 1 shall not take effect until the start of the next Presidential term.

[MasterJedi]

Ok no debate, I hereby open up the final vote on this bill. Please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain

Abolition of Forum Affairs Department Bill

1. Article VIII, Section 2, Clause 1 is hereby amended to read; "These Executive Departments are hereby established: State, Defense, Treasury, Justice, Federal Elections and Census. The Principal Officers of these Departments shall be Secretaries, with the exceptions of the Department of Justice, whose Principal Officer shall be the Attorney General, and the Census Bureau, whose Principal Officer shall be the Director."

2. Article VIII, Section 2, Clause 2 is hereby amended to read; "The Department of Federal Elections shall be responsible for administering all elections to the Presidency and the Senate."

2. Article VIII, Section 2, Clause 4 is hereby amended to read; "The procedure for absentee voting will be to make such declaration publicly to the Department of Federal Elections, and then for the absentee voter to email their vote to the Chief Justice, Secretary of Federal Elections and Attorney General."

4. Section 1 shall not take effect until the start of the next Presidential term.

[MasterJedi]

Abstain, I know what Gabu is saying but I don't really want to vote against it.

[MasterJedi]

sh**t!  I'm just writing up an amendment that deals with this now.  Is there any way to delay the final vote for a short while?

If you would have posted that you were righting one I would have not had this vote, Ebowed might now if we can delay the vote.

[MasterJedi]

My apologies.  I was hoping to have it posted here in good time.

Well when this fails (which I it will) Ebowed and I might be able to bump it up (not all the way to the top but below the supplemental katrina bill) after you write it.

[MasterJedi]

Actually, I believe the PPT and PoS can override procedure under certain circumstances.  Hopefully this will be resolved easily, as I don't really feel like waiting another two months to see this open again. :-

I've talked with Ebowed and I don't think we can stop the vote. What I do think we can do is if the PPT resolution passes and nobody objects after you rewrite the WHOLE thing I could possibly make it the 5th piece of legislation of the floor.

[MasterJedi]

Tally:

0 Aye
3 Nay
1 Abstain

[MasterJedi]

I'm changing my vote to Nay because I have a plan for this once Joe is finished with it.

[MasterJedi]

With 0 Ayes, 7 Nays and 0 Abstenations this bill has failed.