Office of ZuWo

[ZuWo]

Thank you, Snowstalker! The Whigs and Labor unite ...

[ZuWo]

Thank you, TexasDem. By leading a campaign of real substance and a clear focus on the issues, I hope to show you and other citizens that I am willing and able to do a good job for four more months.

On the Mideast Budget

The groundwork for the Mideast Budget was laid by former Governor A-Bob and numerous GMs, including the current GM shua who has helped me and the Assembly on several occasions. I applaud them for their hard work. While the introduction of the first budget in the history of the Mideast occurred in my tenure, we should remember that this would not have been possible without the efforts of these people.

The original budget proposal showed a deficit of $32 billion. In order to balance the budget, the Assembly has decided to raise the beer taxes to $0.30 per gallon, which resulted in an additional revenue of $150 million. Subsequently, I have put forward two amendments which seek to do away with certain tax breaks. If these two amendments are passed by the Assembly, our deficit will be smaller but we will still have to deal with a $22 billion debt. Although I can't promise to balance the budget completely, I will try to propose other cuts in the next days. This will be a difficult and painful process but it would be irresponsible to burden our future generations with an overly high debt. I don't necessarily ask you for your support for every single cut, but for your understanding. In hard times like these, unpopular decisions must be made.

[ZuWo]

In the race for Governor of the Mideast there are 2 qualified candidates, and if either won I am sure the ME would be just fine. However only one can win. The incumbent in the race, Governor ZuWo, has had a great term as governor and has done the Mideast well. I cannot think of any reason why he should be thrown out of office.

Today I am here to announce I stand with Governor ZuWo and ask the fine citizens of the Mideast to do likewise.

Thank you, Jbrase! I will make sure to spend a couple of Dibbles - who cares if they are illegal or not! - to boost the Southern economy on my next trip to the IDS.

[ZuWo]

Is the dibble backed by something other than thin air?

I'm not sure about the current legal status of the Dibble, but knowing those stubborn and independent people in the IDS I assume they're still using it.

On an unrelated note:

Citizens,

the latest edition of the "Governor's monthly newsletter" has been published. In the newsletter you will find a quick overview of the most important actions and events in the Mideast in the month of August.

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=155469.0

Have fun!

Governor ZuWo

[ZuWo]

I do no think this is the right thread for this discussion

Well, it's my fault really. Why did I have to mention the Dibble to begin with?

On a more serious note, the IDS has always been my second-favorite region because I like the South's particular regional identity. If I ever left the Mideast for some reason - though I don't have such plans at the moment - I would move to the IDS.

[ZuWo]

Thank you, Jerseyrules. I appreciate your support.

On Jobs and the Economy

Too many Atlasians don't have a job at the moment. Indeed, the most recent unemployment figures, which have been released by GM shua, show that 8.1% of the Atlasian people are jobless. While the figures for the Mideast are better - the jobless rate is at 6.9% - we are far away from a satisfactory employment situation.
Before we call for drastic measures by the regional government we have to keep in mind that the Mideast is part of a national and, at an increasing rate, a global economy. In fact, our economy is subject to many trends that we, as a regional government, cannot influence. At the same time, the Mideast faces a looming budget deficit so there is no money we can spend on a stimulus package which is big enough to have a positive impact. While some may now demand higher taxes across the board I believe that this is not an effective path to pursue. Our primary goal must be to make sure that we maintain and create a positive setting for private enterprises. Thus, I will not seek to raise regional taxes and am determined to avoid unnecessary and excessive regulations of private businesses. Private businesses are the backbone of our economy and we cannot afford to put obstacles in their way. At the same time, it is imperative that the federal laws on the maximum number of working hours per week are loosened. In fact, the federal Senate passed a bill last year which limited the maximum number of working hours per week to little over 30 hours a week. If we compare this to the maximum number of working hours in other global economies, we can conclude that this is a policy that is hardly pursued by any other country and does not have a future. In order to make our economy more competitive again, such laws must be repealed.

Citizens, I ask for your understanding in such dire economic times and assure you that I care deeply about the hardship of many Mideasterners.

Governor ZuWo

[ZuWo]

I believe that I've mentioned it before, but I want to make it clear that your re-election effort has my full support. You deserve a second term as much as the Mideast deserves your proven, active leadership.

Thank you very much, Governor. Needless to say, I approve of your active role as Northeast Governor as well and think it would be to the benefit of your region if you ran for re-election.

[ZuWo]

If re-elected Governor, would you be open to working with other regional officers on infrastructure projects?

I am open to almost everything, so yes.

On a serious note, since there is still a lot Atlasia can do in terms of improving public transport, power supply, roads etc. I think this is an important area. Many of these projects very expensive but in some cases we don't have a choice and have to invest to be ready for the future.

[ZuWo]

Survey Atlasia Poll: Regional Executive Approval Poll

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=158185.0

The latest regional executive approval poll, commissioned by Survey Atlasia, showed that 8 out of 10 Mideasterners (80%) approve of the job I am doing. I would like to thank the people of the Mideast for this sign of confidence in my administration and promise to do all I can not to let them down. Furthermore, I am happy that most of my colleagues also receveived good marks from the citizens of their respective regions.

Four more months of success!

[ZuWo]

On a dangerous piece of legislation: The Marriage Revenge Initiative

Citizens,

I would like to direct your attention to the following initiative, the "Marriage Revenge Initiative", proposed by Senator-elect Marokai and supported by a couple of citizens, including my opponent Tmthforu94.

Now what does the text of the initiative say? Let's have a closer look at this.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

As can be gleaned from the title of this initiative, this piece of legislation is based on a principle of "revenge". It seeks to divide and discriminate. Indeed, as the text of the initiative undoubtedly shows, only a same-sex union shall be considered a "marriage", while unions between men and women are simple "civil unions".

Let's be clear about this: Same-sex couples have the same rights as heterosexual couples in present-day Atlasia. Recognizing that this is the political will of an overwhelming majority of the Atlasian people, I have never tried to taken any measures to change that, nor will I do so in the future. This initiative, however, attempts to put heterosexual couples at a clear disadvantage. Indeed, this is a policy that isn't pursued even by the hard left in the real world!

I stand for fairness, and I therefore oppose this initiative. My political convictions are not based on the principle of "revenge", so I ask you to join me in this battle against a discriminatory and divisive initiative. The September elections for Governor offer a stark contrast.

[ZuWo]

You had the chance to look at the bill twice: First you wanted to sign all of the bills at the same time and then you signed them again individually. You either don't read the things you support or you are not telling the truth here because you are changing your point of view based on what you think is the most popular thing to do at the moment. Either way, this is troubling.

[ZuWo]

The facts are crystal clear: The text of the initiative was there, you signed the initiative twice. We all know that you are literate so saying you simply didn't read the text of the initiative is not a very credible claim to make.
And even in the improbable case that you didn't throw a single glance at the text of the initiative, I am a bit concerned about how you are going to deal with bills in the Assembly should you be Governor. As Governor, one actually has to read the bills before signing them.

[ZuWo]

I am aware that you are uncomfortable about this discussion because this topic clearly shows your erratic behavior so it's understandable that you therefore desperately try to paint this as an irrelevant attack. However, the fact that you expressed your support for this initiative twice and then claimed that you didn't read the initiative as soon as you noticed that people started opposing the initiative calls your judgement and reliability into serious question.
The citizens of the Mideast should be made aware of this incident because they need a Governor they can trust and a Governor who is willing to defend the decisions he makes even if these decisions may be unpopular. I have proven my ability to defend unpopular decisions when it came to the "Common Courtesy While Driving Act" and the cuts that have to be made in the Mideast Budget. We need consistent officeholders, and that's why I am running for re-election.

[ZuWo]

Signing a petition to put something to a vote is not the same as signing a bill into law.

That's true. But signing a petition twice and claiming one hasn't even read the petition is, as has been stated in this thread earlier on, "bizarre".

[ZuWo]

You didn't consider the initiative "dangerous" until you noticed that your support of the initiative could hurt you politically (this explains why you only deleted your signature after I made my first public comment on this issue). You signed the initiative twice, after all. Such incidents must be made public because they reveal a lot about a candidate's character.

And I am ready to have a serious debate on the budget any time. Indeed, a substantial contribution of yours on the budget has yet to appear. While you said that education spending shouldn't be cut and that you oppose my plans, we have not heard concrete ideas from you on how we should cut the budget. It seems that if you had your way, we would still be stuck at a $32 billion deficit rather than be faced with a $22 billion deficit where we are right now thanks to my amendments.

[ZuWo]

I leave the answer to the following question up to the Mideast people:

How likely is it that an ordinary citizen signs a petition twice without even throwing a single glance at the text of the petition? Moreover, how likely is it that a candidate running for Governor fails to read a petition and then goes on to sign it twice to express his support for the petition?

Regarding the budget discussion, there is a problem with your approach. In fact, the budget has to be passed in the current legislative session just like any other regular bill. If you are going to withhold your own budget proposals until a few days before the election because you intend to criticize the existing amendments to the budget without actually taking a clear stance, you are delaying the entire process, which hurts the Mideast.

[ZuWo]

Your record in Atlasia is, unfortunately, not the best when it comes to the question whether or not you tell the truth all the time. In fact, as I know from first-hand experience plenty of Atlasians are disgruntled with your behavior both in the past and the present, but I guess you know that better than myself. That's why the question I asked above still stands.

Also, the fact remains that you only criticized my amendments to the budget several days after I had introduced them, and you still refuse to state what concrete budget cuts you would like to make. As long as you don't do that, you are not a credible critic of the current budget proposals.

[ZuWo]

The only case of "negativity and division" that has appeared in this campaign was when you supported the negative and divisive "Marriage Revenge Act" before you suddenly decided to change your opinion.

I will work on improving the budget with anyone who is serious about it. If you criticize a concrete amendment to the budget, I invite you to step forward and say what you would like to do differently. For instance, since you are considering cutting several programs by 15% and want to cut healthcare spending you can as well say so now and ask the people of the Mideast for their opinion on this idea. Even if you haven't focused on the details yet, it's only fair if the people of the Mideast are informed about your approach at this point.

To both of you:

I consider you both valuable allies. This budget issue is important and it needs to be solved before the next election. I've taken a look at this and I can't support it as it stands now for two reasons. One is the five cent increase in the beer tax. I don't do tax increases. Second this budget is 32 billion in the red. What we all need to understand regardless of party is the people want a budget passed. If all government spending takes a 15 percent cut there is a chance we can balance the books and have no tax increases.

I fought the Polnut budget for those same reasons. While I ran for the Senate I proposed targeted spending cuts to reduce the debt and balance the budget. Though I lost some of the cuts were used though on a smaller level.

So for the sake of getting this balanced (without a tax increase) lets come up with a plan together.

JCL, I will work with you on an improved budget with pleasure.

[ZuWo]

Don't lecture me on trying to make something about "political gain" since you are the expert in this area. You are the one criticizing the current amendments to the budget without showing the people what your plan is. I do not want to discuss the budget mainly behind the scenes, I want the process of developing our first regional budget in the history of Atlasia to be a transparent thing. It's the members of the Assembly who vote on the budget and have to voice their opinions. Also, the people deserve to know what's going on, so the biggest part of the debate on the budget must be held in the "Mideast Budget 2012" thread. After all, this is what you said about developing the budget:

The more brains the better!

[ZuWo]

My plans for my second term as Mideast Governor

In short, my second term as Mideast Governor will be very similar to my current term. I will continue to be a Governor who communicates with the citizens of the Mideast through various channels, such as for example the question time sessions and the monthly newsletter. Moreover, I will introduce a couple of bills to the Assembly. Concretely, I will have a close look at the statute page on the wiki and make sure that redundant acts are repealed. Additionally, I will seek to draft legislation on issues concerning the economy, education and administrative affairs. This way, I will ensure that there is ongoing political debate even in times when not very much is happening in the Assembly.
In addition, the wiki will remain an important priority of mine. Indeed, I will try to make sure that the relevant wiki pages are kept up to date. I will also play an active role in the newly founded C.A.R.E., the Conference of Atlasian Regional Executives, and work closely with the other Governors in order to give the Atlasian regions an effective platform and an opportunity to have more influence on what's happening in Atlasia.

Furthermore, I will continue to be a Governor who stands for the interests of the entire region rather than an officeholder who is loyal to himself alone. Indeed, I am a conservative who regards the ability to compromise as a positive value. That's why I will always be open to suggestions from all citizens regardless of their political affiliation. I have demonstrated my openness when I appointed Franzl to the Mideast Superior Court, took into consideration various ideas from other people during the debate of the "Mideast Sex Crime Statute" and during the budget debate, where I have tried to find the best and not the most ideological solutions for the region. Therefore, it's not surprising that I have been endorsed by members of all major national parties.

Finally, I would like to stress that I will emphasize values such as consistency, reliability and credibility in my second term. I say what I think and I think what I say. I am willing to listen to people with diverse ideologies before I make a decision because very often the best answer to most problems is a pragmatic answer and not an answer rooted in ideology. At the same time, however, once I have made up my mind on a particular issue I will defend my point of view rather than change my opinion several times - I care more about credibility and reliability than doing what is the most popular thing to do depending on the office I am running for. With me in the Governor's mansion you have someone who values honesty and accountability. While I am certainly not flawless, I only have the best intentions for the region.

Thank you for your attention and have a nice day!

Governor ZuWo

[ZuWo]

Four more months!  Four more months!

I'm glad we agree on this issue, Oldiesfreak!

[ZuWo]

Support for "Torture Isn't Nice Initiative" and "Condemnation of Condemnable Behavior Act"

I have decided to support the "Torture Isn't Nice Initiative" and the "Condemnation of Condemnable Behavior Act" and would like to offer a brief explanation for my decision:

Firstly, I believe that a modern government should not use torture (or other physical forms of punishment such as the death penalty, which is not mentioned in the initiative but is an even more drastic form of punishment by the government) when dealing with prisoners. Torture is inhumane and uncivilized and should therefore be opposed.

Secondly, I oppose strategic registration and so I support this initiative. While I am aware that we can't ban this practice - it's very hard to prove whether someone would be guilty of strategic registration even if it were illegal - an official statement by the Atlasian government can be helpful in preventing further cases of strategic registration. In fact, strategic registration poisons the political climate in Atlasia as it leads to distrust and resentment between the parties, so we should take a stance against it.

I am still uncertain about some of the other initiatives and might sign them at a later point though I need to see more arguments in favor of them.

[ZuWo]

More on the economy, jobs and taxes

My opponent has laid out a platform in which he briefly summarized his main political priorities. While this is generally commendable, there are a couple of points which seem problematic and implausible to me. I want to briefly point out what these points are and how my plan differs on these issues.

First of all, my opponent expressed his wish to have a balanced budget. This is my goal as well so I'm glad this is an issue we can agree on. However, my opponent's plans don't end here. In fact, Tmthforu94 also plans to pass an infrastructure jobs bill, has promised to implement infrastructure projects, wants to distribute more money to our regional schools and calls for a cut in corporate tax rates.

All in all, we see the promise of a (nearly) balanced budget, (dozens of) billions in new spending (investing in the infrastructure and schools to bring down unemployment to 5% costs a lot), a cut in corporate taxes, which is only partly balanced with a new tax on online goods, while my opponent is cautious about making cuts that hurt the middle class ...

I have never been a Governor of unfulfillable promises. Indeed, my style of governing and my political priorities are rooted in a sense of realism. If I were Mitt Romney or lived in an alternative universe I could maybe promise you the same as my opponent - a balanced budget with tax cuts and more money to spend on infrastructure and educational projects without making cuts to the budget that hurt the middle class - but I prefer to be realistic. Clearly, given the current state of the budget there is no room for tax cuts. Additionally, considering the problems of our economy and the economic situation all around the world I regard it as irresponsible and unfair to suggest to the citizens of the Mideast that the unemployment can be reduced to 5% in such a short period of time. Moreover, I can't promise you to spend dozens of billions for an effective stimulus package - an "infrastructure jobs bill" is just that, a stimulus package by the government - and more money for schools when I am compelled to reduce the deficit. All I can promise you with a clear conscience is that I will continue to fight against unnecessary regulations for businesses such as the federal bill restricting the maximum number of working hours. Furthermore, I will keep looking into the budget and try to find programs that can be cut. However, since both GM shua and former Governor A-Bob, the father of the Mideast budget so to speak, already indicated that most government programs are on the brink of being underfunded in the current budget proposal, we should not expect too much from this approach. In fact, my main two priorites regarding the budget are the attempt to do away with certain tax breaks and reducing the deficit by establishing a regional lottery if the Assembly decides to pass the bill which deals with the regional lottery.

I don't want to promise you things that I can't keep. Raising high expectations in times of economic distress is not the path I choose to pursue. My administration will work on infrastructure programs and seek cooperation with other regional governments should I be elected to a second term, but only insofar as it is responsible with regards to our budget.

Vote for me, vote for fiscal and economic realism.

[ZuWo]

I would also like to express my support for the Shut Yo Face Act, for the reasons which Jbrase stated in a post in the debate thread:

I thought I'd just pop in to say I support this bill. Imagine the following, you are sitting in your office and trying to process through your paperwork, but a crap load of it is just random notes saying "Hello!" or "Welcome!" making your job tougher.

This is not attacking free speech but simply making Homely's job easier. They can still welcome them, but not in that thread. Homely himself has asked people to welcome them somewhere else, only for the EXACT SAME PEOPLE to ignore his requests and do it again. And the then Homely kindly repeats his request, and then the same people ignore him again. This is not attacking free speech as no one is entitled to what equated to written terrorism of the the Register General's office.

[ZuWo]

Firstly, I believe that a modern government should not use torture (or other physical forms of punishment such as the death penalty, which is not mentioned in the initiative but is an even more drastic form of punishment by the government) when dealing with prisoners. Torture is inhumane and uncivilized and should therefore be opposed.

The death penalty isn't mentioned mostly because TJ has an amendment in the queue to ban it, so a law would be redundant. It does prohibit fake executions though.

I didn't mean to say that the death penalty should be included in the text of the initiative, I merely wanted to state that I oppose the death penalty just like I oppose any kind of torture. The initiative is just fine the way it is.