Jameson County Recruitment Thread

[Potus]

Here is the info thread:
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=196692.0

I've been getting PM's saying people would be interested in turning the Jameson County idea into a game rather than timeline.

If anyone would like to be a member of the game, here's how it will go. Fill out this registration:

Character Name:
Area:
Political Party:
Religion:
Occupation:
Description:


I would really like to see some diversity when it comes to registration. If you all wanted to be newspaper editors or be the host of "Call-In", that would be great. Also, remember, this is little government. A nurse who runs the Hensley Middle PTA could swing an election.

[DKrol]

Character Name: Fr. James Anselm Carbonaro
Area: Downtown Hensley
Political Party: Republican
Religion: Roman Catholic
Occupation: Priest at St. Peter's Catholic Church
Description: Father Carbonaro is 64 years old, the son of Italian immigrants, and in his 4th year as the Parish Priest of St. Peter's. He was raised in the state capital and moved to Jameson County 7 years ago. He is a staunch conservative theologian and has been a long-time defender of the policies of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. This sometimes puts him at odds with his more liberal congregation, but the Father is still well liked by most. He repairs this damage by co-ordinating various charity events for the community and keeping St. Peter Elementary as one of the best schools in the area.

[Dr. Cynic]

This could be fun.

Character Name: Bob Eckhardt
Area: Hensley
Political Party: Democratic
Religion: Irreligious. Not atheistic, just doesn't much care.
Occupation: Writer for the Hensley Record
Description: Bob Eckhardt is a slovenly, hard drinking, cigar smoking, 37 year old man. Ill at ease in the small town, he'd previously spent much of his life in a larger city, having spent his early years as an upstanding young student who always was a bit of a Dudley Do-Right.

However, his return saw him eye much of the population with a heavy degree of cynicism, especially the wealthier citizens of Jameson County. Eckhardt, an experienced journalist, was hired to work at the Hensley Record and regularly writes his political opinions which are less partisanly Democrat and more anti-Republican.

Eckhardt is highly critical of not only Republican politicians such as the Mayor, but also of Republican institutions. His mocking and caustic articles are more used to lift left wing spirits than to unseat Republicans. Even still, Eckhardt is usually dismissive and hostile to just about every conservative in the town. Abrasive and curmudgeonly, he is usually a friendless figure, caring more about speaking his mind than anything else.

[Cranberry]

This will be amazing, I see

Character Name: Mel Darren
Area: Norma
Political Party: Republican
Religion: Methodist (goes to United Methodist Memorial Church)
Occupation: Owner and Editor of the "Norma Caller"
Description: Mel Darren is Norma native by heart, having lived there for all his 47 years. He's married to Ann, and together they have two sons - Tom and Andy, both attending the State College. The Darren's are a 5th generation family in the state, and already Mel's great-grandfather moved to Norma, which leads to Mel being very proud of his Jameson County ancestry.

Mel is a staunch, very conservative Republican, always emphasising on "family values" and the "true American spirit". He is not so much an opponent of the current safety net that is in place - Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, but is strongly against any expansions and enlargements of those. He is a staunch social conservative, regularly bashing in his editorials against the "moral decline". He is very pro-life, pro-gun and anti-immigration, but is surprisingly silent when it comes to any topics regarding homosexuality. (Some rumour that there might be a connection of that with Tom being 22 and still not bringing back home a girlfriend.)

Mel is an open and polite person, yet known to loose temper fairly swiftly and being impulsive and emotional in general. He is a compassionate football fan, missing not one game of the state capital's or the county high school's team. He is also known to hunt in the woods north of Norma, and owns a small cottage at the local lake. His house is a typical small town home outside of Norma, along the road to Hensley.

[GAworth]

This could be real fun.

Character Name: Betty Jo Sanders
Area: Pinkerton
Political Party: Democrat
Religion: Baptist (attends occasionally Shepherd Baptist)
Occupation: Businesswoman
Description: Born and raised in Pinkerton, Betty Jo, aged 35, comes from a third generation farming family on the north side of town, she then married a farmer, Mitchell, and now live on the Southwestern side of the town on a 3 acre farm. Betty Jo owns and operates "Betty Jo's Country Kitchen" not to farm away from her homestead. The small restaurant is a popular hangout, especially Sundays after services.
Coming from a Political Family, her father Albert Lewis, was a long time city Councillor a few decades back, she has always been involved with the local Party. A mother of three children all under 10, she is a member of the Pinkerton Elementary PTA. Her family heritage and general outspoken nature make her a regular guest editor for the Farmer's Gazette. She is known for having "the best grub and the sharpest tongue in town." She has recently gone after the Republican mayor, blaming him for the exacerbating  the Sewer and infrastructure in the town.

[rpryor03]

Character Name: James McCrimmon
Area: Hensley
Political Party: Republican
Religion: Catholic
Occupation: Mayor of Hensley, Owner of Hensley Hardware
Description: Born in Pinkerton and raised in Hensley, McCrimmon is in the middle of his first term as Mayor of Hensley, having previously served three terms in the city council. He is a large supporter of small businesses, being the owner of Hensley Hardware. While he is mayor, his son Richard runs the store. He goes to St. Peter's Catholic Church, and is good friends with Fr. James. He is an energetic speaker and charismatic. He describes himself as a "moderate conservative," making him very popular in the church.

[GaussLaw]

Character Name: Bob Kirocki
Area: Georgeville
Political Party: Democratic
Religion: Pentecostal
Occupation: "mayor" of Georgeville, practicing attorney
Description: Born in Georgeville and lifetime resident.  Attorney who handles divorce and wills in much of the county.  A moderate with socially conservative views, he was quite popular in Georgeville.  He goes to Calvary Pentecostal Church weekly and is married with 4 children.

[RR1997]

Character Name: Tim "Raj" Scott
Area: Hensley
Political Party:Republican Party
Religion: Hinduism, but not very religious.
Occupation: Doctor at Jameson General
Description: Tim R. Scott is 50% East Indian and 50% white. He is a doctor at Jameson General. He is a relatively affluent person, with a salary of about $250k a year. Dr. Scott is very popular among the citizens of Henlsey, and is known for being a very nice and friendly person. He considers himself to be a moderate conservative, and is very active in local politics. Dr.Scott is also thinking of running for mayor of Hensley. He is married with 3 children.

[Donerail]

Character Name: Dr. Michael A. Wilcox
Area: Hensley
Political Party: Democratic
Religion: Methodist (St. John's)
Occupation: Principal at Hensley Middle, District 2 school board member
Description: Michael A. Wilcox, age 44, moved to Hensley shortly after completing his doctorate to take the job of principal at Hensley Middle. He is married to his wife, Julie, but has no children of his own. He's very involved in the church community, as well as among the parents of his school, and lives near the school and church. He's fairly affluent, and liberal-leaning but largely apolitical. He ran for school board upon the urging of several of his friends and has found a passion for education policy. He is currently in his second term on the board, most of which he has focused on getting more money for Hensley schools. He has a polite but brisk and professional personality, as suits a school administrator.

[Sol]

Name: Linda McCandless
Area: Hensley
Party: Democratic
Religion: Baptist
Description: Linda McCandless is a middle-aged (42) year old woman, and a librarian at the Hensley City public library. McCandless is black, and is one of the main leaders of the town's
NAACP. She attends the Lantern Bible Church of Hensley. She has been active in local politics, albeit only as an activist. She is substantially to the left of most citizens in Hensley on basically all the issues. She is a fairly polarizing figure, in part due to her views and partially due to her personality, which is dogmatic but passionate.

[Mechaman]

Name: Francis "Frank" Uriah Connelly (hey stop laughing!  You try going to school with that name!)
Area: Norma
Party: Registered Democrat
Religion: "Catholic"
Occupation: "Disabled" AFL-CIO affiliated union member who is on disability leave from the local chemical plant.
Description: A 36 year old alcoholic union laborer at the local chemical plant, Francis Uriah Connelly is an infamous local character around the parts of Norma.  The fourth generation of Connelly men to have worked at the chemical plant (as well as the third generation to gain tenure in the AFL-CIO affiliated union that has operated out of the area for decades), Francis entered this world with his life almost pre-ordained from birth to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather into the office of the plant general manager sometime at the ripe old age of 42 or so areas.  However, as you might to seem to have noticed from above, Mother Nature doesn't exactly bless all sequels with the positive qualities of the prequels.
Known by the local law enforcement as “a scum sucking lowlife”, Connelly makes his living off of a luxurious disability payment from the state government that was made possible by extensive lobbying by his AFL-CIO affiliated union.  On top of that disability payment from the state, the chemical plant also pays out to Connelly their own disability policy for tenured workers in the amount of $1200 a month.  Though it has been almost eight months since his “accident”, Connelly to this day still claims to have severe numbness in his left forearm that prevents him from doing day to day tasks.  Friends and associates who have known him a long time call bs, noting that Connelly is “extremely right handed” and “has never and will never need use of his left hand”.  Nevertheless, between his $1200 a month from the chemical plant, his $3200 a month from the state, and a substantial inheritance he received from his father’s estate of $250,000 that he received in July of 2004, it seems that Connelly has somehow found a way to make lots of money from nothing while paying almost nothing for necessary living expense (he lives with his mother and uncle in a house a stone’s throw away from the chemical plant).  During the week he often stays with his girlfriend Tessa, who is a grocery clerk at the local store who has a three year old kid from a previous failed relationship.  Francis has no kids (that he’s aware of).
While he doesn’t seem to care about political debate at all (except when getting sloshed with his good friend Bob Eckhart when running down the list of things that life has failed them on), Francis seems very paranoid about the heavily Republican climate of his hometown.  Month after month he hears more news of the plant cutting more and more of his union affiliated buddies and it makes him have a long sweaty streak down his back.  One thing is clear: while Francis certainly despises politicians on both sides he will fight tooth and nail to defend his “well earned” entitlements. . . which for him means voting Democratic.  And as long as the gravy train is flowing from his AFL-CIO buddies and their allies in the state government, he certainly doesn’t see any reason to quit supporting them, regardless if he knows sh*t about what happened in that one random place that was bombed last Thursday.
Francis doesn’t really like a lot of the people who are elected officials in the county and really could give a good damn how the school boards function.  However, if the motivation is right he can be persuaded to be the critical swing voter on an issue.  FC is a one of the more baser animals in the wilderness of Jameson County, if you catch our graft, err I mean drift!

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Character Name: Gatewood Baxter
Area: Hensley
Political Party: Republican
Religion: Pentecostal (Calvary) (Previously a member of St. John's Methodist).
Occupation: Director of Hensley Memorial Chapel (funeral home)
Description: Gatewood Baxter is a native of Hensley and is the director of Hensley Memorial Chapel (having bought out his former employer, who is now the preacher at St. John’s Church). Born to Harland Baxter (1940-2009) and Robin Baxter (1943-) on March 10th, 1968. He graduated from the State University with a degree in business administration in 1990 with average grades. He first married Gloria Cranston in 1992 until their divorce in 2000 after an unhappy, childless marriage. Later married Hannah Troung (originally from Vietnam) in 2003. At the age of 46, he is well known in town for the fact that nobody really knows him. He is a quiet man who is not very social and prefers to spend time with his wife Hannah (aged 34) and his three daughters, Caroline (aged 9), Julia (aged 5), and Olivia (aged 2). Despite his quiet demeanor, he comes out of his shell at the local diner or when he frequently calls into “Call-In” on 92.8 to argue politics. He was the county director of Ron Paul’s 2012 and 2008 presidential campaigns and previously chaired Pat Buchanan’s 1996 campaign and George Bush’s 2000 campaign as well, and is involved with the Jameson County Republican Party, though he lost his seat on the Committee for his support for Ron Paul in 2012. Outside of politics, he enjoys chain smoking, his work at the funeral home (to the suspicions of others) and frequently leaves town to attend nearby bluegrass or folk festivals. He eats at Betty Jo's Country Kitchen every day at lunch and makes the fairly long drive to Georgeville every Sunday for Church.

He is considering entering politics in some form, but wonders if he can handle the pressure of the public.

[TNF]

Character Name: Ricardo "Ricky" Castanada

Area: Georgeville

Political Party: Unaffiliated (self-identifies as a Trotskyist, if you press him about it)

Religion: Atheist

Occupation: Ricky does just about everything there is to do at the local grocery store, from bagging groceries for little old ladies (and helping them to their cars) to stocking shelves and unloading trucks. All of this is secondary to what he's actually doing, of course.

Description: Ricardo Castanada is a first generation American, having immigrated to the United States with his parents shortly after his fourth birthday. His mother has spent most of her working life as a farm laborer in Georgeville; his father had likewise worked as a farm laborer before spiraling into alcoholism and passing away shortly before Ricky turned eighteen.

Ricky has also supported the family financially since he's been able to do so, working part-time for the local grocer until he enlisted in the Army upon his eighteenth birthday. After a two year tour of duty in Afghanistan (and an honorable discharge on account of an injury), Ricky has returned home to Georgeville a changed man. Radicalized by the conflict (and by more than one subversive pamphlet a fellow soldier sent his way), he's come home and gotten into contact with an old high school buddy of his, Jenny Rivera. Rivera has spent the last two years delving into the intricacies of left-wing politics and gotten into union organizing herself; she's attempting to organize farm workers in Georgeville, a herculean task that has led to more than one round of farm worker firings/deportations in the past.

Taking in everything he can from her, Ricky has decided that the best way to make sense out of a senseless world is to get involved in the struggle himself. And as such, he's going to use his now (full-time) job as a grocery store worker as a means of being a full-time union organizer, and as a way of changing the world in his very own way.

[Dr. Cynic]

I'm sure we have enough to get started with now, don't we?

[Cranberry]

I'm sure we have enough to get started with now, don't we?

12 seems enough for the beginning for me too, yes. It's surely possible for some other guys to come in later?

[GAworth]

I'm sure we have enough to get started with now, don't we?

12 seems enough for the beginning for me too, yes. It's surely possible for some other guys to come in later?

I agree, I find it interesting that almost everyone chose not to be sitting members. No County Commissioners, no Pinkerton elected officials, or Hensley City Councillors, and 6 empty school board seats.

[Enderman]

Just about to post a bio, just thinking of the life story though...

[Never]

Maybe I could jump in before this starts, as an offical from Pinkerton?

Character Name: Carl Jackson
Area: Pinkerton
Political Party: Democrat
Religion: Baptist (Shephard)
Occupation: Principal at Pinkerton Elementary, Jameson Board of Education member District 1
Description: Carl Jackson is 50 years of age, and was born and raised in Pinkerton as a fourth generation citizen. He has been Principal of Pinkerton Elementary for the past decade. He has a wife, Mary, and two teenaged children, James and Carly, who attend Jameson County High. He loves his current occupation, and shares his community's protectiveness of the local elementary school. On the board, Carl is known to be a tough defender of his school's interests. As pastor of Shephard, he is known to try and rally his congregation to advancing the interests of his town at election time. Politically, Jackson thinks of himself as a "Blue Dog" Democrat: economically center-left, and socially conservative. While he is content in his current position, his wife Mary hopes to see him advance further in Jameson County politics. He is viewed as friendly and talkative, and has few enemies in Pinkerton.

[Enderman]

Name: Katherine "Katy" Wilson Twist (has a fiancee)
Age: 37
Area: Hensley
Party: Republican
Ideology: Center-Right
Religion: Non-Denominational Christian
Occupation: Director of the Department of Housing and Urban Improvement of Hensley

Bio:

Born to a modest middle class family, the daughter of a 5th generation-family of labor workers, Katy was the second child of James and Marie Twist. Katy and her brother, Jimmy. They both fantasized about doing various things, such as dance, track and field, karate, and even politics. As they grew up, Jimmy found his dream in being in the Military, meanwhile Katy decided on charity work for her church. She got really into it and, after getting great grades and hard studying, she got herself into the college in Hensley. After receiving a Master's degree in Civil Reform, five years later she found herself interning for Hensley's Department of Housing and Urban Improvement. It was there when she learned of politics and she decided to become actually actively involved. For the past eleven years she barely voted, or at least voted in third party because she didn't want to affect politics. As her view of politics grew, so did her relationship. She already was best friends with a person she met in college by the name of Dane Eckeman, but she never considered him as something more. (she friend-zoned him, that's what I mean) Anyways they started dating about two years into the interning. Then Katy got a job as the Secretary to the Deputy Director of the Housing and Urban Improvement. Then things got complicated when the Deputy Director died of a heart attack and the Director appointed Katy to the Deputy Director, then all of a sudden the Director died in a car crash. So now Katy is the Director of the Department of Housing and Urban Improvement, as she has for about five years. Then a year previous Dane and Katy became fiancees, but they are planning a lot for their future. Katy has very few enemies but has a lot of connections. Popular with labor unions, she balances her social moderateness with her economic conservatism.

[Enderman]

Should we have pictures for our characters?

[Dr. Cynic]

One more day and I'll open a story thread myself

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Should we have pictures for our characters?

Nah, on a lot of the AH.com games like this everyone just picks James Franco or some good looking actor/actress as their character when they really should be picking Abe Vigoda judging from their character bios.

[GAworth]

One more day and I'll open a story thread myself

Agreed, I am ready to get started.

[Potus]

Starting the thread.