I'm Backing Blair: Campaign for At-Large Senate seat (Policing Reform)

[Blair]

Friends, colleagues and esteemed guests it's with great joy that I announce my candidacy for the upcoming at-large senate elections. I believe that the Senate is where the narrative of this fine country is decided, and I believe that I can make a clear difference. For the 2 months that I've served in Atlasia I've stood up for the disposed, and the voiceless in our society. This is the vision that I want my campaign to be based on.

For too long we've overlooked the most vulnerable in our society. The inner city youths struggling to find a stable job, the children living on a reservation without a future and the rural farmers struggling to make a decent living. We need a fresh approach to politics in Atlasia, and this means a true grass roots campaign. Over the next month I'm going to go coast to coast, street to street and house to house to set out my agenda. Two months ago I told supporters that I wanted one message to come from my campaign, and this message still rings....

It's not too late to seek a newer world

[SWE]

Endorsed!

[TDAS04]

I endorse you!

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Welcome to the race

[Adam Griffin]

ENDORSED

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

good luck!

[Prince of Salem]

Had a feeling this was going to happen haha. Good luck in the race

[Blair]

Had a feeling this was going to happen haha. Good luck in the race

Haha well it's one less opponent to face in the Assembly race

[TNF]

You'll make a fine Senator.

Endorsed.

[Blair]

Today, I'm going to do something that appears to be quite presumptuous. I'm going to tell you why you should vote for me.

Background- I'm passionate about Politics and public service. I've only been here for 3 months but I've seen the dedicated community that we have. We're all committed to making Atlasia a better place, and I want that to be one of the defining messages of this campaign-no matter what Party you belong to. I offer a unique combination- a fresh face who has experience in campaigning, governing and management.   

Experience- I've served in the Assembly for 2 months now, and I've learnt a great deal. I've learnt how to forge relationships with people across the political spectrum-I like to think I have a good working relationship with all members of the Assembly. I've managed to push through, manage and amendment vital pieces of legislation (see point 3), and I've managed to get use to how the game works. I've served as Speaker now for a month, a role that I've loved. Not only has it helped me forge relationships but it's introduced me to a world of procedures, rules and strategies that the Senate relies on. My work as both Speaker, and Assembly member has prepared me to serve in the Senate, and represent you.

Legislation- The Senate is the king of legislative chambers, and I feel that I've shown my worth as a legislator. I've managed to steer through many ground breaking bills, the majority with bipartisan approval, for example I've passed the....

AWYCD Act- My personal Flagship scheme which aimed to get graduates into public service. This bill provided over 2,000 scholarships, using a mix of public and private funds. Not only did it have bipartisan approval but the bill showed my progressive flair.

Care for those in need Act- This bill is one of the most ambitious anti-homeless bills that I've seen passed. I give full credit to Winfield for introducing, lobbying and driving this bill through the Assembly. I did however fight a rather fierce battle for the bill to include protection for LGBT youths, who are at great risk alone on the streets. This bill showed that I'm prepared to fight for LGBT rights, but more importantly I'm prepared to fight to make sure that the bills we pass are comprehensive.

Graduate Protection Act - As I promised on the campaign trail I passed a bill that outlawed unpaid internships, I campaigned for this in the Assembly and I'm proud I managed to get this passed. I then lobbied the Senate, to extend this ban across all regions the month afterwards.

Ideology - As a labor politician I believe in progressive values, I believe that when we pool together our nation succeeds. The work I've done in the Assembly
his doesn't mean that I'll only work with labor politicians, or that I'll put a 99% tax rate on all citizens. I'm proud of my belief system, but I don't think that any ideology stops me being an effective Senator.

Future- I want to be elected to the Senate so that I can put progressive issues such as climate change, third world debt, HIV/AID's treatment, sustainable transport and rural poverty on the table. You may look at this and think it's a radical agenda, but I believe that the best place to solve these issues is the Senate. There are times when the Senate doesn't hold the key-this is why I want to strengthen inter-regional links to ensure the best deal for Atlasia. I hope you've appreciated this broad overview of me, and I look forward to campaigning. (You'll get sick of this mug soon)

[Blair]

'It is with great sadness that I hereby announce my resignation from the Northeast Assembly. When Governor Sawx appointed me in February I was over the moon to be given an opportunity to serve the Northeast, and I like to think that in the short amount of time I've been able to serve the people of the Northeast. I've been proud of all that we've been able to achieve in the Assembly-student scholarships, homes for the homeless and support for the Kurds being our proudest achievements.

I'd like to thank the assembly men for allowing me to serve as Speaker, and for giving me the opportunity to learn parliamentary procedures. Without this I would not of been able to run this race. I'd like to thank Clyde for his support in the campaign, and for entering the race at the same time a me-he's a rising star in the party, and I hope he continues to do just that. I'd like to commend Winfield, despite all our disagreements on policy you've always been respectful, kind and easy to to work with. Finally I'd like to thank our Governor, Sawx for appointing me to the post, and for showing us how governors can truly serve an active role in our community.

Thank you all, and good night

[Lincoln Republican]

Blair, thank you for your kind words.

I have very much enjoyed working with you in the Northeast Assembly, and have found you to be intelligent, fair, and objective.

Good luck to you in your Senate campaign.

[Prince of Salem]

Thank you for you service to our glorious region, Blair

[Blair]

Regards for the kind words friends.

As per Lief's announcement it's with great honour that I take up my seat in the Senate, I understand that this is a purely temporary measure and I will continue to campaign for the next month in order to be elected by the people in April. I'd like to thank Lief for appointing me to the Senate, and I hope I can serve well in the next month. Thank you

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Congrats Senator Blair.

[Blair]

'Friends, I've greatly enjoyed my first day in the Senate. It truly is the most noble of chambers, and I hope I'll be walking through the senate for many months to come. Today, I want to discuss an issue that been slightly overlooked in the last couple of weeks-Iraq

Firstly in Iraq we need a broad stable government that represents all parties. We need to build a grand coalition of nations, from the highlands of Scotland to the oceans of Australia. We need a coalition of Nations that can stand up, and provide support in the form of air strikes to the brave troops who are fighting Islamic state. For this reason I will continue to support air strikes in Iraq.

But let's not ignore that this is fundamentally a political conflict, and as we've seen in 1991 and 2003 a military conflict needs a political solution. There is clearly great distrust towards Atlasia in the reason, and might I add for good reason. We provided chemical weapons to Saddam when he was gassing Iranians in the 1980's, we provided funding for Saddam when he committed war crimes against the Kurds and we did nothing after 1991 when Saddam continued to rule with an Iron fist. For this reason we need both a humanitarian, and decisive political settlement.

What I hereby propose, is a radical post-war strategy. Our first, and foremost aim should be to defeat Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria, and this needs continued attention. However afterwards we need a solution to the crisis we face in Iraq. The major issue is that Iraq is a western creation, drawn on a map in the 1920's hoping it would work-it hasn't. This is why we need to tackle the ethnic and sectarian divisons in Iraq, by giving power to three regions-Kurdistan, Shiastan and Iraq. These three regions would still be accountable to a Federal Government, and these regions would still be safe and secure. This would ensure that we have a stable Iraqi state, and a settlement that appeases all sides. We're all committed to a long term political solution to ease the conflict in the middle east, and I believe this will do just that.

[Dereich]

I really hope this is an April fools joke. It's always hard to tell in Atlasia.

[Flake]

You'll get a preference from me, I like your bold ideas.

[Blair]

I really hope this is an April fools joke. It's always hard to tell in Atlasia.

No it's not. We need to solve the problems in Iraq and it's clear that we cannot simply plough on ahead. The issue of a Kurdistan state cannot simply be ignored,

As I said at the start of my campaign, I want to campaign on a bold vision and this vision has to be translated into policy. I'm the only candidate so far to actually lay out a foreign policy vision, and I will continue to do just this

[Blair]

'I'd like to pay tribute to ambassador Dwight Lemuel Scheisskopf IV, and other embassy staff who died in the awful attack on our Iraqi embassy. All efforts should be taken to identify the attackers and bring them to justice. This shouldn't damage our resolve in Iraq, we should remain committed to finding a long term political solution to the crisis we're facing in Iraq.

[Blair]

'Friends, today I want to propose a landmark piece of legislation to deal with a serious public health problem, that still persists in society... HIV/AIDs.

I know there is still a lot of stigma attached to HIV, and more importantly I know many of you will be questioning if this is still a pressing issue for a country like Atlasia-the answer is yes. We need to firstly address these facts- HIV rates are 4x times higher in poor urban communities, African Americans make up 46% of new diagnosis and 60% of young people with HIV are unaware they have the condition

HIV/AIDs disproportionately affects the most vulnerable in our society. More importantly, even with modern anti-viral drugs HIV/AIDs is still a major health risk. I don't want to alarm people, we've managed to make a great deal of progress in the last 20 years but there's still more work to do.

Firstly we need to promote a universal education strategy rather than leaving it up to the States. We're got a major problem in that some states promote abstinence to counter HIV whilst others promote more flexible modern responses. We need a unified education strategy to counter HIV/AIDs, and increased funding will help provide this. We also need to expand education funding to schools to dispel the myths surrounding HIV

Secondly we need to promote a clean needle scheme to ensure that all people have access to clean needles to reduce the risk from HIV. Finally we need to put comprehensive investment into prevention strategies that ensure that the most vulnerable- Young people, African-Americans and MSM's. If we ensure that funding targets these specific groups that we can reduce the number of HIV/Aids cases.

I want to promote a global solidarity fund, we can't close our eyes and pretend that HIV/Aids is a problem that we only face in Atlasia-we're lucky here that we have a first class healthcare system that can provide HIV patients with a relatively comfortable life compared to that they'd expect 30 years ago. For this reason we need to tackle HIV/Aids' as a global problem, this means more foreign aid earmarked for HIV/Aids, this means wider access to anti-viral drugs and this means working towards eradicating HIV/Aids. Thank you''

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'Lets make HIV History'
-$400 million federal education scheme to promote clean needle use, regular tests and other prevention methods to young people.
-De-funding of Abstinence based programs
-$ 10 billion funding for HIV/Aids specific centres in rural and urban hotspots to decrease the risk from HIV/Aids
- A pilot clean needle scheme to promote clean drug use
- A global 'Solidarity' fund to provide global solutions to HIV/Aids
 

[Blair]

Speech to Californian League of Conservation Voters



'Friends, I've always said that I want to be radical in my approach to politics. Being a progressive means that you should always strive to challenge the status quo, to challenge the rigid borders of our politics and more importantly challenge the idea that we cannot change the world. Politics is too important to be left to politicians.

This is why if elected for another term in the Senate I will devote myself to making this the greenest senate session ever. No doubt you'll hear many other candidates promise to invest in green energy, and to tackle pollution but I'm the only candidate who is offering a comprehensive, and global strategy to help save our planet.

Firstly I want to publicly back a de-investment scheme for fossil fuel TNC's such a BP, this means that pension schemes, ISA's, hedge funds, political parties and churches withdraw their shares in these companies until they commit to true environmental protection. I can't legislate to force groups to do this, but I strongly encourage it.

Next I'm going to a propose the withdrawal of all Fracking sites in Atlasia. There was legislation recently passed that temporarily halted the building of said sites but I believe that all fracking should end. The evidence is overwhelming, not only does it pollute our water supplies, our farms and our households but it sends out the wrong message about our approach to energy. We've manage to achieve a great deal with our energy policies in the past but I believe that we can be even more radical

Internationally I want to encourage schemes across the world that can reinvent our approach to energy, and environmental issues. We're in a position of great strength to influence the world, and there's several ways we can do. We can encourage 'debt for conservation' schemes where we write off debt in developing countries in exchange for environmental protection. Likewise we can go above even further an play an active in the UN climate talks, and push for a global reduction in fossil fuels. Finally a part of the Arctic council I believe we need to put in serious protections for the Arctic, to ensure that it still exists in 30 years time. Over-fishing, climate change and pollution posses a serious threat to the region, and for this reason I want to propose legislation that limits any new oil drilling in Alaska.

I want to be a progressive voice in the Senate, and I want to stand up for our environment. With your help, I believe that this can be a reality-thank you.  

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Green Policy announcements
1) Support for a de-investment campaign.
2) Removal of all Fracking sites
3) Promotion of international environmental action
4) Legislation to support any further UN carbon reductions
5) Heavier regulation of Alaskan oil drilling
6) A commitment to ensuring all polices do no further harm to the environment

[Dr. Cynic]

Keep up the good work, Senator.

[Blair]

Friends, I'd like to thank you all for coming out here today. After spending the morning in the senate I'm more than happy to get out on the campaign trail for a final push before the polls open. Every vote will count, and I'm certain that we can build up a progressive bloc in the Senate- a group of progressive senators committed to getting a fair deal for Atlasia.

I've gathered you here today to talk about something that has been caught up in the Senate for too long, and something that has festered in communities across the land for too long. People feel that there local police forces don't represent them, and in many communities police officers aren't seen as the face of justice and order-they're seen as the face of danger.

We need to change this view, and we need to show that a community spirit still exists. We need to ensure that local citizens can have a connection with their local police forces, and we need to ensure that all police officers are held to the same standards. Like Doctors, teachers, nurses and firefighters our police officers have dedicated themselves to public service-this is a truly noble pursuit and we should never forgot about the thousands of police officers out on patrol protecting our nation. I will never put police officers at risk during my time at the Senate, and that's a promise.

We should start from a position from strength, and that's what I've shown above. We need four vital reforms to policing. Firstly every state must have an independent police review board-this board will be made up of legal, political and policing experts who will be able to review and take account of the police board. This review board will have full access to all police records, and all police footage. We can't let police forces regulate themselves, and we can't leave it to grand juries to dispense justice.

Secondly we need to ensure, that all police officers have badge camera's. More importantly we need to ensure that all this footage is available for review, we can't simply introduce camera's and then leave it at that. I know that the introduction of camera's will lead to a more accountable, and more effective police force. Not only do we need to make police officers more accountable, but like any other public service we simply cannot let people serve in our police forces who wish to pursue an extremist agenda.

Thirdly we need to make sure that our police forces are protected from the threat of terrorism, and from the threat of violent crime. Police officers put their lives on the life to protect us, and too many have died in the last couple of months as a result of terrorist acts. Our police force needs the best protection it can get. More importantly I want to set up a fund to support the families of disabled police officers to ensure that their public service will not be held in vain.

Finally we need to come together in the spirit of co-operation. If we let this issue continue for too long then community tensions will continue to brew, race relations will continue to decline and we'll face a crisis that we quite frankly will struggle to fix. Let's go beyond politics, and let's get police reform we can be proud of.

Thank you

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I really do appreciate your constructive attitude towards this issue.