New Southeast Governor's Thread!

[Emsworth]

If they have to be removed in a different fashion, then it would seem to me that Dubya can't appoint anyone and must stick to StatesRights per the terms of the agreement following the election unless he can be removed through alternate means.

The pertinent clauses are:

"In the case of a tie vote for any election, a runoff election shall be held beginning within 24 hours after the end of the previous election. If the second runoff ends up in a tie, the term in question shall be split evenly and the candidate with the screen name that comes first alphabetically shall serve first split term, the second candidate alphabetically shall serve the second term, etc."

"The Governor may appoint a Lieutenant Governor."

There is no rule, as far as I can see, which states that the Governor must appoint an opponent with whom he tied as Lt Governor for his half of the term. Thus, it seems reasonable to say that constitutionally, it was permissible for the Governor not to appoint StatesRights.

On the other hand, it could also be argued that the prior agreement binds the current Governor, who must therefore appoint StatesRights.

[Gabu]

On the other hand, it could also be argued that the prior agreement binds the current Governor, who must therefore appoint StatesRights.

Do we have any laws in place concerning an agreement like this?  It wasn't exactly a formal contract or anything like that, so I'm not really sure what legal standing there would be to challenge what Dubya did if Governors are indeed allowed to appoint their Lt. Governor.

Personally, I think that the right thing to do because of the agreement would have been to allow StatesRights to be Lt. Governor (at least until he did something out of line), but I can't see any method of legally challenging his reneging on the agreement.

[Joe Republic]

Another interesting point is that while serving as governor, StatesRights also nullified recall petitions.  Which means any decision to remove him has to be made by himself or a higher authority.

[Sam Spade]

If they have to be removed in a different fashion, then it would seem to me that Dubya can't appoint anyone and must stick to StatesRights per the terms of the agreement following the election unless he can be removed through alternate means.

The pertinent clauses are:

"In the case of a tie vote for any election, a runoff election shall be held beginning within 24 hours after the end of the previous election. If the second runoff ends up in a tie, the term in question shall be split evenly and the candidate with the screen name that comes first alphabetically shall serve first split term, the second candidate alphabetically shall serve the second term, etc."

"The Governor may appoint a Lieutenant Governor."

There is no rule, as far as I can see, which states that the Governor must appoint an opponent with whom he tied as Lt Governor for his half of the term. Thus, it seems reasonable to say that constitutionally, it was permissible for the Governor not to appoint StatesRights.

On the other hand, it could also be argued that the prior agreement binds the current Governor, who must therefore appoint StatesRights.

I doubt that any prior agreement would have any bearing under the law.  It certainly isn't written into statute.  I was the first one who suggested it at the end of the gubernatorial vote, as a way of compromise.

Maybe if there was some sort of civil law then it might be applicable, but I don't really think there is in the SE Region or in Atlasia as a whole.

Given that, my assumptions are 1. that StatesRights appointing himself as Lt. Governor is against the law, considering only governors can appoint Lt. Governors.

and 2. this will not please me come ballot-time, as this type of personal action does not look very good, regardless of what StatesRights has done in the past.  An agreement is an agreement to me.

[Sam Spade]

Another interesting point is that while serving as governor, StatesRights also nullified recall petitions.  Which means any decision to remove him has to be made by himself or a higher authority.

Not relevant. 

He retracted that here:

I have come here today to speak to yall on the current situation. I must now announce that I will back down off the nullification of recall law.

[Joe Republic]

Oh well.  Shows how much I pay attention to the affairs of a different region to my own.

[WiseGuy]

I'd like to clarify myself once more, the primary reason that I decided to appoint BrandonH was because I thought that StatesRights would be too busy to serve as Lieutenant Governor.  The rest of the stuff I said in my first message was mainly venting because I was pretty upset that StatesRights had posted all those derogatory remarks before talking to me first.

Now that I understand that StatesRights thinks he can handle the job in addition to his campaign obligations, I will consider asking BrandonH to step down and appoint him, if, he promises to live up to his duties as Lieutenant Governor and discuss his problems with me before making public denouncements, because, as Akno stated, there is supposed to be a trust between a leader and his second-in-command.  I believe that I could count on BrandonH to deliver that kind of respect to this office, but I'm not sure that StatesRights can step down from leader to subordinate so easily.

Nevertheless, if the people of the Southeast believe otherwise, I will honor their wishes and go with the original "verbal" agreement.

[Jake]

I don't care either way. The agreement has no legal force at all, so, do whatever you want.

[Brandon H]

As Lt. Governor., I believe I need to be supportive of the Governor's Decisions. If the Governor wishes for me to stay as Lt. Gov, I will do that. If he wish for me to step down and let StatesRights takes Lt. Gov. (if his campaign will not interfere with the job), then I have no problem doing that either (and perhaps making me the shortest reigning Lt. Gov. in Atlasian history). I'm still waiting to hear from StatesRights response to the Governor's message as far as balancing Lt. Gov. and Campaigning for President.

[??????????]

I think the whole argument over 'being able to juggle a presidential campaign with Lt Gov job' is nonsense. Their is no problem w/holding a position and running for another at the same time. Others don't challenge it when someone else does it. I don't understand why their is such a double standard in this 'game' when I decide I want to run for office. My only belief is that it's a dirty trick to treat me like a second class citizen.

[Sam Spade]

I think the whole argument over 'being able to juggle a presidential campaign with Lt Gov job' is nonsense. Their is no problem w/holding a position and running for another at the same time. Others don't challenge it when someone else does it. I don't understand why their is such a double standard in this 'game' when I decide I want to run for office. My only belief is that it's a dirty trick to treat me like a second class citizen.

The thing that doesn't make any sense is that the Lt. Governor's spot in the SE is appointed, not elected.  There's never any campaigning to do for it anyways.  And what does the Lt. Governor of the SE do anyway, period.

It's a whole lot different if one were to, say run for Governor and President at the same time, or run for Senate and President at the same time.

Big difference in my book, and not comparable (and it's not like I haven't complained over the one I have more problems with before).

[WiseGuy]

I am strongly opposed to anyone running for an office while they are holding another one, in real life or in the game.  I believe they should wait until the end of their term or resign.

I see the Lieutenant Governor as an advisor to the Governor, someone the Governor and the people can rely on, and one we can all trust to be there.  That is what I tried to be during your term, States, and what I expect of my Lieutenant Governor.  I just have my doubts that I can court on you to be there when you have other obligations, if not other agendas.

That said, we live in a democracy, and our elected officials are accountable to the people.  So I officially ask BrandonH to step down to allow StatesRights to become the Lieutenant Governor.  I sincerely regret this, Brandon.  I believe you would have made a great Lieutenant Governor.

[Brandon H]

I officially resign from my position as Lt. Governor.

(Is there any thing else that needs to be done to make this official?)

[jokerman]

I think the whole argument over 'being able to juggle a presidential campaign with Lt Gov job' is nonsense. Their is no problem w/holding a position and running for another at the same time. Others don't challenge it when someone else does it. I don't understand why their is such a double standard in this 'game' when I decide I want to run for office. My only belief is that it's a dirty trick to treat me like a second class citizen.

I agree, I wouldn't say that it's that big of a pressure on time or effort to hold the office of Lt. Gov and running for a different position.  The reasons for States' rejection were purely political.

[King]

The agreement has no legal force at all, so, do whatever you want.

It is in the SE Constitution, Jake. 

[Gabu]

The agreement has no legal force at all, so, do whatever you want.

It is in the SE Constitution, Jake. 

No, the part where each candidate is governor for half of the term is in the Southeast Constitution.  The part where the other candidate in each half of the term is made lieutenant governor was purely made up for this particular situation and is not found in any legal document.

[minionofmidas]

Reminds me of reconstruction era Southern politics.

[Jake]

The agreement has no legal force at all, so, do whatever you want.

It is in the SE Constitution, Jake. 

Wrong

[TomC]

Man, I totally missed this.

[WiseGuy]

For my fourth act as Governor of the Southeast, I have submitted the following proposal to Governor Republic for the transfer of Kentucky and Virginia to our Region:

[Joe Republic]

This was the response I sent to Governor Dubya:

I'm sorry, but no.

1. We can't just add Canadian provinces one by one as we see fit.  We either take them all or we take none.

2. There is no guarantee that anybody would actually register in Ontario, which could lead to a net population loss for the Mideast.

3. I'm still yet to see one convincing argument that Kentucky and Virginia should be moved to the Southeast.

[WiseGuy]

I have responded to the Governor's PM.  The text followes:
I'm sorry, but no.

1. We can't just add Canadian provinces one by one as we see fit.  We either take them all or we take none.

Why not?  In real life Texas was annexed before New Mexico

2. There is no guarantee that anybody would actually register in Ontario, which could lead to a net population loss for the Mideast.

Siege is actually from there (if I remember correctly), so I don't know why he wouldn't.  But if you want to be absolutely sure, I could ask him.

3. I'm still yet to see one convincing argument that Kentucky and Virginia should be moved to the Southeast.

I only really care about Virginia, but they're both culturally and historically connected to the rest of the states in the Southeast.

[Peter]

How exactly would Canada giving up a Province play in terms of the GM?

[Joe Republic]

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[/quote]

Times have changed since the 19th century.  In real life, the US couldn't just annex a Canadian province without their say-so.  In fantasy politics, it makes things a heck of a lot more awkward to start including parts of other countries.

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[/quote]

You don't actually care about Kentucky?  OK, we'll take that one out of the negotiations.

The only way that I really see Virginia being "culturally and historically connected" to the South is through the Confederacy.  Do you really want to re-form those old boundaries?  If so, why?

Also, Maryland is technically part of the South too.  Do you want that state as well?

[TomC]

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Don't you see, that's exactly what they want.