Life in Gotham: A Gotham City Municipal Election Series (1994).

[Bigby]

Gotham Under Sionis:

Gotham indeed began to recover under the newly-elected Richard Sionis, but Gotham was nowhere near its glory under Mayor Burton. The first two years of Cuomo's second term saw growth, but it was pitiful each quarter with no quarter seeing more than 2% growth. Crime continued to rise and fester nationwide since Cuomo failed to budge on his liberal social policies. Manufacturing and resource jobs likewise continued to leave thanks to Cuomo's similar refusal to concede. As such, Sionis took it upon himself to lax Gotham's economic regulations in order to repair his city. Every new tax, regulation, and sin restriction under Falcone was repealed within the first six months of Sionis's term. Gotham saw economic growth for the first time since 1986 in 1992, and this growth outpaced the mediocre growth elsewhere in the nation. Though Gotham had lost 400,000 citizens according to the 1990 census, Sionis hoped that the relaxing of social and economic policies would reverse this trend. Disorganized crime declined as income inequality shrank and the standard of living rised. Falcone's cohorts loudly complained against Sionis's repeal of Falcone's policies, particularly as union power cratered while Sionis spent time in office, but non-union workers on the flip side reported their first positive outlook since Falcone's first time in office in 1987. The economic upturn and the dip in non-mob crime far from substantial but still very evidential.

However, Sionis's anti-corruption plan was more mixed in implementation. His own administration has been rather clean, but the justice system has been absolutely flooded with criminal indictments against several incumbent and former city officials as well as mafia members. Maroni so far has evaded justice and remained a repeated thorn in the side of Sionis and his mayoralship. The sharp fall in regular crime has largely led to the majority of crime in Gotham simply becoming the doing of the Maroni family largely against other minor families. Maroni's men are represented by the best criminal defense attorneys in Gotham, giving the D.A.'s office great difficulty in busting up the newly formed criminal underworld of Gotham. More minor crime families have seen far less success in staying away from prison, so only the Maroni family truly stands in the way of peace for Gotham. In 1992, a then-sophomore college student Harvey Dent confessed his father's abuse against him over the years. Former Deputy Mayor Truman Dent's history of abuse and neglect against his son as well as the Deputy Mayor's crooked misgivings with the Gotham Police Department were finally revealed to Gotham with condemning and overwhelming evidence. The Sionis administration was lauded for its quick move against Truman Dent, and Falcone and his followers stood by and let Dent get crushed. Sionis himself has appointed an honest but boring and largely caretaker-esque Deputy Mayor, the wife of police officer James Gordon, Sarah Gordon. The Court of Owls expressed disappointment in that none of their members was represented in the Gotham administration, but they knew it was for the best since Sionis almost lost the election over concerns about the Court and their status as Big Money in Gotham politics.

While 1994 became the most profitable year for Gotham economically, the general mood had been shook by events concerning Truman Dent, Sal Maroni, and Arkham Asylum. Director Jeremiah of Arkham Asylum condemned the 1992 trial of Truman Dent and ongoing attempts to arrest Sal Maroni as attacks against the mentally ill. Arkham discussed the controversial but public records about Truman Dent's treatment of his son Harvey, claiming that Truman's behavior was a symptom of his own father's abuse against him as signs of mental illness; Arkham thus has stated that Dent requires medical treatment rather than criminal punishment. Likewise for Sal Maroni, Arkham has proposed that Maroni's actions are borne of an obsessive compulsion to imitate his father and his criminal empire rather than forming his own new one. Legal and mental health experts have expressed mixed opinions regarding Dr. Arkham's claims, though Mayor Sionis has preemptively condemned Arkham's talking points as a measure to take power from the city government and give power to Arkham's own asylum. Surprisingly enough, this attack against Dr. Arkham's character did not incentivize his 1994 Mayoral one; an attack by the press did. An anonymous source from the Gotham Gazette dug up rumors of occult activities by the Arkham family have resurfaced. Photos and videos allegedly show the Arkham family participating in rituals for the Semitic god Moloch as well as a bizarre ritual from Gotham's 19th century history called "spirit cooking." Their nine-year old daughter Victoria Arkham has also been shown in this condemning evidence, so the Gotham PD has begun an investigation of child abuse while the media conducts the investigation into these occult claims. Jeremiah Arkham has thus thrown his hat into the ring, claiming that Sionis himself is behind this character assassination attempt. Sionis rejects any involvement.

The Candidates:

Mayor Richard Sionis - "Gotham's Sanity Must Be Preserved."

Sionis is running on his own successes in largely reversing the damaged done to Gotham under Falcone as well as his success in arresting Former Deputy Mayor Truman Dent for governmental corruption and the abuse of his son Harvey. While Sionis's original message largely focused on policy, Arkham's entrance into the race has turned Sionis into a crusader for "keeping the politics of Gotham sane." Sionis has avoided delving into Arkham's personal life too much while continuously stating that he has no involvement with the media's revelations. Instead, Mayor Sionis is focusing his ire against Arkham's claims that Truman Dent and Sal Maroni are mentally ill. "For starters, Truman Dent's mental health records have shown that he has always been aware of his own actions. Director Arkham has only focused on the family history abuse while saying nothing in favor of his views on Truman Dent's corruption charges. Second, Maroni also seems consistently aware of his own actions. We have countless interviews of the crime boss outright laughing and gloating about the mishaps of his enemies. Criminal insanity requires not understanding right or wring and/or not understanding the consequences of your actions; Dent and Maroni fail to meet either criteria." The public does not seem to disbelieve Sionis, but the Mayor's anger against Arkham is very apparent.

Arkham Asylum Director Jeremiah Arkham - "Gotham's Ills Must Be Cured."

Director Arkham has stated content with most of Sionis's policies. He has admitted that his campaign is more personal than ideological. Instead, Jeremiah Arkham thrust himself into the political ring because of the Gotham Gazette's rumors of occult activity against his family. "Look, my family has been supportive of Gotham just as much as say the Waynes or the Cobblepots. Sionis has his grubby hands in the media's pocket. He has failed to remain objective as Mayor because he cannot handle the truth about my humble claims regarding the well-being of Truman Dent and Sal Maroni!" Dr. Arkham has gained a genuine following, but the local media's attacks on him as well as Dr. Arkham's own personal nature does cast doubt into the minds of many Gotham citizens. Arkham has been well-known for his somewhat avoidant and deeply introverted nature, as well as his fascination with historical cults in his studies. In other words, many feel that the Gazette's revelations are not out of the blue.

Former Deputy Mayor Hamilton Hill - "No One Likes Madness."

Everyone remembers Hill's pitiful performance in the 1986 Gotham Mayoral Election. However, the Falcone faction is without a representative in this mostly non-policy election this go-around. Hill has resurrected his 1986 platform with minimal tweaks to appeal to the more blue-collar base created by Falcone. Still, Hill has some chance by appealing to left-wingers largely left out by the libertarian Sionis and the personal vendetta of Jeremiah Arkham. Hill has avoided the Arkham Occult story almost entirely and instead prefers to push his socially liberal and fiscally moderate problem. He has significant policy obstacles to overcome, however, as social liberals are largely happy with Sionis, particularly because of Sionis's success in increased hate crime legislation and overturn of Falcone's sin taxes and municipal abortion restrictions. NAFTA died out thanks to Buchanan's condemnation of the proposed deal in the 1992 presidential election, and neither Sionis nor Arkham seem keen on supporting a free trade deal that expansive in a steel powerhouse like Gotham, so Hill's public condemnation of a trade deal like the failed NAFTA has sparked little interest. Perhaps Hill can ride into office while Sionis and Falcone eat each other....

You have 48 hours to win. Vote carefully and vote for whoever you think is the best man.

[Bigby]

US Presidential Election, 1992:

President Mario Cuomo (D - NY)/Vice President Tom Harkin (D - IA): 275 EVs, 47% PV
Governor Alexander Luthor, Sr. (R - DE)/Fmr. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (R - IL): 261 EVs, 45% PV
Columnist Pat Buchanan (Ref - VA)/Mr. Pat Choate (Ref - TX): 2 EVs, 7% PV

The economy continued to do poorly in Cuomo's term leading to the election. While still suffering from a recession, the economy was in a state of stagnation rather than actual recession. Still, welfare rates had spiked, income inequality continued to rise, and manufacturing jobs were beginning to flee the nation to overseas. Crime continued to rise nationwide, even though certain urban areas such as Gotham and Metropolis were doing well in combating the worst excesses. The only bright spot was foreign policy, particularly in Panama and the Middle East. Cuomo had quickly and successfully deposed Noriega after the Panamanian dictator declared war on the United States; the war was surprisingly short. In the Middle East, Cuomo secured peace by ceding control of Kuwait to Iraq in return for less stringent oil controls and immediate withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Saudi Arabia. Conservatives and war hawks denounced the Gulf Accord as the treaty would be known, but liberals and moderates lauded the double whammy of securing American oil interests without entangling the nation into a potentially messy foreign war. The August 1991 coup failed against Gorbachev in the Soviet Union, and so the remnants of the Iron Curtain fell as the Soviet Union was dissolved by Christmas of the same year. The economy and security issues of the country hampered Cuomo's reelection chances while the foreign policy successes of the administration helped to buoy him.

Having been thrust into the national spotlight when he was elected as Governor of Delaware, Alexander Luthor, Sr. quickly defeated the various challengers against him. Luthor ran on a pro-free market, pro-trade, and pro-security platform. Luthor called for a decrease in spending, further reductions in the corporate tax rate, a reduction in tariffs, and a series of anti-crime bills to make the federal government more involved crime prevention as well as allowing the states broader freedom to stamp out crime in their jurisdictions. Luthor was expected to win, until Columnist Pat Buchanan entered the race as a Reform Party candidate. Luthor became an early and vocal supporter of NAFTA, which Buchanan demonized as a gateway to the dying off of the American labor force. Businessman Ross Perot, one of Buchanan's most ardent supporters, claimed that NAFTA would suck at jobs with a "giant sucking sound." Cuomo redeemed himself in the Midwest by coming out against NAFTA despite his earlier compromises with Republicans on certain fiscal policies. During the debates and the campaign season, Luthor managed to secure traditionally Republican states against the conservative populist Buchanan. However, the swing area of the Midwest narrowly went to Cuomo on election night, with many states being decided by less than 1%. Although Buchanan peeled blue collar support away from Cuomo, Buchanan largely damaged Luthor and thus gave the election to Cuomo. Cuomo would be re-elected on an even smaller margin than in 1988.

The fall of the Soviet Union, the Gulf Accord, and opposition to NAFTA grant President Cuomo a slim but very real reelection despite continued economic downfall, rise in crime, and overall dim moods on the state of the nation.

[Goldwater]

I'm sticking with Sionis.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Isn't the President supposed to be Mario Cuomo?

[Bigby]

Isn't the President supposed to be Mario Cuomo?

Once again fixed. Why do I keep making the same mistake?

[Mr. Smith]

Disgusting election...Arkham for teh shigs.

[Bigby]

Disgusting election...Arkham for teh shigs.

This is Gotham City. What else can you expect? As I said in the Master Thread, things start getting weird here.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm sticking with Sionis.

[Zioneer]

Disgusting election...Arkham for teh shigs.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I can't help but think Hill is getting the short end of the stick here. He seems like a decent guy.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Hill is the only decent candidate.

[Intell]

Hill is the only decent candidate.

Yea

Leftists voting for Sionis, yuck.

[Bigby]

Wow, this election has been going all over the place. Glad I've generated interest.

[Bigby]

Voting ends tomorrow around 2 PM. Once the voting ends, I'll write the epilogue to this year's election ASAP and write for the 1998 election before the upcoming Friday.

[Antonio the Sixth]

3-way tie, LOL

I think Gotham could benefit from a runoff system.

[Bigby]

3-way tie, LOL

I think Gotham could benefit from a runoff system.

If there is a split tie at the end, that's probably what I am going to do. Just chalk it up as mid-campaign law.

[Bigby]

Voting ends in an hour. I am open to suggestions on what to do if the race stays an exact tie, and if people want a runoff should no candidate receive 50%+1.

[Bigby]

With all three candidates splitting even, a runoff will be held. I have taken advice to eliminate a candidate who scored last in a random list generator, and that candidate is Jeremiah Arkham. Mayor Richard Sionis and Former Deputy Mayor Hamilton Hill will be the two candidates you can choose between for the runoff.

Stalemate!

None of the three major candidates overwhelmed the other two during the entire campaign season. Sionis, Arkham, and Hill all repeatedly changed places as victor repeatedly. This constant scrambling led to immediate but unsurprising action by Gotham's city council. In a race where no candidate scores 50%+1, a December runoff will be held between the top two winners. (This basically concerns three-way races. Two-candidate races are not likely to need this rule.) While some Gothamites challenged this rule change during the election, none of the major candidates, nor any of their bases, challenged this decision. Sionis even signed it mere minutes after the council passed the bill. This decision would come to benefit Gotham, as the results were too slim for any outright victory to be meaningful.

Mayor Richard Sionis technically won first place, while Hamilton Hill scored second. Jeremiah Arkham scored dead last. All three major candidates scored roughly within 500 votes of each other, enough to constitute a recount. Sionis and Hill both voiced their content with a runoff, unsurprisingly, but Arkham demanded a recount to save his own skin in the game. These complaints only lasted for three days as subsequent events would prove to be Arkham's undoing.

When Mrs. Arkham permitted police to investigate the Arkham residency, numerous bodies, body parts and organs, and blood trails were discovered in one of the basements. This appeared to be the same basement that the media claimed was the site of the Moloch worship and the spirit cooking, as many of the same clues still remained. Jeremiah Arkham and his wife Gladys were subsequently arrested while their daughter Victoria found herself placed in foster care by the Vales. While Jeremiah Arkham is being held for questioning, Deputy Director Hugo Strange will take over Arkham Asylum as Acting Director. The Gotham Gazette gloated in its vindication, but Mayor Sionis and Hill acted far more reserved and professional to save their careers and not to antagonize the apparent following Arkham received during his mayoral run. The runoff already began as downright civil compared to the regular election, as Sionis and Hill continued their mutual civility. Such refusal to attack each other was what led to Arkham's surge to begin with, but with Arkham gone, the race became an absolute tossup.

Outside of Gotham.

Unlike Gotham, traditional politics still rules the day. Cuomo's 1992 victory over Republican challenger Alexander Luthor, Sr. was basically thanks to Buchanan's third party run, so it surprised few when Cuomo's second term was not as well received as the majority of his first. GDP growth hovered around somewhat above 2% each quarter, but the public at large continued to consider the economy as too stagnant. Manufacturing and energy sectors remained choked nationwide, so the Rust Belt and Appalachia especially voiced resentment for Cuomo and the Democrats. Many traditionally Democratic areas were going Republican in the House and Senate polls both. Many Republican rising stars sounded more Buchanan-like than Luthor-like, but the GOP Establishment welcomed them regardless to expand their slim hold in the House into a substantial one while also gaining the Senate.

Even worse for the Democrats, foreign policy, which was considered the golden shining point of Cuomo's administration, turned sour for the United States. Two failed WTC bombing plots were exposed to the public, one led by Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda goons and one led by a non-Muslim group previously thought to be urban legend called the League of Assassins. In the Middle East itself, Saddam Hussein's Iraq felt emboldened by the Gulf Accord and thus violated many of its conditions. The main violations were continued persecution against minority groups and pressure against Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. The Orient War began on August 1st, 1994, when Saudi Arabia and Iraq clashed at the former Kuwaiti border. Republicans demanded immediate invention against Iraq and in favor of Saudi Arabia and later Syria, but Cuomo and the Democrats continued to insist on peace.

The 1994 midterms went down as the second half of the Republican Revolution, the first half having been born in 1990. Speaker Kemp enjoyed a fifteen seat gain for the Republican Party, bring its majority from a 225 squeaker of a lead to a healthier 240 number. The Republicans only held 48 seats after Richard Shelby switched parties in the winter of 1992, but a nine point landslide in the Senate races turned their fortunes around to a 57 seat majority. Bob Dole had retired from his Senate Majority Leader after 1992, leaving Orrin Hatch to fill that role. The Republicans now enjoyed their greatest majorities since 1928, and plans on invading Iraq were already brewing.