Life in Gotham: A Gotham City Municipal Election Series (1998).

[Bigby]

Hamilton Hill's Gotham:

The good news for Hill's administration is that no major corruption scandals have emerged during his term, and his administration has been even cleaner than Sionis's. Even if Hill did play dirty, the Gotham Gazette shields him so well that the public would never find out. The bad news for Hill is that not only has Maroni and his crime syndicate remained at large, their actions combined with some of his choices as Mayor have painted an unhelpful image on him regardless. Hill broke his promise of retaining the services of Sarah Gordon as Deputy and instead appointed donor Regina Zellerbach to that position in her stead. Regina Zellerbach and her husband, Congressman Bob Zellerbach repeatedly interject their advice and suggestions into Hill's actions, so an increasing number of Gotham voters see Hill as a Hellerbach puppet. Indeed, the Court of Owls went from a mostly conservative cabal of Gotham's big business elite to a mostly liberal elite with the departure of the Waynes and Cobblepots from the organization. While Hill has an overall mixed record of not tampering with the popular aspects of Sionis's legacy, his campaign promises were definitely broken to some extent. Sarah Gordon and the police society of Gotham definitely finds itself unhappy with Hill.

The Maroni mafia's hold on the city's crime sent a disgusting and unfortunate reminder to the people of Gotham on December 1st, 1996. One of Maroni's goons, Joe Chill, was arrested after the murder and attempted murders of several of Gotham's elite. Mayor Hamilton Hill was holding a Christmas Season dinner for the top businessmen, politicians, and union bosses of Gotham. The Waynes, the Cobblepots, the Zellerbachs, Mayor Hill and his administration, every Councilman, and Sionis and Falcone were all in attendance. While a movie was being played for the attendees, Chill and a few others of Maroni's men stormed the building and held everyone captive. Thomas and Martha Wayne, Richard Sionis, and three Councilmen immediately died from their wounds. Bob Zellerbach and another Councilman died later in the hospital. Carmine Falcone, Regina Zellerbach, Esther Cobblepot, and Mayor Hill were wounded but eventually recovered with varied rates of permanent injury. Maroni's involvement could not be proven by the District Attorney's office, but Maroni left Chill and the fellow goons to the mercy of the court. Maroni's sources claim that he never intended the attack, but the public does not believe him. So many of Gotham's powerhouses now lay dead. The public at large has remained disheartened and disillusioned with the current state of affairs. December 1st, 1996 went down infamously as the "Owl Hunting," since many of the victims were members of the Court of Owls, former members, or had some sort of dealing with the organization.

Gotham City's sour mood continues to cloud the city, but not all of the mood was sour. The beginning of the economic recovery under President Schwarzkopf and the end of the Orient War in 1998 gave everyone a sense of national pride and some minor but far from wholly effective city-wide consolation. Three hostages from the Orient war, all Gotham natives who served in the United States Marines, returned home safe and sound after freeing themselves. One of them, psychologist Johnathan B. Crane, found himself as the new Deputy Director of Arkham Asylum under Director Hugo Strange. Crane conducts most of the business end while Strange involves himself directly into the therapy and research, and this includes the monetary deals. Crane has personally convinced Ace Chemicals to return large-scale operations to Gotham from Metropolis, Atlantic City, and Philadelphia, returning jobs back to Gotham that left under the Burton years. A few paranoid about Crane's intentions question why Arkham Asylum involves itself so personally in the chemical business, but result-oriented people are ecstatic. At least Strange and Crane avoid occult rituals. As Schwarzkopf's economic recovery plan bears its first fruit, Gotham is seeing even better economic growth than under Sionis's term. Gotham's current woes stem from nearly entirely Hill's rocky record and Maroni's untouchability.

The Candidates:

Gotham's election consists of not two, not three, but four major candidates, so the roster will include shorter paragraphs of explanation.

 


Mayor Hamilton Hill (INCUMBENT) and Deputy Mayor Regina Zellerbach.

Hill survived the Owl Hunting and was able to continue his mayoral services, but now carries a reminder of the incident thanks to his newly acquired need to walk with a cane and a permanent limp. Hill is running on Gotham's success, which is sound for economics but unsound for crime. Liberals are unsatisfied with Hill's policies as after his initial liberal reforms proved unpopular, he left Sionis's reforms largely untouched. This has definitely prevented Falcone from endorsing him. Hill's success largely depends on how well he can stop Deputy Mayor Regina Zellerbach, who is running against him out of spite for her husband's death. Hill has thus sounded increasingly liberal on the campaign trail, which will hurt him when he eventually must moderate again. The Court of Owls and the Gotham Gazette, Hill's formerly steadfast supporters in power, are split evenly between him and Zellerbach. Deputy Mayor Regina Zellerbach is running largely on the same platform as Mayor Hill's, so a de facto primary between the two has formed. However, she is considered the more liberal one despite being responsible for many of Hill's decisions.While Esther Cobblepot has announced herself as a swing voter between Gordon and Wilson, she has publicly shared sympathy for Zellerbach over her dead husband. It is incredibly palpable that Zellerbach is using her husband death's at Maroni and Chill's hands for political advantage. Zellerbach has gotten criticism for condemning Hill as physically unit to serve, but Hill's health has visibly worsened since the Owl Hunting.



Former Deputy Mayor Sarah Essen Gordon.

Deputy Mayor Sarah Gordon runs on a pro-law and order platform, plain and simple. Former Mayor Richard Sionis's death has mostly repaired his legacy, which allows Gordon to run on his legacy to a moderate extent. Like Sionis, she is more socially liberal than the average Gothamite, but less so than Sionis. Sarah Gordon has easily cultivated a motherly image to the voters, a compassionate voice who still wants justice for the people of Gotham. She has the support of her husband and police officer James Gordon as well as Congressmen Peter Grogan and Renee Montoya. However, some detractors see her motherly persona as a negative, that she will be too soft on Maroni as Sionis and Hill have. That leaves Gotham with its newest candidate....




Orient War Veteran Slade Wilson.

Slade Wilson was one of the three surviving hostages that escaped from the League of Assassins during the Orient War, along with Floyd Lawton and Johnathan Crane. While his economic stances are ambiguous, Wilson has shown himself to be as socially conservative as Falcone, but with the insistence of being more cautious to use the law as a legislator of morality. He has become an ardent critic of not only Mayor Hill and Zellerbach, but of Sarah Gordon as well. In his view, Gordon's motherly persona is too weak to effectively bring Maroni to justice. Wilson's rhetoric has been viewed as inflammatory, and has almost gotten him censured during the race, but the marginalized of Gotham eat it up enthusiastically. The fringe element of the police and many of Maroni's victims constitute Wilson's largest base. Former Mayor Falcone has even endorsed Wilson thanks to his social policies, agreeing that Hill, Zellerbach, and Gordon cannot take Maroni down like Wilson can.

You have 48 hours to vote. This almost definitely will head to a runoff.

[Bigby]

U.S. Presidential Election, 1996:

Fmr. General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. (R - FL)/Senator Duncan Hunter, Sr. (R - CA): 433 EVs, 58.2% PV
Vice President Tom Harkin (D - IA)/Labor Secretary Robert Reich (D - PA): 105 EVs, 41.0% PV

Going into the election season, President Mario Cuomo's popularity sank faster than at any other point in his presidency. The economy was hardly growing at all, the national crime wave was hardly addressed, and American entry into the Orient War under Operation Fertile Crescent meant Harkin's chances were slim to none. Still, Harkin won the primarily rather easily, with his top two contenders, Senator Al Gore and Senator John Kerry, crumbling after an unshocking victory in the Idaho primary and surprising holds against the two in New Hampshire and South Carolina. A slight uptick of G1 1998's growth to 1.5% and American-Saudi victory at the Battle of Ridayh satisfied liberals. On the Republican side, the normally politically dormant Norman Schwarzkopf accept the drafting movement for him that began since his retirement in 1993. He has disapproved of Cuomo's handling of Operation Fertile Crescent since the declaration of war on March 15th, 1995. Apart from a war hawk stance, Schwarzkopf ran on a big tent coalition of Republicans and Democrats, assimilating the Republican desires of lower taxes, anti-crime bills, and an end to excess environmental regulations while supporting the Democrats' continued opposition to NAFTA, opposition to corporate welfare, and a desire for a peace plan to protect the minorities of the Middle East.

Luckily for Schwarzkopf, the primaries went even more smoothly for him than they did on Harkin's side. The Establishment begrudgingly accepted Schwarzkopf, even on the issues they disagreed with, as a sort of Second Coming of Eisenhower. Both candidates picked reliable partisans for their vice presidential nominees. The general election season saw consistent 2% growth for the economy and gas prices that were frozen in place rather than rising, but also saw slowed progress by the Syrian/Saudi/American coalition while the equally despised Iranians were gaining ground in the Shiite areas of southeastern Iraq. Schwarzkopf vs Harkin quickly became the third Eisenhower vs Stevenson, as Schwarzkopf trounced Harkin in every debate and peeled enough liberal support away from Harkin to keep Harkin confined to only the most liberal of states. Schwarzkopf enjoyed the biggest GOP landslide since Ronald Reagan in 1984, the one they wish they could have won with H.W. Bush. Speaker Kemp enjoyed a growth of the GOP's hold on the House to 260 seats, but the Democrats gained three seats in the Senate to reduce the Republican hold there to merely 54 seats.

Schwarzkopf's first two years have been very right-leaning, but he enjoys a 60% approval rating going into the midterms thanks to his factions. 1997 was spent repealing most of Cuomo's environment regulations (though Schwarzkopf kept 75% of Cuomo's new national parks open as a compromise), cut the corporate tax rate down to 30% from the 40% it was under Cuomo while increasing tariffs and closing some corporate tax loophoples, and passed several anticrime bills that increased federal ability to combat crime nationwide as well as giving state governments more leeway and extra funding. Many of Schwarzkopf's signings antagonized ardent liberals, particularly with the crime and environmental legislation, but by early 1998, the fruits of the Schwarzkopf-Congress labor were finally born. Crime was finally going downwards rather than upwards at the cost of heightened anticrime budgets and incarceration rates, gas prices were declining while the Rust Belt and Appalachia improved from their regionally specific woes, and the GDP was hitting 4% to 5% growth for the first time since the Reagan era, all while an increasing number of jobs that left were returning home. Combined with the end of the Orient War and the Second Gulf Accord in June, the Republicans feel great about holding onto Congress.

42nd President Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf (R - FL) won the election of 1996 against Vice President Harkin convincingly.

(The end and results of the Orient War will be written ASAP. I have spent the last two hours writing all of this and the Gotham election, so it will likely be tomorrow as I am rather spent.)

[Kingpoleon]

I can't decide whether to back Hill, Zellerbach, or Gordon. Is one of them particularly more fiscally conservative(balanced budget is more important than cutting taxes or raising spending) than the other two?

[Goldwater]

Going with Gordon.

[Mr. Smith]

Slay Crime with Slade!

Win with Wilson!

[White Trash]

Slay Crime with Slade!

Win with Wilson!

[Bigby]

I can't decide whether to back Hill, Zellerbach, or Gordon. Is one of them particularly more fiscally conservative(balanced budget is more important than cutting taxes or raising spending) than the other two?

Gordon would probably be most likely to support a most balanced budget. However, the biggest political issues are Hill's health (which is steadily failing) and how rough we need to be against Maroni.

[Bigby]

Aftermath of the Orient War and Operation Fertile Crescent:

After the League of Assassins' involvement in aiding Iraq was discovered, American sentiment in favor of war skyrocketed. The League of Assassin's failed attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 instilled a sense of fear of the shady organization in the hearts and minds of the American people. Though horror stories about what the League does it its victims surfaced, all this did was invigorate the American public further to demand action. Iran was somehow advancing while Syria and Saudi Arabia alternated between losing ground or barely holding ground. Republicans especially feared the idea of an Iranian-ruled Middle East, so this combined with the League prompted a Congressional vote that passed on March 15th, 1995 along with a reluctant signing by President Cuomo to join the war on the side of the Syrian-Saudi Sunni coalition without allying the independently operating Iranians. Upon assuming the Presidency, Schwarzkopf magnified troop numbers, war funding, and carpet bombing in the campaign as Cuomo's involvement was deemed too minimal.

American involvement in the war showed the American military and government just how horrible the League truly was. The League often avoided killing combat personnel on the enemy side... to brainwash and modify them whenever possible. Three men involved in the war, Gothamites known as Slade Wilson, Floyd Lawton, and Johnathan Crane, recounted their time as PoWs. From what they could remember, the League injected them with various drugs, forced them to fight against each other, tortured them for refusing to capitulate and become turncoats, and so on. The League claimed that it intended on turning American soldiers it captured and kept alive into metahuman sleeper agents to use against the United States government. When the three Gotham soldiers broke themselves out and returned back to the military, no signs of alteration were detected in them. However, rumors persist regardless, especially since Wilson, Lawton, and Crane's escape gets painted as a Rambo-like action scene every time it is relayed by someone. The three year war was not easy on the United States military, basically. 15,000 troops died during Operation Fertile Crescent, 6,500 during Cuomo's part and 8,500 during Schwarzkopf's part. 75,000 personnel were wounded. The war was won, but not without cost.

The U.S. government naturally credit for victory, but what ultimately ended Hussein's war effort was the League itself. American involvement did not initially budge the war in Coalition favor quickly, but the Americans restored much of Syrian and Saudi territory. Saddam's troops were beginning to lose morale, and the Iraqi government was going into the red even with Ra's al-Ghul's financing. An impatient al-Ghul began demanding more from Hussein after Christmas of 1996. By autumn of 1997, Ra's al-Ghul announced to the world that the League would be leaving Iraq, would no longer be supporting Hussein, and would be leaving the nation to the mercy of its enemies. Turns out that Ra's began demanding that the Iraqi government, Hussein included, renounce Islam and adopting the League of Assassin's beliefs while forcing the Iraqi people to do the same. Saddam and his cohorts refused to turn their backs on Allah, so al-Ghul turned his back on the Iraqis. League funds dried up, their supply runs ended, and not only did many metahuman soldiers obey withdrawal orders, these League superman even fired onto Iraqi troops during their retreat! Unsurprisingly, Iraq crumbled after the winter. Saddam was captured south of Baghdad in April of 1998, Baghdad was captured by U.S. coalition forces before the Iranians reached it, and the Iraqi government surrendered by June.

A reminder of the problem with peace.

The war was won, but now Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia were each demanding a pound of flesh. All three agreed to free the state of Kuwait back into existence without major dissent, but many voices demanded the annexation of Iraq into the three victors while others demanded puppet states. The various militaries occupied territory that another side coveted, and many Iraqis wanted to remain independent, or even better, to exist in their own newly-created nationstate. U.S. President Schwarzkopf knew he had to tread gently, but decided that more somewhat liberal voices were right in that Iraq 2.0 would become a failed nationstate, so the only option that works beneficially to the region is to simply divide the nation by ethnic and religious lines. Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld was thus put to the task of forming the best possible compromise. Kuwait's reemergence was quickly accepted by Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, and the three nations begrudgingly accepted to release the divided Iraqi nations as non-puppets after talks of who would get which sphere of influence failed to be productive.

And thus the Second Gulf Accord was born. Iraq would be divided by three major factions: Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, and the Kurds. (Pictured Above.) Syria and Iran initially resisted Kurdish independence, but Rumsfeld managed to negotiate with the Kurds that they would renounce any and all claims on Syrian and Iranian territory in return for an independent nationstate. The Sunnis and Shias of Iraq quickly agreed to separating into two different nations, with the Sunnis receiving Anbar and the Shias receiving a rump Iraq. (A new name was considered but Iraq was kept since the League sullied historical names for Iraq via guilt of association.) However, the Anbarians feared that Shiite Iraq would be substantially larger in terms of population with some of the then-proposed border plans. As such, in return for the major cities of Samarra and Fallujah going to Anbar, the capital of Baghdad would remain entirely Iraqi with all Sunni Anbarian claims on the city renounced. Elections were called immediately in the new Iraq after the Sunni-led Hussein dynasty was dissolved while the Kurds set up shop in Mosul and the Sunnis in Ramadi. Thanks to the relative peace in the first few months, the Second Gulf Accord has been praised for its relative success in keeping the new three nations at peace with each other. Some are concerned that Shiite Iraq is too big, and are also concerned that this gesture may give Iran too much leverage, but so far the Shiite Iraqis have preferred independence rather than subordinance to the Ayatollah.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

All choices are awful, Zellerbach seems the least awful though.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Gordon. #I'mWithHer

[Bigby]

Just a reminder that voting ends around 7 PM Eastern today. I'll work as always to get the epilogue and runoff up and posted.

[Bigby]

I will be driving home for the weekend around the time the poll closes, so it will be a few hours after the actual poll closing time before I announce who will be in the runoffs.

[Bigby]

(My parents will be meeting me late, so I can go ahead and post the epilogue for this. Expect the runoff some time between now to Monday, depends on how quickly I finish this advice letter.)

Stalemate!

Unsurprisingly, a four-candidate campaign season ended in a runoff. What surprised everyone, however, was that neither liberal candidate reached the top-two. Well, everyone except those involved in the liberal circle of Gotham. The Court of Owls quickly coalesced around Hill, but the Gotham Gazette eventually sided with Zellerbach. The Gazette, as a result of its newfound alleigence, began to run constant smear attacks based on Hill's failing health. This swiftly crushed Hill's efforts to earn reelection, but the Gazette's actions tainted Zellerbach's campaign. Many voters found her supporter's mocking of Hill's poor health to be in poor taste, particularly because of her own husband's death during the same incident that critically wounded Hill. Conservatives and moderates found themselves disgusted entirely with the commotion on the liberals' side, so they simply stuck with the candidates on the other side. However, Gordon and Wilson also split the non-liberal vote early evenly. Hill's death two days later elevated Zellerbach to Mayor, though she found herself unable to remain Mayor. Her promise to appoint the runoff winner Deputy Mayor and then promptly resign made Gordon and Wilson both more enthusiastic about winning over the other.

The GOP nationally barely slipped, only losing ten seats in the House and three seats in the Senate, giving them a comfortable 250 seat lead in the former and a 54 seat one in the latter. This Republican success during a Republican midterm after a massive Republican overextension back in 1996 was largely left out of the picture in Gotham midterms. Indeed, downballot races were decided on entirely local rather than national issues. Young prosecutor Harvey Dent was elected at the young age of 26 to the position of District Attorney after the incumbent was mired in scandal. Esther Cobblepot found herself victorious in her run for Councilwoman. Six out of eleven Councilmen were now Independents. Election talk basically concerned Arkham Asylum's involvement with ACE Chemicals, how to prevent a second Owl Hunting, and how to stop the Maroni mob family once and for all.

These local issues still heated everyone politically, of course. Sarah Gordon offered Gotham a libertarian future: one of law and order that does everything it can to keep crime down and finally end the Maroni madness, but one that does not sacrifice its constitutional freedoms and common legal sense in the process. Wilson's future is an ardently authoritarian one. These worrisome claims by Gordon, in Wilson's view, are entirely unnecessary. Nothing illegal will obviously be done, according to Wilson, but "tying one hand behind our backs while Maroni walks around with three hands rather than just two is what has gotten us into this mess in the first place." Gordon supports keeping current sentences and ordinances where they are while enforcing the law more efficiently, while Wilson demands an expansion of city laws, harsher sentences, and even curfews and detentions in Maroni-controlled areas of the city if need be. Gordon has held onto to current support, but so has Wilson. The biggest chestpiece on the board, D.A.-Elect Harvey Dent, has remained ostensibly neutral to the woe of both campaigns. The Gotham Gazette has largely ignored the beginning of the runoff and instead is focusing on stories concerning incidents of this elusive figure known as "Scarecrow" that has been harassing random citizens, so pundits from other sources aim to maintain sanity for the runoff.

Metropolis, Delaware on Tuesday, November 10th:

Metropolis PD has investigated reports on a crashed UFO near the Metropolis exburb of Midvale. Around 4:31 AM Tuesday morning, a green glow and a loud thud were seen and heard on the highway between the two cities. Traffic halted while people huddled around the scene once the crash stopped exerting force. Amdist the commotion, at the center, was a woman. This woman was scantily-clad in a purple and black outfit, defying the cold with little issue. That was not the strangest part. The strangest part was the rest of her. Her hair and skin were bright and un-human shades of orange, and what should be the whites in her eyes were a lime green. She spoke freely to bystanders as if she were a regular occurrence to them. When the media arrived, she openly revealed her identity and her purpose.

"Greetings, people of Earth. I am Koriand'r, Princess of Tamaran and political exile. My sister, Komand'r, has usurped my father as monarch and has taken the throne with an iron fist. I do not know the worst of her offenses, but her first action as Queen has been the order to execute every single adult member of our dynasty and my father's administration, myself included. I humbly request asylum for myself and any other Tamaranians who land on my planet. We come in peace and intend no harm. Apart from Komand'r and her insidious cabal, my people are a peaceful people. Please, hear our plea!"

President Schwarzkopf has invited this Koriand'r to D.C. for diplomatic talks after a short investigation by the FBI and CIA into this "Tamaranian." The public at large has not formed an opinion on this new arrival to planet Earth because the initial shock of other sentient life in the universe has naturally hit everyone heavily. Koriand'r has been classified as a metahuman by experts despite not being homo sapiens, though this classification does not seem to offend Koriand'r. Koriand'r has been cooperative so far, and has even agreed to help defend Earth should Komand'r or one of her agents likewise land on Earth. Regardless of what happens, the world will never be the same again, and we are not alone.