CoA's been my dream job since literally day 2 of my NationStates existence, and yet I've never had the opportunity to run for it. In fact, it's been memed about both forum-side and on Discord. Now that I'm out of political office (and hopefully for a while), I finally have that chance, and, after lengthy consideration, I decided to throw my hat into the ring this time around.

(Fun fact: In May 2016, I had already prepared a full CoA campaign including prepared answers for frequently asked questions in prior campaigns. This campaign may contain traces of that original ancient campaign that never aired.)

Now, let's get to the blatant liescampaign promises!

A Strong, Active Chair

Whilst being less active now than I was for most of the past two years, I'm still quite active (to a fault). I don't expect to drop out, and I have access to a computer for most hours of the day.

I also believe in an active Chair that takes an active role in shaping and guiding the Assembly. I was a major opponent of the original Legislative Procedure Act in early 2017, and the principal author of the rewrite in late 2017, for that same reason. It’s time for me to put my money where my mouth is.

Moderation

In my opinion, it’s not helpful to moderate with a heavy hand by default, as this will devolve discussions quicker than being lenient. The logic is simple: if moderation powers are used rarely, then they will have much more perceived impact when they are used. I'm also a fan of strong and rigorous debate.

As long as things stay roughly on topic and don't turn into outright OOC name-calling or such, it'll take quite a while before I do something. The need for this is rare in our halls, and when it does happen, I prefer helpfully and neutrally pointing out a few times that the discussion is getting derailed before stepping in. I prefer splitting threads rather than locking them so that legitimate discussion regarding the issue at hand can continue.

Impartiality and Transparency

I can stay impartial if I have to - hopefully my record shows that. To make any determination of mine as transparent as possible, I will ensure that any statement that I make as Chair, and not as legislator, is marked in some fashion - either colored in blue (my original idea in May 2016), or using a format such as that used by the High Court. That way, it’s immediately visible if the statement was written in my capacity as simple legislator or as Chair.

That being said, I'm quite an active legislator, so sometimes Chair-Roavin would have to square off with Legislator-Roavin. To prevent CoIs, I plan to appoint a deputy (ideally, one of the other candidates!) who would act as a sort of Associate Justice to my Chief Justice role, in particular to be the acting Chair if Legislator-Roavin is at it.

Continuing Nakari's Legacy

Nakari did an almost unreasonably excellent job as Chairwoman, and for the most part, I intend to continue in her footsteps. That includes the up-to-date roster, the (brilliant) vote dispatches, timely processing, and other things I'm not thinking of right now because we are too quick to take it for granted when we have an excellent Chair like Nakari.

Conclusion

What excites me about this race is that it's heavy-fought, with many excellent candidates, and enough variety that anybody can vote for somebody they think will be good at the job, rather than having to vote for a "least worst" or "most popular" option. This is how it should be! Regardless of outcome, the assembly will be in good hands.

"Ah, CoA? I think you would make that position your bitch."
— Drugged Monkeys

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What do you believe the role of the Chair of the Assembly should be in driving the Assembly, and how will you fulfil that role?

What do you think is the ideal relationship between the Cabinet and the Assembly?

How will you encourage legislators to stay active in the assembly, and make sure they are aware of new votes?

The pool of people engaged in Assembly discussion has admittedly been pretty small recently. What are your thoughts on this? Do you have plans to widen the pool?

If minimum debate time was over and a motion and second had been made on a draft, are there any reasons you would delay something being brought to vote?

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What do you believe the role of the Chair of the Assembly should be in driving the Assembly, and how will you fulfil that role?

I don't think there is a particular role that the Chair needs to take - the Assembly will be active when it needs to be active, and it's the Chair's job to make sure that runs smoothly.

That being said, I can see the Chair bringing up the odd projects here and there, using their pulpit to help drive those along. I'm thinking bigger, more complicated discussions, select commissions, law reviews, etc., which can all be done just by legislators themselves but can be done more efficiently with the Chair's helping hand.

What do you think is the ideal relationship between the Cabinet and the Assembly?

I think they are two different institutions with different roles, and the ideal relationship is one of mutual respect.

The Cabinet can react significantly faster than the assembly can, and it behooves the legislature to let the Cabinet (elected by Legislators!) do its job without the need to micromanage them, which would only slow them down.

The Legislature, on the other hand, holds the ultimate authority. They can change, add, remove, augment, and enforce all the rules. It just takes the Legislature longer, by design, which is one of the reasons why we have an executive and don't let everything be handled by the Assembly. The Cabinet should be well aware of this, and know that the Assembly is who they are accountable to. The Legislature is slow moving and slow to get moving, but once it rolls, it's also hard to stop.

How will you encourage legislators to stay active in the assembly, and make sure they are aware of new votes?

Basically, by continuing the good work you've done, which was to engage Legislators on all three platforms - the forum (through the vote thread), Discord (through pings in #legislators-lounge), and the NS site itself (through the vote dispatches).

The pool of people engaged in Assembly discussion has admittedly been pretty small recently. What are your thoughts on this? Do you have plans to widen the pool?

We've had several newer players get quite involved in the assembly (Beepee comes to mind immediately). RA already "recruits" for the forum, so the Chair's job is less to bring people here than to keep them in the assembly, by reminding them of votes and making them feel comfortable and involved in the process, and getting everybody (new and old alike) to want to ask all the questios again. This is something we can all work toward, but (as above) the Chair can help things by using their pulpit as appropriate.

If minimum debate time was over and a motion and second had been made on a draft, are there any reasons you would delay something being brought to vote?

Given that I'm the one that wrote the regulation to allow that in the first place - yes! If something isn't quite up to standards yet, or it makes more sense to bring two things to vote simultaneously (think competing bills), or we're waiting on key testimony, or we're currently running a non-binding poll on that or a related subject matter, or .....

Like most of the discretionary powers given to the Chair, it's something that is unlikely to happen often, but it's a very, very useful tool to have for when it's needed. Judicious, responsible, but fearless use of all of these tools should be a hallmark of a strong, active Chair.

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What kind of chair will you use?

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Founder of the Church of the South Pacific [Forum Thread] [Discord], a safe place to discuss spirituality for people of all faiths and none (currently looking for those interested in prayer and/or "home" groups);
And The Silicon Pens [Discord], a writer's group for the South Pacific and beyond!

Yahweo usenneo ir varleo, ihraneo jurlaweo hraseu seu, ir jiweveo arladi.

Salma 145:8

translate

The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
Psalm 145: 8

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What kind of chair will you use?

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In my prepared answers from May 2016, it says this:


I’m a simple guy, so a simple office chair like this one will suffice. <insert office chair picture>


Therefore, my answer is: I’m a simple guy, so a simple office chair like this one will suffice.

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What happened to supposedly being very burned out?

[Image: Lj1SunN.png]
Formerly Banned For Still Unspecified "OOC Toxicity"

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What happened to supposedly being very burned out?

How active have I been the past few weeks?

It's a fair question that's hard to formulate an answer to. I'll try to answer it in a round-about way: First, there's a reason it took me several days to decide whether to run at all or not - I was considering whether I want it, whether I'll have the motivation for it, and if there'd be an impediment given my RL schedule changes starting August.

Second, I wrote the following to a fellow South Pacifican earlier today. Obviously it's hyperbolic, but I think the general gist is clear:


[9:15 PM] Roavin: I'm so glad to be out of Cabinet
[9:16 PM] Roavin: The weight of a year has now turned into an incinerator for potentially givable fucks


Apart from that, I don't have more of an answer. It's a good reason to make one decide to not to vote for me.

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I don't have any questions, but you are assembling that chair correctly.

how am i even still a legislator at this point...?

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Escade probably overlooked this thread by accident for her questions to all the candidates, here are my answers anyway:

Would you continue to use the dispatch system I suggested last term which tags players who haven't voted yet?

If not, would you use a different system to try to get participation?

The system Nakari was using? Yes, as mentioned in OP. I think it's brilliant.

Cormac did indeed start a legislator roster (although I'm not sure how up to date it is now) - how do you feel about maintaining that document

In the forum header is the version that had been maintained by Nakari throughout her tenure. I'd continue maintaining that.

and also how much warning would you give to people before removing them as legislators?

I presume you mean removing for bad behaviour as per LPA 3.4, since that's the only way the CoA can (now) initiate that. Somebody really has to be pushing it to make that happen, really.

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