ProfessorHenn for Delegate

[ProfessorHenn]

Welcome back, everyone. Glad to see you all. I’ll keep this short, sweet, and hopefully to the point.

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@The Charter of the Coalition of the South Pacific; Article VI. The Delegate

(1) The Delegate will be the head of state of the Coalition. They will be responsible for helping maintain the security of the region, promoting growth and activity, and serving as an advisor to the forum-side government. […]

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Head of State

The Delegate’s primary role is that of our head of state. They do not hold executive powers within the Cabinet, nor do they take part in decision-making or the execution of many events we normally entrust to the Cabinet. Serving in this position is a true definition of service, as many actions taken are taken at the behest of others. I do not intend to blur lines here. Execution of my duties at the request of others is always the priority, over my own desires.

To that end, the head of state is still representative of the region they hail from, at home and abroad. I would strongly encourage the next two administrations to make greater use of the seat in internal and external affairs, and seek to work with them on more finely tuning more gameside-focused materials (WFE, dispatches, regional TGs) and working with the Cabinet on future Endorsement Days and other regional events.

Regional Security

Coral Guard is in a rough spot. Down to 6 members, from double digits in the not so distant past. We’ve reformed the requirements, and now it comes time for a push of active, trusted, higher-endorsement nations to rejoin the CG and help rebuild the cadre of high-influence nations. I would seek the CRS’s support in this endeavor, publicly.

Otherwise, we continue Endorsement Days, we continue educating folks on the newer endorsement cap so folks can endotart to higher levels, and we keep up a general press on endorsing.

Growth and Activity

Recruitment has started, and that can be upped. SPROUT can and should make a comeback this year, and the welcome telegram tuned so they all cover the same bases. I intend to continue pushing for updates on SWAN and on dispatches, and working with the next two administrations to more clearly define the boundaries of the Delegate’s activities in Delegate-Cabinet cooperation.

Advisor

The Prime Minister is always welcome to ask me for advice, but I would encourage them to ask others who are not in such a politically-independent position and who can help offer a broad variety of opinions. Collective decision-making is a strenuous and sometimes difficult process, but necessary and incredibly useful for NationStates’ Oldest Democracy. It has to be our strongest suit.

Down with cake. Ice Cream shall stand superior in the island chains that are the South Pacific!

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Conflict of Interest

Member, Citizen, Legislator, Councilor on Regional Security, Prime Minister of the Coalition of the South Pacific
Former Minister of Culture, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister, Prime Minister of the South Pacific
Crown Prince of Selene

[Silva]

1. Do you plan to continue with the fortnightly Telegrams or something similar?
2. In my opinion, it is important that the Delegate is present in the different areas of the game (RMB, Forums and Discord), will you make an effort to be more present in RMB?
3. Ice cream? Yikes…

[The_Weirdo]

@ProfessorHenn

To that end, the head of state is still representative of the region they hail from, at home and abroad. I would strongly encourage the next two administrations to make greater use of the seat in internal and external affairs, and seek to work with them on more finely tuning more gameside-focused materials (WFE, dispatches, regional TGs) and working with the Cabinet on future Endorsement Days and other regional events.

Sometimes it’s not just about events and dispatches sometimes you just have to talk with the rmbers as the game side community is their and active you need to be active their for people to recognize you and be more down the earth with them

@ProfessorHenn

Growth and Activity

Will you help out new comers if they come to you directly for questions

@ProfessorHenn

Down with cake. Ice Cream shall stand superior in the island chains that are the South Pacific!

In my opinion we need a moderate to ease tensions.
while ice cream isn’t more mainstream then cake and pie, it can work with Cakists due to the existence of ice cream cake, however pie has no such mix of the desserts which will lead to resistance from them.

[lordnwahs]

Ice cream sounds good. I’ll ask questions at a later date.

[Griffindor]

I had a feeling you’d be running! It’s good to get some friendly competition!

@ProfessorHenn

Coral Guard is in a rough spot. Down to 6 members, from double digits in the not so distant past.

I would not say the Coral Guard is in a rough spot, and we only had 10 Coral Guard members for roughly a week between the time you joined and the time Poppy resigned.
Naming Coral Guard members is also the sole duty of the CRS, and the Delegate has no role in that process. Additionally, despite having plenty of 300+ endo nations to offer membership, no new members have joined (I don’t consider old members rejoining to be new members) due to the CRS either not soliciting for members or accepting applications that may have been received. Is increasing Coral Guard membership and endorsements, not something you can currently do as a member of the CRS? What will being the Delegate achieve that a CRS member would not?

While we are on the topic of endorsements, the gap between you and the Delegacy is currently ~160 endos. From your time in the Coral Guard, I know firsthand that you had a difficult time from the time you joined to the time you resigned, getting your endorsement levels to the level of the next lowest Coral Guard member. This also had the unfortunate effect of stunting the growth of the endorsement cap in the region for quite a long time.

Are you confident that you will be able to 1) get your endorsements high enough quickly enough so a potential transition is not lengthened unnecessarily? Additionally, will you be able to aggressively maintain (and even work on growing) your endorsement levels should you become the Delegate?

@ProfessorHenn

working with the next two administrations to more clearly define the boundaries of the Delegate’s activities in Delegate-Cabinet cooperation.

I think this would have been beneficial during my time in office, given that you were the Prime Minister for over half (almost 2/3rds) of my Delegacy. Is there a reason you feel this is necessary? We have had this government form for almost nine years and have not had problems with the division between the head of state and the head of government.

@ProfessorHenn

Down with cake. Ice Cream shall stand superior in the island chains that are the South Pacific!

“Ewww! Momma look! A non-cake supporter!”

“Look away, baby!!!”

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Some other questions:

1. Echoing Silva, you have not been the most active gameside historically; should you be elected, how will you ensure that you are the active face of the region to not just our own regional nations but also to other regions who might look at an active Delegate as a sign of a healthy region?

2. Echoing Silva again, will you continue with the Fortnightly Telegrams or something similar? You announced a few months ago that you would send out a Prime Minister’s version of my fortnightly telegrams on executive branch happenings on the weeks I didn’t. To my knowledge, only one issue came out before I resumed reporting because no further issues came out. Will you be able to remain consistent in keeping the region up-to-date on all off-site regional happenings?

3. Echoing Silva again (I guess they are my alt ), will you pinky promise not to persecute Cake lovers (and also continue Anjo and my policies of persecuting pie lovers) should you secure election? Remember, a pinky promise is unbreakable!

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Thank you for your time and I look forward to your answers!

[ProfessorHenn]

@Silva

Do you plan to continue with the fortnightly Telegrams or something similar?

@Griffindor

Echoing Silva again, will you continue with the Fortnightly Telegrams or something similar?

Yes, although I would not keep the drafting process restricted to one person, instead seeking to regularly bring the PM and Chair in to discuss TG contents and do some fact-checking. Their areas of the community are the two biggest and most fluid, and deserve including them in the process on a regular basis.

@Silva

will you make an effort to be more present in RMB?

Yes.

@The_Weirdo

the game side community

The South Pacific is one community, and the RMB is one part of it. Indeed, I will make more efforts to be present there.

@The_Weirdo

Will you help out new comers if they come to you directly for questions

Of course, any and every time. I haven’t usually gotten many questions, mostly because I’m a little harder to find than the guy at the top of the regional page, but my ultimate goal is the success of this community and that includes a good onboarding for new folks.

@The_Weirdo

however pie has no such mix of the desserts which will lead to resistance from them.

There is. Ice cream is also traditionally the moderate path, being a more recent addition to the dessert wars here in the Coalition. My dream is one of equality and prosperity for all, no matter their dessert preference.

@Griffindor

I would not say the Coral Guard is in a rough spot

TNP has 10 members in their Security Council, and TEP has 14 members in their Praesidium. All three of us are democracies, and we can and should afford a larger pool of high influence nations to shore up regional security against potentially bad actors. The consequence of not doing that is severe.

@Griffindor

Naming Coral Guard members is also the sole duty of the CRS

Anyone can submit an application to be on the Coral Guard to the CRS. I see no reason why the Delegate could not encourage long-term, higher-endorsement nations that we know to be trusted and loyal to make an application.

@Griffindor

not something you can currently do as a member of the CRS?

This campaign has nothing to do with my status as a member of the CRS.

@Griffindor

the gap between you and the Delegacy is currently ~160 endos

Within the margin for running for Delegate under the old system, and resolvable with endotarting. The Coral Guard was not my main priority, given I was variously Prime Minister or Minister of Foreign Affairs simultaneously, but being the Delegate has no other large time sinks that would prevent me from endotarting.

@Griffindor

I think this would have been beneficial during my time in office, given that you were the Prime Minister for over half (almost 2/3rds) of my Delegacy. Is there a reason you feel this is necessary?

We did go through it, over your attempt to have the Delegate take the lead on WA votes in the event OWL did not issue a recommendation. I bring this up again because this campaign includes a greater advocacy for the Delegate’s involvement in integration and engagement affairs, which I would not want to engage in long term without setting those boundaries.

@Griffindor

how will you ensure that you are the active face of the region to not just our own regional nations but also to other regions who might look at an active Delegate as a sign of a healthy region?

Focusing on RMB activity for the sole sake of appearances is not the best use of time. Regions (and nations, which is what I assume you meant.) that look to the Delegate and nobody else for activity on the RMB is missing the wider context that our RMB is one of the most active in the game, that we have a forum and Discord that also see a lot of activity, and that there’s a little something for everyone in this region.

@Griffindor

my policies of persecuting pie lovers

One of the worse policies we’ve seen. There shall be no persecutions of dessert lovers in my South Pacific. I’m actually firing every prosecutor so future Delegates cannot attempt such a terrible program.

[Of_the_Ages]

@ProfessorHenn

Yes, although I would not keep the drafting process restricted to one person, instead seeking to regularly bring the PM and Chair in to discuss TG contents and do some fact-checking. Their areas of the community are the two biggest and most fluid, and deserve including them in the process on a regular basis.

If a lack of activity on someone else’s end prevents information in the TG from being checked or their input being given in time for release, how do you intend on handling that?

[ProfessorHenn]

@Of_the_Ages

If a lack of activity on someone else’s end prevents information in the TG from being checked or their input being given in time for release, how do you intend on handling that?

Make attempts to get that info, and if they’re just stonewalling/ghosting (intent does not matter), then send it without and add a note that “for more info on this topic, please reach out to @thisguy!”. Continue to make attempts in the future. The vast majority of things in the TGs are going to be around in some way, shape, or form, so it’s not worth dropping altogether or ignoring them long term.

[Welly]

@ProfessorHenn

I would strongly encourage the next two administrations to make greater use of the seat in internal and external affairs

I agree with this in general, but could you make it a bit more tangible? In what specific ways could the Delegacy be made use of in internal and external affairs?

[ProfessorHenn]

@Welly

In what specific ways could the Delegacy be made use of in internal and external affairs?

Internally, we’ve done it before via State of the Coalitions (although their success is a matter of conversation), but the welcome telegram is another venue that should be a matter of collaboration between the Delegate and the Prime Minister. Anything else along these lines (ceremonial beginnings to events/festivals, official communications to the region) would be more use internally, although I recognize this is a relatively minor change from the status quo.

Externally, we’ve also done one item before, which are state visits. We did a state visit over a year ago to Empire of Great Britain to mark the start of the relationship, and haven’t really committed to any since. This is ultimately and exclusively the prerogative of the Prime Minister, and I would not otherwise fault the new administration for not using the Delegate like this, but it could be nice to fulfill the role of “representative of the South Pacific” to other regions as well.