The Heir of Godric Gryffindor is... Griffindor (for Delegate)!

Elections Archive
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This is the speech Professor Griffindore was giving when Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley crashed their car into the Whomping Willow…

“Welcome to another Delegate Election within the South Pacific! I am happy to see all of your bright and shining faces here again!” -THUD- “Ahh, that must be Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley arriving! Please allow me to fetch them. Enjoy the election, everyone!” - Professor Griffindore :mage: - from Max Barry’s Chamber of Secrets :magic_wand:

Greetings, fellow South Pacificans!

While Professor Griffindore goes to sort out Mr. Potter’s and Mr. Weasley’s late arrival, I wish to beseech you for a moment to talk about my plans for the upcoming term.

First off, it has been a great pleasure and honor to have been entrusted with the safety and security of the South Pacific these past five months and ten days. The responsibility that I received was taken with the upmost care and respect, and I believe I have done an admiral job thus far and will hopefully get the chance to continue to do so.

Now, onto my campaign…!

I am going to leave my campaign from the last election, as well as my report to the Assembly at the beginning of the year here.

In there, you will find that I did (or continually did) everything within my platform. If you reelect me to a second term, I will continue on the same course and continue with the Agenda of my first term.

A bit of new stuff… I plan to be more involved in OWL by ensuring that the OWL Director/PM have put up a WA thread on each resolution. To that end, I plan on starting with baby steps to reestablish our WA Presence in the region.

That is pretty much the end of my campaign promises! Since it is brief and to the point, I look forward to answering any questions y’all might have!

Don’t forget to eat a slice (or five) of bribery cake! Made fresh this morning!

Conflict of Interest Disclosure:

My forum/Discord name is Griffindor, and my nation name is Ebonhand.
I have been in TSP on and off for just under eleven years.
I was a Local Council member.
I am an Associate Justice on the High Court.
I am a member of the Coral Guard.
I was elected as Minister of Engagement twice.
The nations Griffin, Griffindor13, Ebonhand 2, Ebonhand 3, Ebonhand 4, and Ebonhand 5 are/were under my control.

Other regions:
I was a citizen of Balder from 2018-2020 and was the Lawspeaker/Talman of the Storting/Odelsting (their Chair of their Assembly).

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imo, you’ve done very well as Delegate. You’ve really thrived in the role, which I think suits your strengths in general. You’re active and attentive, cautious with how you use your influence but not to the point of never acting, and you check all the boxes on ensuring you perform your core job functions.

I’ll copy this bit from what I said on the RMB in response to your “rate me as Delegate” poll:

I think the Delegates, in my memory, who rated higher also perhaps made the Delegacy too technical and elusive. I don’t mean this in a condescending way, but Griffindor has laid a pretty reasonable and sustainable template for the next Delegate to follow. Perhaps the first good Delegate we’ve had in a while who I’d also classify as being a mere mortal, rather than a graphics and/or coding savant, and also incredibly successful as Delegate.

We’re still waiting to see who declares. It’s certainly not impossible that I’d vote for someone else for Delegate, but I’d also be happy if we had another term of Griffindor.

Regarding something from your campaign:

I think it’s safe to say that OWL has been a hot mess for quite a while. It’s had bright periods, it’s also had OK periods (I think portions of Em’s term and a half were pretty OK, although not perfect). I wasn’t around when we passed the World Assembly Act, but I know that several people were like “why do we need an OWL Director – we have a Delegate” when it was passed. In the context of the region at the time, that argument didn’t hold water, in part because there was energy and momentum around an RMB-focused OWL. But the culture of the region has changed and I do wonder if perhaps what we need has changed significantly over time. Perhaps, now it would be OK moving WA as a portfolio to the Delegate? (After all, I think one of our more successful OWL Directors in recent history was anjo, who was also Delegate.)

I’m not committed to the idea, but I’m throwing it out there to marinate, since this line of your campaign screams like the diplomatic version of “I, as Delegate, am powerless to fix OWL, despite the WA being core to my job”.

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I really appreciate you saying that! It means a lot that you (of all people) would say that especially given the cautious optimism you expressed in a Griff Delegacy six months ago.

:wink:
In all seriousness, I think the region and its relationship to its Delegate’s legal powers is much more open to allowing them more control over WA Matters. I think a reform of the World Assembly Act (and that of the OWL Director) could be of use this next term.

I am happy to respond to more questions and comments!

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As a new citizen, I have a few questions.

Question 1: Endo Count

With reference to previous statements on endo count ([1][2]): what do you think can be improved when it comes to boosting endo count? You mentioned in [1] that the previous delegate had ~630 endorsements, and your current endo count is at 606. Granted, much of this decay is because of cyclical factors regarding the playerbase, and user retention isn’t exactly the mandate of the Delegate, but I’m sure you have a sense of what we can improve on as a region, closing in on one year after the Frontier/Stronghold update.

Question 2: Outreach

I’m sure your telegrams have been warmly received by the residents of tSP, and has certainly helped bridge the gap between the forum-side government and the game-side player base. Do you think that it makes sense to expand on this outreach effort? That is, since you maintain a copy of every telegram you have sent as Delegate[3], would it make sense to promote them via other channels as well, with the aim of foreign outreach? I am thinking specifically of two things:

  1. a concerted effort to mass-upvote the Delegate’s telegram to appear at the front of the Dispatches page on NS[4];
  2. sharing this via the usual diplomatic channels (NSGP forum, forums of our allies and other regions).

Question 3: WA

As a WA resident of tSP, I think much can be done to reform the way that the OWL currently functions, especially in terms of engagement with tSP WA nations outside of our own forums/discord. I think this aligns very much with your stated aim of reestablishing our WA presence in the region. Besides ensuring that a thread for each resolution is posted by the PM/OWL director, what other reforms do you have in mind?

Question 3.14: Freedom of Dessert

While I understand that the Delegate is an avowed Cakeist, does he support the freedom to choose one’s own preferred dessert?

[1] Better be... Gryffindor! (For Delegate)
[2] [2401.AP] Activities of the Delegate - #2 by Griffindor
[3] NationStates | Dispatch | Record of Mass Telegrams Sent by Ebonhand/Griffindor to the Region At-Large
[4] NationStates | Dispatches

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Certainly not. I am using the majority of my powers to prevent a purge of those not aligned with his disastrously frosted dessert.

I will have some questions later on.

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Up until about a third to halfway through my term, the endo slide from F/S was still largely going on, but has now since subsided. In terms of raw endorsements, I do not think TSP will likely ever get back to the record-high endorsement levels we experienced in the early days of my predecessor, barring a Tik Tok like wave of users.

I think the more important metric to follow is the % of WA nations endorsing the Delegate, which has consistently been in the 78-79% range since I entered office. As a feeder region, many of our nations in-region are puppets, alts, or other non-primary nations and would be unlikely to get much in the way of new WA members out of it unless someone was willing to individually TG those nations, which would be more labor intensive than it is probably worth.

My goal on the endo front is to keep them stable and perhaps aim for a 5-10% increase in the coming six months.

My focus is on the internal security and activity of the region whereas the PM’s mandate covers pretty much everything beyond our borders. I think it would be useful if the (next) PM expressed an interest in outreach and broadcasting the goings-on of the region to other regions. Further, I would be willing to use my ceremonial duties to be a figurehead for the region abroad (sort of like the State Opening of Parliament I did with the Empire of Great Britain) at the direction of the PM.

I am not one to use the NSGP forums, nor do I have a particular desire to be on them, but if someone tells me where and what to post, then I suppose that could be considered.

The main idea at the moment is simply to get nations within the region talking about the WA. At first, it would be debating on the proposals already in the queue or a vote. As interest develops, it would hopefully evolve into drafting proposals and getting them to vote. I imagine this could be done in conjunction with our PfS peeps.

Yes, you are free to have as much cake as you like! And any type of cake that you like! Cookie Cake, chocolate cake, vanilla cake, marble cake, tres leches cake, vanilla bean cake, lemon cake, the possibilities are endless!

Can confirm. Every morning I submit a list of nations I would like to ban to the PM. Then they have the audacity to tell me that not liking cake is not a banjection worthy offense.

Bring it on.

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As I’m sure you are well aware by now, I’m always on the lookout for the next worthwhile legislative project! This one certainly seems to fit that bill. I’m curious if you might expand on your suggestion regarding giving the Delegate more control over WA matters. Do you mean that in an administrative or substantive sense? In other words, are you suggesting that the Delegate could simply take over responsibility for the OWL Director’s duties, e.g., setting up polls, discussing WA resolutions with the region, etc.? Or do you envision the Delegate having greater independence in deciding how they actually cast their vote on WA matters? To be frank, I find parts of the WA Act rather difficult to follow, but I gather that right now the Delegate has very limited independent authority to decide how their vote is cast. Do you think that should change?

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I envision a greater degree of independence for the Delegate to conduct WA-related work.

As it stands now, the Delegate must go to the PM/OWL for direction on every vote. I would rather see (and be open to) the Delegate being allowed to vote any such way they please on WA resolutions, subject to override by the PM.

I’d rather not have the Delegate performing the administrative work for two reasons:

  1. I’d rather not have to do it if I don’t have to.
  2. It puts another person (presumably the OWL Director or similar person) in the regional WA process, so it isn’t just one person doing work on the WA.

The second reason is most important since there would be, at the very least, the Delegate, PM, and OWL Director (and any other interested people) discussing. Ironically, it sounds very similar to the current system. However, I think shifting the primary choice to the Delegate will provide a greater incentive to keep them engaged in the process.

Same! Across my decade in NS, I never found the WA Resolution process to be particularly fun or meaningful (particularly GA). However, that has changed over the course of my term, and while I haven’t engaged with them, I think if I had a mandate to do so, I would be more inclined to do it.

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…but OWL must go to voters in the region on every vote? Seems like what you’re actually proposing is just to take away the current right of South Pacificans to vote on how our regional WA power should be used.

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Let it be so.

I appreciate your keeping up the every-two-weeks telegram scheme, and referencing a number of events that occur within the Coalition in that time frame. It’s certainly the most visible aspect of not just your Delegacy, but any, and I hope to see it continue.

That said, the most recent telegram you sent out only covered events on the IC political side of the house. Nothing from our Roleplay canons, or the SPSF, or any particularly noteworthy conversations/messages on the RMB. Will you seek to draw input from then to help showcase notable happenings across all sides of the community?

What baby steps are you going to start with?
What comes after baby steps, since the term is 6 months and that’s enough time to get something going, if there’s enough gas in the tank or will to keep driving?

What does “WA Presence” look like, to you? That is, what’s the end goal that you’re aiming to accomplish by the end of the term?

What steps do you intend to take to achieve this goal? This is, ultimately, some degree of overlap with the Prime Minister’s constitutional requirement to integrate new members into the community, but where should the line be?

For me, it’s far more valuable to present the Delegate as an apolitical head of state in foreign dealings, and I would caution against being used as a tool to help further the Coalition’s foreign policy.

Absolutely not.

I understand the failings of OWL and the lack of voting threads for all resolutions, but the solution is not to remove the ability of the region to directly vote on how they would like our 600+ endorsement vote to go, or to give the PM an “override” on the actions of the Delegate when it comes to SC votes. An early stomp against a liberation/injunction could easily land us in diplomatic hot water with the majority of our allies for no other reason than the whims of someone not involved in FA in any other capacity.

There’s definitely room for a discussion on how we handle the WA vote, and I hope to see you take point to at least offer a Delegate’s perspective, but this is an area where I have to break with you.

Changing the mandate will change it for your successor, too, and their perspective ought to be considered in some capacity. Not suggesting that the Delegate should or shouldn’t be more involved in the WA process, but they’re already juggling quite a few things.

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In all honesty, I have that area of the forums muted, so I already do not see what they are up to. Further, since I don’t keep up with them, it is hard to gauge what is important enough to mention vs simply what was posted within their area. If the Roleplay Moderators find merit in it, they could provide me a “here is what happened in roleplay” update for me to digest.

I have included SPSF updates in past Fortnightly Telegrams, and its exclusion from the end-of-the-year TG was an oversight on my part. I will ensure that any posted SPSF updates are contained in a Fortnightly Telegram.

The RMB is frankly too active and frequent, with conversation switching to boil it down to a single item on the Fortnightly Telegram. Further, often the most notable things that happen is a new nation engaging in griefing and spam and having the community take the bait. :stuck_out_tongue: I doubt we want to broadcast that to the region.

Baby steps include getting nations to debate the merits of existing proposals and providing direction on OWL votes. Essentially, getting nations to engage with the existing #wa-updates area. This step will take a large amount of time to get buy-in and people to do, and once sufficient numbers of people are engaging, we can move to actually building proposals.

WA Presence, to me, looks like the Delegate always being among the first to vote (to shape the narrative in the region’s interest) and having several nations within the region that can adequately debate and draft legislation. I can likely have the first half done by the end of the term, with proper autonomy and permissions worked out, but the second part is contingent upon nation buy-in and willingness to engage in the process.

Just doing what I did netted a ~5% increase in my WA endos, so doing that some more will obviously be a part of that. Going further, my first term did not have a single endorsement challenge. I aim to have at least a few over the next term. Growing the regional endorsement counts is also important and fuels the WA presence described above. The coordination with the PM will be organizing rewards for winners of the challenges, as well as potentially identifying talent to bring on-site.

Noted.

I look forward to having that discussion in the Assembly :stuck_out_tongue:

Preemptive overrides are also a thing. The PM, assuming they are communicating with allies, would know a major proposal is about to go to vote and would inform the Delegate in advance with their override and their instruction on how to handle the vote.

True enough :stuck_out_tongue:

Don’t think I didn’t forget about you…!

This is true on paper, but in reality, <10 (which ten is generous), nations vote at any given time on resolutions. The idea behind this would be in conjunction with the rebuilding of the WA presence I spoke of earlier. I would never envision disenfranchising my fellow citizens. Any changes done would have that consideration taken into account.

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No, you are literally envisioning it. WA and SPSF members can currently vote on how they feel our Delegate should vote. You proposed a system of allowing the Delegate to vote “any such way they please.” That’s literally taking that right to vote away.

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The words as typed do not match my intentions for the position to end up disenfranchising citizens. It is unfortunate that my intentions were not made more clear. That is my fault.

However, I hardly call a handful of people voting representative of the region. There have been several times when I go to check the vote before casting my WA vote… only to find that no one voted, and I could technically unilaterally decide how to vote (as a voting citizen of the region) but don’t in favor of either waiting for the region as a whole to provide their vote preference or seeking direction directly from the PM.

To make my position on this clearer… I would still seek the debate and voices of those interested in the proposal (in line with my baby steps ideas). However, in the absence of their discussion/vote and/or PM direction, I would hope that the region could trust their Delegate to cast the vote in a way that is best for the region.

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