Hamilton for Lieutenant Governor of the Pacific

[Alcon]

I was promised an extensive post addressing the former Lt. Governor/ax-murderer.

ANTI-ENDORSED!

[Alcon]

I am announcing my campaign for re-election to Lt. Governor of the Pacific.  If elected, I will abolish the office of Lt. Governor and replace it with this novelty mailbox:



I plan to paint "Lt. Governor" on the side of the mailbox, if I have time.  I also feel that the mailbox will play a significant role in the Pacific Region's national defense.  It scares even me a little, and I mean, I'm an axe murderer.  This says something.

Thank you for your votes.

[Alcon]

Since you've decided to completely lack a sense of humor, I'm going to take this as an opportunity to challenge you publicly to a friendly debate.  If I am satisfied, you will receive my endorsement and I will withdraw from the race.

Otherwise, I will run a campaign under the promise that I will abolish the office of Pacific Lt. Governor upon election, as it is completely and totally useless.

The debate will be held at the aforementioned mailbox.

[Alcon]

Since you've decided to completely lack a sense of humor, I'm going to take this as an opportunity to challenge you publicly to a friendly debate.  If I am satisfied, you will receive my endorsement and I will withdraw from the race.

Otherwise, I will run a campaign under the promise that I will abolish the office of Pacific Lt. Governor upon election, as it is completely and totally useless.

I am open to a debate. What will the subject be?

I want to hear a justification for the practical utility of the office of Pacific Lt. Governor.  The office has been an effective redundancy for years.  The only associated duties have been maintaining elections when the Governor is away, something that I've done despite paying no attention whatsoever, and then accepting the office of Governor, which never happens.

In all honesty, if I were an independent observer, I would vote for "myself" for one reason, here:  I have means of active communication with the incumbent Governor, and that is helpful when coordinating elections when he's unavailable.  That's currently the only real reason for the office to exist, and not be replaced by an Elections Director or some such thing.

I would love to hear about your specific ideas for expanding the scope of the office and, if I think they're interesting and not purely superficial, I will endorse you enthusiastically.  But I do wonder, if that's your focus, why you have never introduced legislation through the Pacific Legislature?

[Alcon]

But my question is why you have never introduced such legislation through the legislature...which is what you would have to do as Lt. Governor anyway.  You can't just appoint yourself these abilities.

I don't think there's anything legislatively that's stopping you from doing notifications.

[Alcon]

Here's the problem with your rationale, though.  You state that you're waiting to push form until after you're elected because, apparently, the legislature is inactive.  You also claim you're going to revitalize the legislature upon election.  But becoming Lt. Governor is going to give you no powers to revitalize the legislature than do not already exist, because of the impotence of the Lt. Governor as it stands.  Do you understand what I mean?  Being elected Lt. Governor is completely irrelevant to any of the reforms you're advancing, and you could have advanced them long before your election.

Getting elected Lt. Governor is not going to give you any additional support on your propositions, and introducing them now is not going to lessen their chance of success.  Let's not kid ourselves.

Look, you don't need to run against me, here.  I've never claimed to be anything but a stand-in for incumbent Governors when needed.  I have absolutely no issue with an expanded role for the office, especially if it's actually substantiative.  But you need to provide me with an idea of what that means.  Otherwise, I'm going to ask myself "is this worth having a Lt. Governor who will have less ability to smoothly and promptly communicate with the incumbent Governor?", and the answer will be "not really."  And cost-benefits will dictate that you won't, consequently, have my vote.

If you provide substance to validate your campaign on that very basic level, I'll happily vote for you, endorse you, and stop "spamming" your campaign thread. 

[Alcon]

I want to know why you assume I will be unable to smoothly communicate with the incumbent Governor. And cost-benefits, I believe, will point you towards myself. I do not believe we should allow Ebowed to put his GM skills to use in the Governorship should that situation ever arise.

I don't believe I said that you'd be unable to smoothly communicate, just less so than with me, although I suppose that point would be moot when the Governor changes.

I'm glad you've actually provided a specific proposal now, even if it doesn't actually have much to do with the Lt. Governor's office at all.  I'll vote for you on the presumption that you will find a use for the Lt. Governor's office beyond a title.  If you don't, I will be openly disappointed.  I do think you seem genuine.

However, I really wish you wouldn't pretend to have specific reform ideas that you don't seem to   We're a culturally casual kind of region and we don't take none of that.

[Alcon]

I would be a little less on the cusp of being let down if I had some idea of what the legislation you were proposing was, before casting my ballot.  What kind of legislation are you in the process of writing?  I would like to get the ball rolling on this.

Edit: Not intending to be pissy, I'm sleep-deprived, but my question still stands...