UDL Convention, December '10 (Official business complete.)

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I'd also like to say I have absolutely no problem with Xahar's ideas concerning council members who want to attempt being Chairman, and am fine with 2 month terms and 5 council positions.

I'm happy with this structure - but perhaps taking the symbolic presidency out of it would prevent the party from being too top heavy.

Chairman -

elected by all registered members - 4 month term

Executive Committee - 5 members

elected at convention -

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

IMO Chairman should be elected by all members.

One of the reasons I like the Council system is because it gives the Council a real responsibility, and so it lets Councilmen be involved in the party, so that power is not just confined to one or two people.

Hmmm what if we keep the Presidency, and have the Council decide on that?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I favor keeping the council elected Council officers who decide the Chairman and then have a popular election for President of the party and there should most assuredly be a 2-3 month term limit. Each person can serve 2 consecutive terms before they have to stand down for at least one cycle.

Fine with me

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I agree with this, leave the roles and responsibilities of the council to divide among themselves once they're elected.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I'll be a candidate for a council seat as well as the ceremonial title of President (If you guys don't want me doing anything lol )

Can you do both?

Actually I would think that the President could not serve on the council... I'd prefer that personally.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I would like to address the convention.

Fellow UDLers

This is a moment for the progressive movement in Atlasia.

I did not join this party to oppose one person, nor to oppose the JCP, where many good people remain and I wish nothing but the best to.

We do not need to be rivals, yes, our bases are similar, our views are similar, as are, I believe many of our goals. Where we are in competition, let that competition be open and fair, but where we can work together to forward a progressive agenda in the face of ideological dogma, let us do so without bitterness or suspicion, on either side.

As I said in my press release, while this party is the Union of the Democratic Left, we must be governed by decent pragmatism. If we allow ourselves to get bogged down in fighting ideological battles that the people of Atlasia have little time for, then we will deserve whatever we get from them in return.

In that end, I wish to put myself forward as a candidate for the UDL Council.

- I have experience in Atlasia, and especially experience in the formation of new parties.

- I have shown through my work as Mideast Governor and as a Northeast Representative, the desire to work with whoever wants to make Atlasia better, regardless of political stripe, and that includes differences within this party.

- I pledge to defend progressive values, while reaching out to independent voters, and our friends in the JCP to work together. We are a leftist party, but we are a progressive party, and I will fight for an inclusive party that is interested in a broad church.

- I will, as I have tried to do in the Northeast Assembly, defend the rule of law, and fight the unconstitutional concentration of legal authority in any one branch of government.

I look forward to the future to see what this party will be able to achieve, this momentum must not be lost, and I look forward to being a part of it.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Looks good. I guess I'll endorse you too.

There are 5 council seats, lol

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I would support limiting members of the Council to one-time reelection, and disallowing reelection altogether for President.

Yes. Rotating of responsibility will make sure we won't become a typical Atlasian party of one longtime leader/few eternal leaders.

Plus, internal vitality will benefit as well.

Can you clarify what is meant by this?

If it's one way, that's fine - if it's another, I see a HUGE problem.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Ok that's reasonable, Aye

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Aye

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Red is too predictable (dare I say, old fashioned)... why not... purple?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Red is too predictable (dare I say, old fashioned)... why not... purple?

Why not purple?

We're not royalists.

We're not in 19th Century Europe, so we don't need to keep to colour interpretations.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I'm not afraid of Red, I just think it's done to death.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I feel like we've debated this near to death; none of us will suddenly change our minds. I'd like to see a vote on this. I'd also like to see a vote on expanding the Council to seven, if we may.

Fair point, I second that - lets vote on both.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Rank the following choices for official party color from 1 to 7:

[ 5 ] Red       
[ 2 ] Orange    
[ 3 ] Gold      
[ 4 ] Salmon    
[ 6 ] Fuchsia   
[ 1 ] Purple    
[ 7 ] Blue      

Vote yes or no on the following question:

Shall the party bylaws be amended to replace "five" in Article 6 with "seven"?

[ x ] Yes
[  ] No

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I see Hashie's point here...I would personally prefer an internal party mechanism on running a single-candidate, or two at most - I can see lots of opportunities for tactical voting from opposition parties.

While it might be more 'democratic' to let as many run as possible, I'm not entirely sure of the long-term wisdom of it.

I understand, huggy-lovey, progressive party etc etc.... but in the early stages of a new party, I think there's nothing wrong with showing a unified front and instilling a bit of party discipline.

I'm happy to respect whatever the party wants on this, but I think this election is a good chance to get our national presence established and we can't take the risk of overloading the ballot and having less predictable voting patterns.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I see Hashie's point here...I would personally prefer an internal party mechanism on running a single-candidate, or two at most - I can see lots of opportunities for tactical voting from opposition parties.

While it might be more 'democratic' to let as many run as possible, I'm not entirely sure of the long-term wisdom of it.

I understand, huggy-lovey, progressive party etc etc.... but in the early stages of a new party, I think there's nothing wrong with showing a unified front and instilling a bit of party discipline.

I'm happy to respect whatever the party wants on this, but I think this election is a good chance to get our national presence established and we can't take the risk of overloading the ballot and having less predictable voting patterns.

It's Kalwejt.

But, like I said, this is a way for us to maximize our vote, by appealing to all sections of Atlasia. I certainly wouldn't want us to run too few candidates.

Ok....

I don't see it as a way to maximise votes, the more candidates we have, our vote is spread thinner, it relies on everyone voting in a way that will benefit us, we need as many first and second preferences as we can. We can't guarantee random voting patterns feeding into other candidates.

I would prefer concentrating our vote on two candidates at most...

There are as many negatives here as positives in my view, but as I said, I'll stand by whatever the view of the party is, and I think we should consider putting this to a 24-hour vote.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Motion

1. The UDL shall run two candidates for December 2010 Senate elections.
2. These two candidates shall be determined through Instant Runoff Voting during a Party Primary.
3. Any candidate not taking part to the primary shall not receive any endorsement from the UDL. Any candidate taking part to the primary shall drop out of the race if they aren't among the two frontrunners.
4. The UDL Primary shall be held immediately after the passage of this motion. It shall last for 48 hours.


- My proposed changes in bold, if we're going to do this, way as well do it now.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Executive Council of the Union of the Democratic Left (5 seats open)

Rank the following candidates:

[ 6 ] Sewer
[ 2 ] HappyWarrior
[ 3 ] Kalwejt
[ 4 ] Belgiansocialist
[ 1 ] Polnut
[ 5 ] Hashemite
[ 7 ] Al
[  ] Write-in: __________
[  ] None of the above
President of the Union of the Democratic Left

Rank the following candidates:

[ 1 ] Dr. Cynic
[ 2 ] Purple State
[  ] Write-in: __________
[  ] None of the above

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

i can see where this is going


im not wanted

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I had a really hard time ranking everyone. But there's always the next go round and we have term limits, so you'll get a chance more than likely.

It was a rough ranking exercise I assure you

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Are we doing anything about the Senate candidates, 'cause we don't have much time if we are...

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Are we doing anything about the Senate candidates, 'cause we don't have much time if we are...

30 hours.

Another reason I don't think we should limit our Senate candidate this time around. Lets limit them for the future, and lets limit it at 3.

I agree this time around, let's just let have everyone run, then we can do this EARLY in the next convention, I'll still be arguing for 2.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I know your party is running plenty of candidates, but I would like to ask for whatever support and preferences you guys are willing to give. I have always and will always fight for the progressive, reformist agenda that this party supports. I have in the past worked with many if not most of you in Atlasia, both as fellow members of the JCP and in other capacities. Hopefully the Atlasian left can remain united, if not in party registration, at least in spirit and common aims and goals. Thanks.

I fully support you, and you will have a strong preferences from me.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Um... how long have we been voting on exec council?... seems like a while...

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

The wonderful Quebecois intellect of the party, everyone.

Alright, thanks to Max, we actually know the council now. (Voting is now over.)

Kalwejt,
HappyWarrior,
Sewer Socialist,
Hashemite,
Al.

Due to Xahar's tiebreaking vote, Dr. Cynic is now President of the UDL.

The council should now meet and elect the Party chairman. I'll crate a new thread for them to do their work there.


Also, I'm really really sorry to Polnut. He deserves a position in this party, as he's been one of the most vocal voices moving us along and was with us in the beginning hours. I would implore the new Council to elect Polnut to be chairman of the party.

Thanks, while I'd be happy to serve in whatever way I'm wanted, I'm happy to respect whatever the newly elected council decides.