Northeast Assembly Thread

[Cincinnatus]

Seems like an interesting idea.  I'll have to read it again when I'm awake

[Free Palestine]

Is the gentleman from Maine offering amendments to the proposed Constitution?

Why yes.  Yes I am. 

[Lincoln Republican]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article II: The Executive

6.  A Governor may be impeached at any time while he or she is in office by the will of two thirds of the Legislative Assembly of the Northeast Region. Impeachment proceedings shall begin when a motion to impeach offered by a Representative is seconded by another Representative, excluding the Representative serving as Lieutenant Governor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Governor, or any other government officer, can only be impeached for just cause, i.e. the commission of an impeachable offence.  Article II, Section 2 makes no provision for impeachment for just cause. 

It is imperative that it be written into the constitution in Article II, Section 2 to cover impeachment of the Governor for just cause for the commission of an impeachable offence.

The Assembly cannot simply decide to impeach the Governor for no reason.

Therefore, I present the above as an amendment to this proposed constitution.

Normally, for a Governor to be impeached, it would only follow a trial wherein the Governor was found to be guilty of an impeachable offence.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I concur with the Governor's proposed amendment. If he will propose an exact text therefor I will officially introduce it.

[Lincoln Republican]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article II: The Legislature

12. The Lieutenant Governor of the Northeast Region shall be the Representative receiving the most votes in the most recent general election. He or she officially opens and closes the legislative sessions of the Northeast Legislative Assembly and shall ascend to the Governorship if that office becomes vacant for any reason. If the Governor is temporarily absent (no more than ten days), the Lieutenant Governor may exercise the powers of Governor, excluding the ability to sign or veto legislation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have a problem with the Lieutenant Governor being the Representative receiving the most votes in the election.  What if the Representative receiving the most votes does not want to become Lieutenant Governor, but wants to be a Representative so he or she can debate and vote on legislation in the Assembly?  

I find the way Article II Section 12 is written to be too restrictive.  It assigns an office to someone who may not want that office.

Personally, I would prefer the Lieutenant Governor to be elected from candidates running for Lieutenant Governor, and in the event no candidates seek this office, that the new Representatives in the Assembly choose the new Lieutenant Governor from amongst themselves.

Therefore, I propose the above amendment to Article II Section 12.

[Lincoln Republican]

I concur with the Governor's proposed amendment. If he will propose an exact text therefor I will officially introduce it.

Thank you Representative Nathan. 

Article II: The Executive

6.  A Governor may be impeached at any time while he or she is in office by the will of two thirds of the Legislative Assembly of the Northeast Region following having been found guilty of an impeachable offence.  Impeachment proceedings shall begin when a motion to impeach offered by a Representative is seconded by another Representative, excluding the Representative serving as Lieutenant Governor.

Not part of the amendment:  That is assuming of course that a Representative is serving as the Lieutenant Governor.  If the office of Lieutenant Governor is elected as Lieutenant Governor in the election, then "excluding the Representative serving as Lieutenant Governor" will no longer part of Article II Section 6.

[Lincoln Republican]

Article I: The Region

The administrative center for the government of the Northeast Region established in this Constitution shall be Hartford, Connecticut.

I have no problem with the new capital of the Northeast Region being established in Hartford.  It is close to home.  

(Some humor from the Governor)

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I hereby move that we amend Article II, Section 6 to read as follows.

A Governor may be impeached at any time while he or she is in office by the will of two thirds of the Legislative Assembly of the Northeast Region following having been found guilty of an impeachable offence.  Impeachment proceedings shall begin when a motion to impeach offered by a Representative is seconded by another Representative, excluding the Representative serving as Lieutenant Governor.

[Free Palestine]

These proposals obviously conflict with mine.  I thank the governor and the fellow from (Massachusetts?) for their input.

[Cincinnatus]

What can we agree on as an amendment?  4 members with Lt. Gov, 5 members without, 3 members (w/ or w/o ?).  Either way I'll introduce an amendment because I don't like having 5 members and a Lt. Gov.  Nor do I like having the Lt. Gov be the member with the most votes. 

Sorry Napoleon.  I know I've made my opinion aware on this point, but I never really posted in your thread about this before introduction. 

For the record, I will be supporting Morgans amendment to keep the Capital in NY, but will likely not support his other amendment.

[Free Palestine]

What can we agree on as an amendment?  4 members with Lt. Gov, 5 members without, 3 members (w/ or w/o ?).  Either way I'll introduce an amendment because I don't like having 5 members and a Lt. Gov.  Nor do I like having the Lt. Gov be the member with the most votes. 

Sorry Napoleon.  I know I've made my opinion aware on this point, but I never really posted in your thread about this before introduction. 

For the record, I will be supporting Morgans amendment to keep the Capital in NY, but will likely not support his other amendment.

The amendment would replace the current executive -- governor and lieutenant governor.

[homelycooking]

I also don't want the Lieutenant Governor's position to be contingent upon an irrelevant statistic. As I've said, I would prefer three representatives with no Lieutenant Governor. I don't really see how the office could be made useful at this point, and I'd like to see it abolished regardless of how many members the Assembly has.

As a compromise, perhaps it would be acceptable to name, for example, Hartford the region's executive capitol, New York the legislative capitol and Philadelphia the judicial capitol.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I can't support this amendment because you've misspelled "capitol" and eliminated PA and DE from the region!

As to your other amendment, FallenMorgan, I am wary of melding the Assembly and the office of the Governor. That said, you brought up an important point. It may be useful to permit citizen referenda on Assembly legislation. If we are going to decrease the Assembly's size, we should be sure to increase citizens' participation in lawmaking.

[Free Palestine]

I can't support this amendment because you've misspelled "capitol" and eliminated PA and DE from the region!

Oh yeah, I forgot about them.  *embarrassed*

As to your concerns, there is still an independent judiciary to serve as a check on the Consulate.  Plus, the three Consuls in a way might serve as a check against one another.  And then of course, there's the people.

I just thought it would be an interesting answer to the problem of a limited number of elected officials.

[Lincoln Republican]

For the record, I have no problem with 5 Representatives.

The Assembly needs to have debate and input, and I believe 5 active Representatives could provide the necessary diversity of viewpoints and debate for legislation to be considered from a variety of individuals.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I would ideally like 4 Representatives and a Lieutenant Governor, but would be content with 5 and no Lieutenant Governor.

Also, Mr Speaker: 'capital' is the correct spelling for the city that serves as a country's seat of government (derived from Latin capus, head); 'capitol' is the correct spelling for the building or complex that provides the primary public space used for the activities of said government (derived from the name of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, which doesn't have the same etymology). I apologize if this correction is deemed desultory, but the Senator's original usage is correct.

[Free Palestine]

We should have an odd number of members in the legislature.  It would prevent votes from potentially being ties all the time.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

In that case I would support five, with no Lieutenant Governor.

[homelycooking]

Also, Mr Speaker: 'capital' is the correct spelling for the city that serves as a country's seat of government (derived from Latin capus, head); 'capitol' is the correct spelling for the building or complex that provides the primary public space used for the activities of said government (derived from the name of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, which doesn't have the same etymology). I apologize if this correction is deemed desultory, but the Senator's original usage is correct.

Not in the slightest. The Speaker stands corrected (thanks for the etymology, by the way).

In that case I would support five, with no Lieutenant Governor.

That's a fair solution.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I would prefer to keep the number of Representatives as is.

[homelycooking]

Time for debate has expired. The following amendments will now come to a vote:

FallenMorgan's first amendment:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

FallenMorgan's second amendment:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Nathan's amendment to Article II, sec. 6:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Members will vote aye or nay on each amendment. This vote will last 24 hours.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

1. Nay
2. Nay
3. Aye

[Cincinnatus]

Nay
Nay
Aye

[homelycooking]

1. Nay
2. Nay
3. Aye

[Free Palestine]

Aye
Aye
Aye

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Nay
Nay
Aye