The South will rise again.

[fhtagn]

I look forward to the drama we will be seeing in the Southern Chamber

[Wisconsin+17]

Thanks everybody! Glad to be back!

Drama? What drama?

[Wisconsin+17]

I am declaring victory. I want to thank everyone who voted for me over the weekend. I'm stunned by the support.

I am looking forward to serving the people of the South once again. This will be my fourth term in the Chamber of Delegates.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Congrats on returning to the CoD!

[thumb21]

Congrats on returning to the CoD!

[Wisconsin+17]

Thank you Tim and thumb on a clean campaign. Look forward to serving with you in the CoD.

[Former Senator Haslam2020]

Congrats on returning to the CoD!

[Wisconsin+17]

Thanks Haslam!

[Wisconsin+17]

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Quoted for posterity.

Anyways, I am going to be on a semi-Leave of absence for the next two weeks, back around the 15th to full activity.

I will still check in everyday and vote on legislation. Constituents and fellow delegates are encouraged to PM my PM box but replies will be delayed.

[OSR STANDS WITH PALESTINE]

The Federalist Party rules

[Wisconsin+17]

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FTFY



Anyways, I'm back now. No, I'm not dead, nor have I lost interest. Just had a wonderful trip.

[tmthforu94]

I don't know why you are still trying to target me, it isn't part of my job to PM delegates telling them to do their job. It isn't like you to disappear like this, I hope everything works out with you IRL. We have a lot of bills that need to be discussed this session, hopefully time can be spent on that instead of you trying to blame others for your spurt of inactivity.

[Wisconsin+17]

Not trying to target you. Wanted to bump this thread to let folks know I was back, and was amused that I'd specifically left instructions to PM me.

Anyways, looking forward to serving the rest of the term with you!

[Wisconsin+17]

I have had several inquiries as to the current fiscal regime of the South. The Fairbol budget was passed in June of 2018.

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=292329.0

This is the thread. This concerns FY 2019. Budget proposals for FY 2020 will have to wait until next summer in 2019 to be taken up for consideration.

[Wisconsin+17]

Howdy folks! Good to see so many of you out here on such a fine southern afternoon! I'm sure you've all seen the news today. Apparently yours truly is being recalled! My gosh. Whatever shall we do. As you can see I'm just quaking in my boots here at the thought of having to go home and spend more time with all these fine folks!

However, we have some work left to do. The Left never sleeps, and neither should we. This has been timed to coincide, like magic, with all four bills of mine that have been introduced into the Delegates. Now I don't know about me, but I know many of you asked for me to do just that, to introduce your legislation into the Delegates.

Now why might these fine fellows be so inclined to try to recall me at this precise moment? Gosh. I can't imagine why. It couldn't be because they lost in the ballot box fair and square. It couldn't be that I was the second highest vote getter of all the electorate when I ran. Nosirree. It couldn't be because they want to silence your voice?

Now they want to recall me. Well, let's examine the long list of charges. Apparently they believe I've been responsible for conduct unbecoming the delegates. And what for? Well, apparently I've been debating too strenuously with our beloved Governor TM and then at the start of the term with Young Texan's failed censure motion.

What's next, my parking tickets? They should lock me away and throw the key for these things. However, I'm going to tell you what this is really about. Power, pure and simple. These folks, they don't think much of you and me. They call us deplorables. They bemoan that we cling to our guns and our bibles. And what for? It's not like we believe we ought to force them into Church on Sunday. No, it's not about tolerance, it's about conformity. They want you to conform to them and that's the be all and end all.

Now I have this to say to the recallers. You might not like the answer you get here. If you want to defeat me, there's the ballot box next month. You've got a long list of grievances you can rally the people and ensure my defeat. That's the right and honorable way to go about and do so.

Far as I see, that goes for any of us in the Delegates. I earned my seat fair and square and I intend to fulfill the duty y'all have entrusted in me. I will say one last thing.

You don't catch flak unless you're over the target. And apparently I'm right in the thick of things.

Godspeed all of you!

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

yes. Because "the left" now includes TCG, mvd, and several Federalist supporters.

[Wisconsin+17]

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I stand by my assessment. The justifications given in the recall are a censure motion which already failed and my discussion over the last few days with TM.

I do not see either as anywhere close to being sufficient to overturn the elected will of the people of the South. Now, if there were some substantive allegations included I might think differently about this, but my question is "where's the beef?"

If there are reasons other than the ones that have been cited, I suggest providing them so that the people can understand the true agenda here.

The purpose of recall isn't to refight already lost elections. That is why we have a ballot box.

[Terry the Fat Shark]

FWIW and this is kind of late, but I do think the recall was kind of overkill. It is definitely a fact that you could've handled your disappearance a bit better and you could negotiate a little but better in the Chamber (as the recipient of many such squabbles in our time working together back in 2017), but, recalls should be reserved for those who continue to be inactive and do not respond. The only time we ever recalled someone in the South previously was Golfman76 because we were a very active Chamber and he did not vote for something like a month or so (don't remember exactly...), recalls should be reserved for those who do not do their jobs at all, not those who do their jobs in ways that others don't like, unless of course it's criminal activity. So, I think this recall was a bad idea and perhaps you should consider trying again eventually, or not, your choice of course.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     It is true that you have a certain style that isn't always easy to work with (we've butted heads a few times), but I consider you a good friend and greatly appreciate having played the game with you. You have made real contributions in your time here, and I think it's important to recognize that. I agree with dfwlibertylover that the recall was unjustified, and I wish you success in your future endeavors.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

In my opinion the only grounds that were valid reasons for recall here, was the long absence, which was the motivation that the Governor cited for his vote. I am not sure what the upward limit is if any, but there have been upward limits on acceptable leaves. Now going over doesn't necessarily demand going through with recall/expulsion, it requires a judgement call. As for the other cited reasons, I do not think the other listed complaints rose to the level of recall and just like the Vice President said, we have to be very careful here.

I also would point out that while At-large representatives like CoD, are very representative of the majority of the voters, the individual members are not. That is why we moved away from special elections for House seats, because a certain block of voters amounting to say 15% elects a given representative. To have a majority then select a replacement is kind of like taking the representative from the KY-09 district and having him elected statewide in 1932. Great way to get rid of that pesky Republican Representative from Unionist South Central KY and replace them with a Democrat, but those Mountain folk are getting screwed.

At-large is indeed superior to districts in a functional and competitiveness stand point because you can pull voters and candidates from all across the country instead of a confined area, but those representatives still represent a defined niche. The sixth district At-Large in Atlasia has almost always been represented by libertarians and there used to be a defined block of 10 or 12 libertarians that voted this person into office and they often voted as a group. A special election to replace this seat, requiring 51% would necessarily not reflect or represent the group that elected this person.

Recall works the same way, but in reverse, the majority is seeking to remove a representative elected by a specific electorate and/or group of voters.



There is a fine line between "annoying" and "passionate opposition" between conduct "unbecoming" and throwing up the barricades to fight it out for the (people/tradition/workers/values/regions/taxpayers etc). We lament the onset of what I call "legislating at arms length" (which is much more accurate than the phrase echo chamber consensus, which has been tossed around for the past year), but the antidote for that is having more combative ideologues, is it not? People like say TNF or Marokai in his early days for the left and yes Ben Kenobi on the right.

Now if you go back far enough, You will find a debate in the fall of 2009 where I was accused of being annoying and accused of engaging in unbecoming conduct. The reason was because a Senator had introduced an amendment to reduce the amendment ratification threshold, and simultaneously another Senator introduced an amendment to replace the Regional Senate seats with an all At-Large Senate. At that time the left had an advantage AT-large while the right did better regionally, so most of the thread was me arguing with Marokai and Xahar over whether or not it was a leftist power grab (it was!). But at some point I just kept repeating it over and over again (to point of basically trolling the thread) and they would try to claim otherwise, but eventually the effort collapsed as it got rejected in the South and Northeast. The subsequent amendment on the Senate was rejected with an outright majority against it in the Senate.

Mission Accomplished! The Regions were saved and the right kept their small toehold to be able to offer an alternative to the then leftist dominated Atlasia. I have zero regrets almost nine years later.

[Wisconsin+17]

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I want to thank YoungTexan for finally coming to his senses about this recall. Better late than never.

[CatoMinor]

BK has been here long enough that people should be well aware of his short comings, and they have chosen to elect him in spite of that. Unless he did something truly terrible that I am unaware of, I cant in good conscience vote to remove someone  who has been democratically elected. Even if he is recalled, I have no doubt he'd win his seat back in the next Chamber election.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I intend to 1st pref you for chamber if you run again.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I think Yankee in particular raises some good points - and I am in general agreement with him on this matter.
Political disagreement is not really ground to recall. Extreme inactivity (like what we saw here) is, but by this point it's clear this is over for the time being, otherwise I would be more sympathetic to the idea of voting for the recall. I don't think it's fair to Ben to vote to recall him at this point given his activity as of late.

[tmthforu94]

The vote happened when it did because it was constitutionally mandated, but I think it would have really benefited the region if there had been more of a gap between when the petition started and when the vote started to facilitate more discussion BEFORE people voted. I imagine the recall still would have been successful, but the margin probably would have been much closer. Something we'll have to look at as we amend the constitution in the future.