Office of Former President Tmth

[tmthforu94]

~12 hours left to vote! It will be tough but I still believe we can pull this off. I will be an active, dedicated member of the CoD if given the chance. I’d appreciate your vote!!

[Joseph Cao]

Felicitations on your triumph!

[Esteemed Jimmy]

Congrats!

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Congratulations!

[West_Midlander]

Felicitations on your triumph!

[Pericles]

Congratulations on your return to elected office!

[tmthforu94]

Thank you everyone for your kind words. I am very thankful to everyone who preferenced me on their ballot, with special thanks to the bipartisan coalition of voters who ranked me 1st and put me over the top.

I look forward to working with Governor MB and the other members of the Southern Chamber in the upcoming session. This will be the most successful Chamber in many months, you can count on that!! I am already starting to draft legislation to introduce on Day 1, so if anyone has ideas or wants to partner up with me on something, my PM box is open!!

[LAKISYLVANIA]

congratulations ill send you a pm later

[tmthforu94]

Hello - today I swore into the Southern Chamber, so I am converting this thread to my office.

Leading up to swearing in, I have introduced three bills (see below):
Order of the Southern Star Act - Inspired by federal law and seeing that Lincoln has something similar, I think this is a great way to recognize individuals making important contributions in the region.
Regional Fuel Tax - As promised during the campaign, I have introduced a bill setting the fuel tax at 20%. Currently it is taxed as an excise at 20% - gas tax in RL isn't taxed based on percentage...a 20% gas tax would be $.40 if gas were $2/gallon, which I believe is too high.
Southern Schools COVID-19 Reopening Act - Not my best bill title.....this bill is in response to the recent statement by President Pericles basing school openings off of the Federal Alert Areas.

Introducing two bills for the next Chamber:

Order of the Southern Star Act.

1. The Order of the Southern Star shall be a recognition of merit awarded by the Governor of the South to recognize the achievements rendered to it by its citizens.

2. The Order shall be granted in one of two degrees, the Silver Star or the Gold Star, which shall be for particularly meritorious achievements.

3. The Chamber of Delegates, by a two-thirds vote, may strip a recipient of this award.

Regional Fuel Tax

1. The Southern Region shall tax gasoline at 20 cents per gallon and shall be indexed with inflation.

2. This act shall take effect September 1, 2020.

Southern Schools COVID-19 Reopening Act

Per the July 27th Presidential address, the following is enacted:

1. Southern public schools located in Federal Alert Level 3 and 2 areas must operate fully remote.

2. Southern public schools located in Federal Alert Level 1 areas may fully operate in a physical location without capacity requirements. Strict social distancing guidelines must still be enforced.
School districts may opt out of this clause and continue to operate under Clause 1 of this act.

3. Failure for school districts to comply with this act may result in the freezing of regional funds, as directed by the Governor’s office.

4. This act shall go into effect immediately and shall expire on October 1, 2020. The Governor may extend this act at their discretion up to an additional 90 days before legislature reauthorization is required.

[tmthforu94]

Statement:
I am grateful to have been chosen Speaker and appreciate the confidence the Chamber put in me. I look forward to working with each delegate to make this an extremely successful session.

Earlier today, I did some housekeeping for the region, which included: updating the Wiki constitution page, updating the statue page (still not fully updated, but making progress), creating a new legislation noticeboard for this session and updating the civic information thread.

This evening, we began debate on four bills, two aimed at COVID-19 responses, 1 dealing with the regional gas tax and 1 involving underage drinking in the region. You can check out the different threads on the Regional Government subforum.

I will work hard for the South every day this session - we are the greatest region in the game and we will prove it in the coming months. Any questions, feedback or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out.

[Former Lincoln Assemblyman & Lt. Gov. RGN]

Today I declare my candidacy for Southern Chamber.

This decision was made after careful consideration - I initially thought about a run for Governor as well, but I don't disapprove of MB enough at this point and still maintain that I don't want to take away opportunities from newer players. I hope someone else runs for Governor, though, for the sake of competition.

Why am I running? Despite the efforts of a couple, the South is lacking in strong leadership right now, and that is apparent in the Chamber. Most legislation is barely debated, some of the legislators don't seem too concerned about doing their job. I'm running because I have a proven record of being a hard worker and getting the job done.

My 5 promises:
1. I will ensure that the Southern statue and other relevant Wiki pages remain updated through my tenure. This is something that has been a continuous project of mine for a while now.
2. I will actively debate every bill being discussed and will not miss a vote unless I have a LOA posted. I'll introduce my own legislation as well and work to ensure there is always a steady stream of quality discussions taking place.
3. I will oppose any efforts Fremont makes towards moving Kansas (or any other state) out of the Southern Region.
4. I will not seek higher office during my tenure - my commitment is to serving the South.
5. I'll work with ALL sides to get the job done, Labor, Federalist or Democratic Alliance/other. That's been my record in the game and I'll continue with it.

My positions:
I've been around for quite a while and have a record on just about every issue, but generally I consider myself to be a moderate - center-left socially and center-right economically. That is the general philosophy you can expect from me on legislation that has been introduced. I will continue my commitment to keep raccoons from infiltrating our schools and hospitals - what has happened in Pawnee, Indiana should not happen anywhere else.

The Governor has taken sweeping steps to eliminate regulations in the region - I am in agreement in spirit, but in the legislature, I will ensure that these changes are feasible and make sense. An example was the Free Minds Act that recently failed - I proposed making some changes to the wording, but since the Chamber was too lazy to proceed with any of those amendments, it failed. This has been a habit we've seen the last few months - LAZY LEGISLATING. I even created a thread on it back in May, and while things improved, they aren't to where they should be. Things will be drastically better when I head back to Nashville, believe me.

Finally, an issue I will be emphasizing during my first term is racial injustice and police brutality. Black Lives Matter. Period. I'm aware that George Floyd is still considered alive in-game, but either way there are still significant issues of injustices, and I'm discouraged by the lack of discussion that has been facilitated on this issue. Instead of talking about why protestors are looting/vandalizing, we should have been focused on discussing why they're having to take the drastic actions in order to get noticed and force change. During my first month in office, I plan to introduce legislation for police reform in the South - this will largely emulate the plan that Campaign Zero has proposed, and I'll share more details on this soon.

I hope I can count on your vote, and I will plan to continue to add to this in the coming days with more ideas I have. The South is the greatest region in the game, and together we'll make it even greater. I welcome your questions and hope for your endorsements!

Endorsed!

[tmthforu94]

Statement from Speaker Tmthforu94

Good evening. Moments ago, I spoke with the FEMA Director and leaders from Texas and Louisiana regarding the status of Hurricane Laura, which was recently upgraded to a Category 4 Hurricane. Our office is monitoring the situation very closely and will be in close contact with both the Governor and our federal representatives to ensure necessary support is provided to The People of Louisiana and Texas who are in the storm's path.

To ensure necessary resources are in place, I request that the Governor declare a state of emergency in Texas and Louisiana in advance of Hurricane Laura, including mandatory evacuations to ensure the safety of people in the storm's path. Additionally, I ask that the governor authorize that cars may use open shoulders on major interstates to assist with traffic, as well as alter traffic patterns. This is the responsibility of the Governor to declare, per the Effective Highway Evacuation Act. I am also requesting that the President make a federal emergency declaration to ensure we have federal resources available.

I am committed to doing whatever I can to ensure the safety of The People and the Chamber will be prepared to act as necessary. Thank you.

[tmthforu94]

Statement from Speaker Tmthforu94

I am grateful of the quick action by both our President and Governor to provide relief and support for those in the path of Hurricane Laura. Our office continues to monitor the situation closely and will provide updates as needed.

Based on the latest Covid-19 pandemic update, I can now officially clarify for legal purposes where the alert level 3, 2, and 1 guidelines are in effect for school reopenings. Other aspects of the reopenings can be left up to the states, a state can have different levels of restrictions to what the federal criteria suggests for their situation. This action will also specifically allow states to have tougher restrictions with regards to school reopenings, in part due to the difficulty of enforcing conflicting standards. However, where the local standards are looser the federal standards will be enforced.

At this stage, only American Samoa is encouraged to move to Level 1 restrictions. There, and in any states that can move to Level 1 in the future, the federal government expects that strict quarantine requirements will be in place to preserve their Covid-19 elimination status. If we find this is not the case, we will have to consider reimposing restrictions. In states where the trend in case numbers is 'contained' but not yet 'favorable', and all the other level 2 criteria are met, reopening of physical schooling will be delayed until 14 September. This will give us more time to be sure that things are really on the right track. I remain very concerned about the situation in several states-in particular in Arizona, Texas and Nevada. We are examining what options we have to improve the situation there.

1. Effective immediately-schools, except for high schools, are permitted to resume physical schooling in the following states-Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington state, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington DC, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and the Virgin Islands.
a) In these states, schools with physical schooling must abide by the following requirements-
i)  A maximum of 40% of the student body is allowed in the school at any one time.
ii) Mask-wearing shall be required for all staff members, except those with special medical exemptions.
iii) Social distancing is to be practised where possible. Where social distancing is impossible or too impractical, all students shall also be required to wear masks, except those with special medical exemptions.
2. Effective on 14 September, schools, except for high schools, are permitted to resume physical schooling, with the same restrictions as set out in 1a, in the following states-Colorado, West Virginia and New Jersey.
2. All Schools are permitted to resume physical schooling without the restrictions set out in 1a in American Samoa.
3. Nothing in this order may be interpreted to change the federal requirements for entirely remote schooling in all states not listed above.
4. Nothing in this order shall prevent regional, state and local authorities from imposing stronger requirements to the federal requirements.

Executive Order #025

Seeing as Hurricane Laura is threatening to devastate communities all along the Gulf Coast, I'm directing a state of emergency effective until the storm subsides. Please stay inside a safe location and prepare if you're in an area that'll be effected.

[tmthforu94]

Statement from Speaker Tmthforu94
August is winding to a close, and I'm happy with the progress of the Southern Chamber. We've passed legislation dealing with COVID-19 and are close to passing legislation that expands childcare access and funding additional infrastructure projects across the region. Other topics have been addressed as well.

We are moving at a pretty good pace, and everything is going smoothly - I'm working hard as Speaker to keep everything pushed forward and not let any legislation fall behind. Our queue ran dry recently, but I introduced 3 bills last night and Delegate DTC introduced another one today to keep us moving forward. The noticeboard is kept up-to-date - one of my goals for September, though, is to update the Statue page on the Wiki.

I want to congratulate Delegate Spark for his election to the House of Representatives. We will miss him in the Chamber and wish him the very best. I also want to extend my congratulations to our Governor MB for his nomination to the Vice Presidency. I endorse this nomination and look forward to him doing great things at the federal level. MB has pledged to resign as Governor once he is confirmed, and I appreciate that he is doing that - we will need a full-time Governor as we seek to close out this session on a strong note. The Chamber will have the serious responsibility of appointing our next Governor - we will make a great choice for the region.

My office is always open if anyone has any feedback or suggestions for legislation!

[Senator-elect Spark]

Statement from Speaker Tmthforu94
August is winding to a close, and I'm happy with the progress of the Southern Chamber. We've passed legislation dealing with COVID-19 and are close to passing legislation that expands childcare access and funding additional infrastructure projects across the region. Other topics have been addressed as well.

We are moving at a pretty good pace, and everything is going smoothly - I'm working hard as Speaker to keep everything pushed forward and not let any legislation fall behind. Our queue ran dry recently, but I introduced 3 bills last night and Delegate DTC introduced another one today to keep us moving forward. The noticeboard is kept up-to-date - one of my goals for September, though, is to update the Statue page on the Wiki.

I want to congratulate Delegate Spark for his election to the House of Representatives. We will miss him in the Chamber and wish him the very best. I also want to extend my congratulations to our Governor MB for his nomination to the Vice Presidency. I endorse this nomination and look forward to him doing great things at the federal level. MB has pledged to resign as Governor once he is confirmed, and I appreciate that he is doing that - we will need a full-time Governor as we seek to close out this session on a strong note. The Chamber will have the serious responsibility of appointing our next Governor - we will make a great choice for the region.

My office is always open if anyone has any feedback or suggestions for legislation!

Speaker Tmth, it was a pleasure to work with you and learn from you as well! I appreciated our time together and will continue to be in contact with you regarding important matters of the South. Thank you!

[tmthforu94]

Statement from Acting Governor Tmth

Good afternoon,

First, I want to congratulate MB on being confirmed as VP. With his vacancy as Governor, as chief executive of the legislator, I am now your Acting Governor.

I have opened a nomination thread for the Chamber to elect a new Governor. As I promised during my last campaign, I will not run for higher officer, so will sit this out (unless the unlikely event no one runs). Any Southern citizen is eligible, all you need to do is post in the thread where the below post is quoted:

Article III, Section 5 of the Southern constitution states:

5. Should the office of governor fall vacant at any point during the term, the chief officer of the legislature, or, should none be available, the longest continually-serving available member of the legislature, shall assume the role of acting governor until the legislature can vote to elect a new governor. If the legislature fails to select a new governor within 14 days of the vacancy, the acting governor shall become governor for the remainder of the term and vacate their seat in the legislature. If the acting governor fails to open a vote to elect a new governor within 3 days of the vacancy, any member of the legislature may open a vote.

As Acting Governor, I am opening up a nomination period of 48 hours to start the process. I will also post on the Fantasy Elections board to help increase awareness. Any Southern citizen may run - there are no requirements.

As a voting member of this process, I would also like to personally encourage anyone who is running to state their case on why they would be the best fit, as well as any goals/objections they'd have for the remainder of the term.

Additionally, Spiral was expelled from the Chamber for failing to vote on 4 consecutive final bills - this was not an action of the Chamber, but automatically occurs per the Constitution. I will leave that appointment for the next Governor to make.

[tmthforu94]

I have chosen to endorse Muaddib in the election to become Governor for the remainder of the current term. See below:

While considering today, I've found myself leaning towards each of the candidates at different points. Each has their strengths, and there is very little of a gap between #1 and #4 in my eyes. However, after careful consideration, I will be casting my vote for Muaddib.

To me, the biggest factors were dedication to the region, activity and being able to work together to make the region stronger. Muaddib has excelled at all of that, and while we have some political differences (heck, he'd probably veto several of the bills I've introduced this cycle) he has always been great in the Chamber at working through differences to find common ground. He even ran and vibed well with Siren in June, someone vastly different than him politically. This just further exemplifies his skills at bringing people together, something important to being Governor. His record of activity has been impeccable. In May, he stepped up to serve as Speaker when the Chamber was in chaos and did a great job. I know he will be a great placeholder for the final two months of this term.

My biggest reservation towards him was his political differences with Governor MB. However, the former governor hadn't proposed any legislative agenda items during this second term, so there is nothing out there that Muaddib could reject/derail mid-session. I appreciate his understanding that this appointment wouldn't give him a legislative mandate, nor would I worry about him doing anything that is vastly different from what The People want, especially considering the composition of the Chamber and safeguards in place regarding Chamber appointments.

Finally, a big sticking point to me is that we've already had a decent chunk of turnover in the Chamber this session, and I'd prefer there not being any more. Muaddib is the only private citizen running, so wouldn't create any additional vacancies in the Chamber.

I urge my fellow delegates to give Muaddib consideration and your first preference.

[tmthforu94]

Official Action:

I consulted with former Governor MB on this - having a full Chamber will be needed for the Governor's election. The Peace Party is quite small and their chair isn't currently active, so I don't have a way to get his approval to appoint from outside the party. I do believe WB is quite similar politically to both Spiral and Peebs, so he has switched his registration to Peace so that I can legally appoint him as prescribed by Southern Statue. WB will do a great job - he was active in the July elections and has remained a positive contributor to the region since.

Weatherboy is appointed to the vacant Chamber seat vacated by Spiral.

X Acting Governor Tmthforu94

[tmthforu94]

Acting Governor Tmth, the following bill has passed the Chamber and is presented for signature:

Sports Venue Reform Act

1. The Southern Government shall no longer subsidize the construction of venues whose purposes are to host professional sports games.
2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2020 and does not apply to any current agreements that have been made.

[tmthforu94]

Sports Venue Reform Act

1. The Southern Government shall no longer subsidize the construction of venues whose purposes are to host professional sports games.
2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2020 and does not apply to any current agreements that have been made.

X Tmthforu94

[tmthforu94]

I have made the decision to repeal two executive orders passed under the MB administration that renamed a series of cities across the South. First and foremost, I don't believe this should be the responsibility of the regional government, local municipalities should have the right to pick their own appropriate name. This was an overreach. Additionally, specifically with EO #12, my hope is that repealing this EO will help normalize relations with Fremont after the riots that occurred earlier this year in my home state of Kansas.

The executive orders, for reference:

Executive Order #011

The city of Liberal, Kansas, is hereby renamed to Conservative, Kansas, in order to more accurately reflect its political leanings.

Executive Order #012

The unincorporated community of Fremont, Virginia, is hereby renamed to South, Virginia. The township of Fremont Township, Kansas, is hereby renamed to Southern Township, Kansas. The town of Fremont, North Carolina, is hereby renamed to The-Southern-Region-Is-The-Best-Region, North Carolina. The census-designated place of Fremont, Missouri, is hereby renamed to Misery, Missouri, to more accurately describe the quality of life in the western region.

Executive Order 01

1. Executive orders #011 and #012 of the MB administration are hereby rescinded.

[tmthforu94]

Acting Governor Tmth, the following bill has passed the Chamber and is presented for signature:

AN ACT
to protect statues of historical figures in the South

Section 1 (Title & Definitions)
i. The title of this act shall be, the “Protecting Our History"

Section 2 (Protecting Statues)
i. Anyone who takes down or participates the vandalism of a statue of a historical figure will be fined $500 for destroying public property.
ii. Police departments in jurisdictions where a historical statue is vandalized will be compensated $250.

Section 3 (Implementation)
i. This legislation shall come into effect immediately upon signature by the Governor.

[tmthforu94]

Acting Governor Tmth, the following bill has passed the Chamber and is presented for signature:

AN ACT
to protect statues of historical figures in the South

Section 1 (Title & Definitions)
i. The title of this act shall be, the “Protecting Our History"

Section 2 (Protecting Statues)
i. Anyone who takes down or participates the vandalism of a statue of a historical figure will be fined $500 for destroying public property.
ii. Police departments in jurisdictions where a historical statue is vandalized will be compensated $250.

Section 3 (Implementation)
i. This legislation shall come into effect immediately upon signature by the Governor.

X Tmthforu94

[tmthforu94]

Statement from Acting Governor Tmthforu94

This evening, I was criticized on Discord over my decision to appoint WB to the vacant seat, so I am going to clear the air publicly.

On Sunday, former Governor and Labor Chair MB reached out to me on Discord and asked me to make an appointment in the Southern Chamber. With only 6 members, there was a high likelihood of a tie, so appointing someone was necessary so a tie wouldn't be broken. I asked him who he recommended, he said he assumed I would be picking WB. I asked how that was possible since WB was in DA, not Peace, and he recommended that WB quickly change registration in order to be eligible. The Peace chair is Leinad, who is MIA, so it would be impossible to get his blessing (as required by statue). I agreed, reached out to WB who also agreed, and it was enacted yesterday.

With the vote ongoing, tonight President Pericles was irate at me for appointing WB, calling it "dirty tricks" and saying that  "you right-wing f****** keep rigging it against what the people want." Much of this anger is coming from the fact that WB voted for TimTurner and not Thumb21, who is apparently the Labor-backed candidate. This was never communicated to me or anyone else at any point; I haven't seen a single post of the Labor Party publicly backing Thumb and not TimTurner until President Pericles' outburst tonight.

To be clear: if everyone votes and no remaining Feds/Laborites crossover, TimTurner, a loyal Southerner and loyal Laborite, will likely be elected Governor. This is dependent on whether or not he withdraws though, because as our President said publicly, he meddled into the election and asked Tim to withdraw and vote for Thumb instead. I take issue with this - TimTurner has been a very loyal and devoted servant of the South for many years, so for him to be dismissed like this is unacceptable and appalling - I know many in Labor don't condone these actions, and based on my interactions with Thumb and TimTurner, I don't suppose either will condone the actions of the president tonight.

President Pericles tonight called me a lying piece of sh*t and a sociopath for following the wishes of the Labor Chair and former Governor. This is all precipitated on his interpretation that I am trying to steal the vote to elect Muaddib. Unless someone in Labor flips to Muaddib, a Laborite is still going to remain Governor of the region. I will even flip my vote to ensure of that at this point, because creating some sort of coup isn't my intention here. There are plenty of ways I could have been dirty with this - I could have not appointed anyone (as was my initial intention) and I would have become Governor after a tied vote. I could have had Muaddib join Peace and appoint him, so that he could vote for himself and become Governor. I did neither, because my goal during this short stint and whenever I hold office is to not abuse my power and make the best decision with each circumstance I confront.

It has been years since I have seen such levels of hatred and personal attacks in this game, and coming from our president no less. And I know for certain I'm not the only one who has been on the receiving end of his rampages as of late. I have thought long on deregistering tonight as I hate seeing this type of gameplay tolerated, and it is something I'm still tempted to do because this game isn't worth it this type of mental strain. I've struggled with my mental health for years - being called a sociopath, especially when I wasn't trying to do anything wrong, just sucks. I do want to apologize to the President for calling him unhinged - after saying it, I looked at the definition and realized it is defined as "mentally unbalanced" and it is wrong to attack someone's mental health. I do really enjoy serving as Speaker and think I'm making a positive impact for the region and the game, which I hope that many will agree with that. I'm no perfect by any means and I have a temper, but this has just gone too far for too long. The absolute ruthlessness and immaturity of our president shown tonight was on display.

Since I know it'll be brought up if there is a rebuttal - yes, I have screenshots of this encounter and I did post them in Lokcord - if anyone doubts that the President said these things, I will share them. And no, I'm not going to apologize for posting them like he has already asked me to. The President does not have the right to hurl unsolicited private attacks towards citizens and then turn around and have the audacity to get mad when people share those with The People at-large. It is inexcusable behavior beneath the presidency that everyone should stand up to, this isn't a partisan issue.

^^^All of this hullabaloo is also Pericles' justification for having the entire party leadership briefly join Green's so that they can designate their own replacement for Lakigagar, but I'm not going to comment further on that as it isn't relevant to Southern business.

As I stated before the vote, I see little difference between the four candidates in terms of quality and think the region will be in fine hands regardless. This in no way was an attempt to slight any of the four candidates, I know I would work very well with each of them. Thumb is great, as are all of the Laborites in the Chamber and many across the forum, so I don't hold what happened tonight against anyone else and hope to continue close working relationships with all delegates.

Thanks,
Tmth

[tmthforu94]

Executive Order 03

1. A regional coin shall be minted for Adam Griffin in the manner prescribed in the TMTH FAPoSE Act. While Adam Griffin has not been a citizen of the South post-reset, he was a valuable member beforehand and is a citizen in real life. He has served honorably twice as president and while we have our disagreements, is very deserving of this honor.