Confirmation Hearing: IBNU for Secretary of State (Confirmed)

[SevenEleven]

Please be respectful of the nominee you guys. Aside from being one of the only people interested in the job, the nominee has strong ideas and goals and will be an active presence. If you think making a big deal out of minor misunderstandings is truly what's best for the game, by all means go right ahead.

[SevenEleven]

What do you say to allegations that you were bribed with this position to change your vote?

Who is alleging this?

[SevenEleven]

What do you say to allegations that you were bribed with this position to change your vote?

Who is alleging this?

IBNU himself admitted it.

My only communications with the nominee regarding a potential appointment (or anything else for that matter) occurred after the election.

[SevenEleven]

First of all, my campaign staff consisted of FalterinArc, Kaiser Dave, Harry Truman, and Ted Bessell.

I only learned of IBNU's interest in the position after the election was long concluded. In fact, the entire week or two after he was still the only one to express interest.

I inquired about IBNU's beliefs about Atlasia's position in the world, his values, and his commitment to being active. Side note: the current Secretary of State has made only one post in duty. His predecessor made only thirteen in a two year period.

Whatever selectively edited private chat screenshots may be posted without consent has no bearing on my decision to select this highly-qualified nominee, nor do I have any reason to foresee an open SoS position (I contacted SoS DC when building a Cabinet to see if he was interested in doing more with the role.)

I ask the Senate to consider the history of this position and the potential our nominee offers with his foreign policy knowledge, and to not be distracted by manufactured scandals. The nominee is a different time zone, so any input from will have to wait.

I also have screenshots that suggest the opposite of what is being portrayed here, but I don't think posting private communications in public without consent is something a decent person does.

[SevenEleven]

It is completely fair to post the facts of the matter since the nominee isn't entitled to the votes of the Senators but should make his case to earn them. There is also plenty if reasons to believe that the nominee does not understand the position well enough to objectively do a good job in it. It is also a concern that if the nominee is able to be bribed into this position, then he may sell out Atlasia's interests when dealing with foreign policy.

The nominee was not bribed at all, at least by this President or his affiliates. The nominee has a great understanding of global diplomacy and a commitment to activity. He may be a newer player, but he is ideal for making this position relevant again. Not a single one of us here knows every Atlasian law or historic anecdote inside and out. This is a game, and this nominee is willing to put in the collaborative work necessary to create relevant foreign policy dealings working with myself, the Senate, the NSC, and our GM and his assessment of foreign nations. Let's drop the witch hunt and focus on reality.

[SevenEleven]

It is completely fair to post the facts of the matter since the nominee isn't entitled to the votes of the Senators but should make his case to earn them. There is also plenty if reasons to believe that the nominee does not understand the position well enough to objectively do a good job in it. It is also a concern that if the nominee is able to be bribed into this position, then he may sell out Atlasia's interests when dealing with foreign policy.

The nominee was not bribed at all, at least by this President or his affiliates. The nominee has a great understanding of global diplomacy and a commitment to activity. He may be a newer player, but he is ideal for making this position relevant again. Not a single one of us here knows every Atlasian law or historic anecdote inside and out. This is a game, and this nominee is willing to put in the collaborative work necessary to create relevant foreign policy dealings working with myself, the Senate, the NSC, and our GM and his assessment of foreign nations. Let's drop the witch hunt and focus on reality.

Due to the fact that the controversy surrounding the allegations has created quite a cloud over whatever the truth may be in this situation, I have elected to recuse accusations of bribery or forgery from my position on the nominee.

Nonetheless, at the moment, I do not feel comfortable supporting the nominee. Though the nominee has spent commendable effort responding to the questions posed by members of this honorable body (of which I would have posted some had my questions not been already asked by other members), I do not believe the nominee has the necessary background for nomination. While I also find the President's sentiment about including newer players into the game commendable -- it is one of the most pressing issues facing our nation and one which I hope to address during this Senate term -- I do not feel that the position of Secretary of State is a proper position for such a launching-off point for someone less experienced in Atlasian politics. A Secretary of State needs to have deep knowledge about Atlasian history and the diplomatic history of the world along with the political experience to avoid unintentional missteps that could plunge the nation into unnecessary conflicts. Based on the answers from the nominee and the nominee's background, I do not at present believe the nominee meets this standard.

In addition, I have serious disagreements with the President's characterization of the nominee's activity. I have great respect for the President and do not believe he is intentionally misleading this body; however, I do believe there is significant evidence in opposition to the ability of the nominee to remain active in a office that -- I should know -- carries significant weight behind activity. As the nominee had failed to be active in a significantly lesser role than that of Secretary of State, I do not feel that the nominee meets the standard for activity.

I will reserve my final judgement until the nominee has answered all of the questions posed by this body as a matter of principle, but I personally did not feel it would be worth the nominee's or the Senate's time to engage of a line of questioning that I would only be posing as a matter of procedure rather than true investigation. If new evidence comes to light that would shift my opinion of the nominee, than I am open to shifting my stance and engaging in questioning.

I understand your concerns. With that, I will only say that I stand fully by the nomination of IBNU. If, for some reason, he fails to reach the activity I expect out of this position, I will be pro-active and work to find a replacement.

With regards to the deep knowledge of Atlasian history, this may be a matter of our respective timelines not crossing paths until now. For my entire time serving in government, the SoS has done absolutely nothing, no offense to those who have served. It is time we change that. Indeed, at the end of the day, this is a game we play to have fun and pass time. I'll be quite frank, there are some questions posed that I couldn't answer on the spot myself. There are good people to approach and ask to clarify if such a situation arose.

What I don't want to see is a, justifiably so, excited new senate body forget our recent past. I pledged during the campaign, and reiterate now, to try my best to build activity up and make this a fun place for all of us. This entire senate is a signal of new opportunities for Atlasia. Please give the nominee a chance to be a signal of new opportunity in the oft-ignored SoS position.

Honestly, the fact that we have discussed so much already is a positive sign in the right direction.

If someone with more free time and patience than myself wants to make an honest assessment of IBNU's prior activity (which is hardly that relevant to his new commitment), I expect they would find more than 14 posts in the Lincoln Council threads, which is all we have gotten out our SoS from the last two+ years.

[SevenEleven]

Fair enough, I guess. My statement was not intended to indicate that the nominee has activity questions, though. I believe he has stated emphatically that he will be active.

I am asking you to trust in IBNU, but I am also asking you to trust in me. There are very significant issues in foreign policy that have been ignored, if not to our in-world detriment, then certainly our in-game detriment. Foreign policy is important and deserves to be a primary focus. IBNU and I are committing to bring new life to this oft-forgotten aspect of our reality, and I don't want any minor hang ups to hinder that. It's not often an opportunity like this comes out way.