Confirmation Hearing: TimTurner for Attorney General (Confirmed)

[Joseph Cao]

Pursuant to Executive Order 56-12, Tim Turner is nominated to the position of Attorney General.

As the President of the Senate is still not available I am opening a confirmation hearing for the nominee in accordance with Senate rules. We’ll have an opening statement from the nominee and then get to questions.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I thank the honorable Senator for opening the thread.

I think it is time for us to move ahead with confidence from the recent saga and have a Cabinet in place so we can return to a functional government for Atlasia. We need an Atlasian government who will have a Justice Department that can be trusted to be a just operator, and not an active chaos agent. I promise to operate, as much as I am able, to move us beyond the dark days of abuses of power that have only recently beset us. More than in any other time in recent memory, we need unity, fairness, the opposite of a bull-in-a-china-shop attitude.

We must protect the spirit of our Constitution and our rule of law and aspire to move ahead with confidence and integrity. Those are great values that the Harry Truman of old valiantly fought for, and those are things we need moving forward as well. As was aforementioned, I strive to move ahead with that ethos in mind.

I'd like to thank you all for your time.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I intend to vote aye

[WD]

I support this nomination.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

An issue that came up last summer was the lack of available attorneys to serve as defense consul. What actions will you take to restore the legal culture in this game and thereby insure the resources are there to carry out a successful legal proceeding?

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Endorsing the Nomination

[Joseph Cao]

Your personal thoughts on their recent uses aside, how much of the AG portfolio do you intend to use or believe you should be using from a gameplay perspective?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

What changes should be made to ensure that the Attorney General's office remains independent from interference within the executive branch?

As a follow on, in the past, particularly with the example cited by Truman regarding myself and Oakvale, the "responsible" President served as the check on the Attorney General. However, if we are to put some barriers between the President and the Attorney General, what measures should be taken to maintain the accountability of the Attorney General? Senate Removal?

Lastly, a big concern that existed previously was that the Attorney was also a regional executive. Would you support restricting regional executives from serving in the position, since historically, aside from criminal trials, cases involving regional actions tend to dominate Attorney General activity?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

An issue that came up last summer was the lack of available attorneys to serve as defense consul. What actions will you take to restore the legal culture in this game and thereby insure the resources are there to carry out a successful legal proceeding?

I'll see what can be done on the issue. I'm open to suggestions, and I feel somewhat confident some kind of solution can be reached.

Your personal thoughts on their recent uses aside, how much of the AG portfolio do you intend to use or believe you should be using from a gameplay perspective?

I'm interested in using the AG portfolio first and foremost in a way that will restore public trust in the office. I'm not sure how I'll handle gameplay; as it is, some fun is probably necessary to keep things interesting, but (and sorry to pivot back to this again) you can be too driven by the idea of fun in the abstract.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

What changes should be made to ensure that the Attorney General's office remains independent from interference within the executive branch?

As a follow on, in the past, particularly with the example cited by Truman regarding myself and Oakvale, the "responsible" President served as the check on the Attorney General. However, if we are to put some barriers between the President and the Attorney General, what measures should be taken to maintain the accountability of the Attorney General? Senate Removal?

Lastly, a big concern that existed previously was that the Attorney was also a regional executive. Would you support restricting regional executives from serving in the position, since historically, aside from criminal trials, cases involving regional actions tend to dominate Attorney General activity?

My instinct is that we need to hit a sweet spot between having an AG free from any outside control (as they can't be held back), and one too chained to outside authority and pressure.

As such, if the Senate was to make the AG substantially freer from executive authority, it would have to place the checks and balances elsewhere. And abuse of authority and irresponsibility can come from any single place, or more than one at the same time. The Senate itself (a majority of the Senate), a President, an AG too powerful and strong to be dismissed from the position by any normal means, to name just a few.

I would consider any potential bans on any category of regional officeholder from the position carefully, as it might just be the best man for the job is a regional executive and a future Administration might find a shortage of people willing to fill it. But the recent events have also shown an irresponsible regional executive and AG can abuse the hell out of the powers of both positions in tandem. There's certainly at least some merit to the idea. A part of my brain is bringing up a devils advocate argument though: I don't know how much we want to be responding to the past crisis when the next crisis could manifest itself very differently, and separating authority doesn't do much when two men are kindred spirits willing to work together, or one man might be willing to work as the puppet of another.

All in all though, this is starting to enter quibble territory and as you said, regional activity is significant here. This is not some kind of radical step at all, and we're probably not losing too much...maybe. There's a lot to think about, that much is clear. All facets should be considered and weighed and the Senate should consider reform proposals, because there are very probably some that could make our Republic more secure in the median scenario (which is what should be the guiding baseline).

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

An issue that came up last summer was the lack of available attorneys to serve as defense consul. What actions will you take to restore the legal culture in this game and thereby insure the resources are there to carry out a successful legal proceeding?

I'll see what can be done on the issue. I'm open to suggestions, and I feel somewhat confident some kind of solution can be reached.

In the past we had the Supreme Court Bar system, but that fell into disuse and got rolled into an omnibus useless bill repeal.

Not sure if that would work but certainly some kind of outreach effort to the community's legally minded people mind be a good place to start. That would be a decent project for the Attorney General to spearhead.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

An issue that came up last summer was the lack of available attorneys to serve as defense consul. What actions will you take to restore the legal culture in this game and thereby insure the resources are there to carry out a successful legal proceeding?

I'll see what can be done on the issue. I'm open to suggestions, and I feel somewhat confident some kind of solution can be reached.

In the past we had the Supreme Court Bar system, but that fell into disuse and got rolled into an omnibus useless bill repeal.

Not sure if that would work but certainly some kind of outreach effort to the community's legally minded people mind be a good place to start. That would be a decent project for the Attorney General to spearhead.

It would be a good project.

I wonder how it would best be done. Some kind of "Calling all lawyers!" kind of thread?

[Mr. Reactionary]

An issue that came up last summer was the lack of available attorneys to serve as defense consul. What actions will you take to restore the legal culture in this game and thereby insure the resources are there to carry out a successful legal proceeding?

I'll see what can be done on the issue. I'm open to suggestions, and I feel somewhat confident some kind of solution can be reached.

In the past we had the Supreme Court Bar system, but that fell into disuse and got rolled into an omnibus useless bill repeal.

Not sure if that would work but certainly some kind of outreach effort to the community's legally minded people mind be a good place to start. That would be a decent project for the Attorney General to spearhead.

It would be a good project.

I wonder how it would best be done. Some kind of "Calling all lawyers!" kind of thread?

This was my attempt:

https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=485255.0

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

An issue that came up last summer was the lack of available attorneys to serve as defense consul. What actions will you take to restore the legal culture in this game and thereby insure the resources are there to carry out a successful legal proceeding?

I'll see what can be done on the issue. I'm open to suggestions, and I feel somewhat confident some kind of solution can be reached.

In the past we had the Supreme Court Bar system, but that fell into disuse and got rolled into an omnibus useless bill repeal.

Not sure if that would work but certainly some kind of outreach effort to the community's legally minded people mind be a good place to start. That would be a decent project for the Attorney General to spearhead.

It would be a good project.

I wonder how it would best be done. Some kind of "Calling all lawyers!" kind of thread?

This was my attempt:

https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=485255.0

Thanks for linking this.
It is good to get inspiration.

[Adam Griffin]

A loyal and worthy successor to this glorious position. Given I've known the nominee and his credentials for longer than most, I believe he can be trusted to be as impartial of an Attorney General as anyone, so I am in support of the nominee.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I motion for a vote on confirmation. Senators have 24 hours to object.

[Joseph Cao]

Opening the vote now since I don't trust myself to still be up later.

A vote on the confirmation is now open for 96 hours. Please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Aye

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I understand expediency but we shouldn't be screwing Senators out of their rights to save a few hours. It is this kind of corner cutting that creates the notion that it is acceptable to deprive Senators of other rights, such as the right of an equal opportunity to cast a vote for instance, as WD did.

[WD]

Aye

[Dr. MB]

Aye

[Kuumo]

Aye

[Sestak]

Aye.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Opening the vote now since I don't trust myself to still be up later.

A vote on the confirmation is now open for 96 hours. Please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

Confirmed

Aye

[beesley]

Aye for the record