Announcement of candidacy

[Fritz]

I am very disappointed to learn of Senator Texasgurl's resignation from the senate.  She has been a fine upstanding member, and her voice in the senate will be missed.

That being said, I hereby announce my intention to run for her open seat, in a special election mandated by the constitution which I hope will take place without delay.  I am slightly more moderate than Ms. Texasgurl, but only slightly.  As a senator, I intend to uphold the liberal ideals which she has done so admirably.

If the press has any questions, I will be happy to answer them.


Fritz

[Josh/Devilman88]

Am I in your District?

[Fritz]

No, Josh.  Texas is in my region, but not my district.

Since re-districting has not occurred, I presume Texasgurl's district remains the same for the special election.  

Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are included.

[Josh/Devilman88]

No, Josh.  Texas is in my region, but not my district.

Since re-districting has not occurred, I presume Texasgurl's district remains the same for the special election.  

Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are included.

Ok thanks

[Beet]

No, Josh.  Texas is in my region, but not my district.

Since re-districting has not occurred, I presume Texasgurl's district remains the same for the special election.  

Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are included.

Ok thanks

I hope that Texasgurl decides to change her mind about resigning, since it is not effective yet, but if she does then good luck in your race.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

I would like to endorse Fritz for the Senate in District 3.  Sure, its meaningless... but endorsing is fun!

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

[Fritz]

Thanks Don!

[KEmperor]

Haha, love the new campaign logo.  Good luck with your campaign Fritz.

[Fritz]

Live from Minneapolis, Minnesota

(Cheers and applause as Fritz takes the stage)


Thank you all for coming.  First, I would like to express that I am not pleased about the events which have created the necessity for this special election.  Senator Texasgurl has been a dedicated and distinguished member of the senate, who has earned the respect of all of her colleagues, including those who disagree with her viewpoints.  We would all like to see her continue.

However, the honorable senator has made her decision, and appears to be standing by that decision.  The forum must continue, and a suitable replacement must be elected.

Just as I did only two short weeks ago, I am once again facing an opponent in this election whom I respect and admire.  Both PBrunsel and myself are capable, intelligent, dedicated, and honest men.  I believe that either one of us would serve the forum with honor and distinction.

Unlike the last election, however, my opponent in this election and I do not see eye to eye on most of the issues that are important to the members of this forum.  My opponent wishes to bring another conservative voice to the senate.  I wish to continue to uphold the liberal ideals that Senator Texasgurl stood for.  The choice before the voters of district 3 is clear.  If you want a senator who leans to the right, you should vote for PBrunsel.  If you want a senator who leans to the left, you should vote for Fritz.

I support the rights of gay men and women to enter legal partnerships, whether or not that is called “marriage” is not relevant to the issue.

On the abortion issue, I am perhaps more moderate.  I personally disagree with abortion, and believe that an abortion should not be easy to get.  But I would oppose any attempt to ban abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, or in cases of rape, or in cases where continuing the pregnancy would put the mother’s health at risk

I oppose the death penalty, under any circumstances.

I support universal health care for all Americans.  I believe that health care should be a right, not a privilege.

On matters of the economy, I support measures which will enhance full employment.  I do not see evidence that cutting taxes for the wealthiest 1% of Americans achieves this end.  Our economy will be stimulated by tax breaks to the lower and middle income brackets, thereby stimulating consumer spending and, as a result, job growth.  I support increased spending on government programs which will enhance job creation.

As your senator, I will fight for these principles that are important to me, and that I believe are important to the residents of district 3.  Thank you again, and may Dave bless the forum.

(Cheers and applause)

[platypeanArchcow]

(Cheers and applause)

[Fritz]

I am not responsible for Don's post, and I made no mention of it in my speech.  If anything I think I paid PBrunsel a compliment or two, then proceeded to point out some of our idealogical differences.  How is that "unclean"?

[© tweed]

Down with Fritz '04

[PBrunsel]

Down with Fritz '04

That''s not nice, Fritz is a nice and honest guy.

[King]

If I was in District 3 I would vote Fritz, but I am in 5...which reminds me...who are my senators...

[The Duke]

Your Senators are:

President Pro-Tem of the Senate, John F. Kennedy
and
Senator StevenNick

Your State officials are:
Governor Wildcard
and
Lt. Governor John Ford

[Fritz]

Down with Fritz '04

That''s not nice, Fritz is a nice and honest guy.

Thanks bud, but you don't need to defend me against Boss Tweed.  No one really takes him seriously anyways.

[Fritz]

Oh, ok.  No offense was taken, I was just a little confused I guess.  

[Fritz]

As a candidate for the senate, I would like to express my positions on matters currently under debate in the senate.

Combined Home State Voting Reform Act.  I appreciate Senator Kennedy’s re-introducing these measures as a combined legislative measure, as progress on the original bills appears to have stalled.  The Home State Bill was my suggestion originally; obviously I support it.  We recently had a rash of forum members changing their home states several times within a matter of days.  I feel this behavior is unnecessary and disruptive, and hinders any attempt at accurate record-keeping.  Further, we must prevent members from changing state merely for the purpose of voting in one particular election.  Changing of state should be allowed, of course, but we must have some restrictions to it.

I also support the Voting Reform section of this amendment.  Members who may be on vacation, or for any reason unable to vote during a particular election, should not be disenfranchised.

Second Boss Abortion Act.  As I have expressed elsewhere, I have mixed feelings about the abortion issue.  I personally disagree with abortion, and I feel that an abortion should not be an easy thing to get.  However, there are sometimes medical reasons for having an abortion, and in those cases the abortion must be allowed.  When this is not the case, I support a woman’s right to choose, but I also agree that there should be some time limit regarding how long the woman may wait before having the abortion done.  Whatever the time limit is will seem arbitrary, but I think that Senator Beet has laid out good evidence to support the time limit being 140 days.  I would therefore support this bill, with the amendments currently under debate.

Constitutional Amendment on Districts.  There is some inconsistency between this amendment and a previously passed amendment.  This amendment states that “the senate shall arrange set-up of the districts, and with a two-thirds vote, approve the final version.”  The previous amendment states that “districts will be redrawn by the governors in the event of a disparity in voter allocation between the districts.”  I see a contradiction here, which needs to be clarified before passing this amendment.  But this amendment is clearly necessary, as under the current conditions there is no way to satisfy all the constitutional requirements for districts.

Proportional Representation Amendment.  Senator Kennedy has declared a legislative freeze upon this amendment.  Nonetheless, I will offer my opinion that this act is unnecessary, and merely trades one problem in favor of another.  I would oppose it.


I can find no other items currently on the senate floor.

In conclusion, I would like to express a bit of frustration with the lack of organization in the senate.  At one time, we had all senate matters being “stickied.”  Gustaf did a reasonable job of maintaining this, but we ended up with a plethora of stickied threads.  This practice was discontinued in favor of the Unified Voting Thread, which unfortunately I must state that Governor Ilikeverin has done a very poor job of maintaining.  Some matters which have been under debate for some time are not currently included (Boss Abortion Act).  One bill still in this thread has already passed (Complete Forum Simplification Bill).  The remaining three bills in this thread have had no activity for some time.  Senator Kennedy has taken two of  these off the table just today.  Again, I appreciate Senator Kennedy’s efforts as PPT to get things organized and moving, I think he is doing a fine job.  We need a separate board for senate matters, and as your senator I will take action to make this happen.

[Beet]

Pbrunsel, DemRepDan, Fritz... Its a shame that we have such good talent all bundled together in one district  Fritz your positions are very clear and meticulous. You've contributed a lot. I'll support your bid, even though I can't help you

[Fritz]

I am very pleased to have received the endorsement of The Region, published by the leader of the Manifest Destiny Party.  In their endorsement, however, we were criticized for the lack of attention my campaign has paid to issues of defense and foreign policy.  I would like to address those issues now.

Regarding the war in Iraq, it is my opinion that this war was conducted at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons, and in the wrong manner.  My stance on this point is rather moot at this time, of course.  The important question before us today is what to do moving forward, as we cannot undo mistakes already made.  I fully support our brave young men and women in Iraq.  Every action should be taken to stabilize the situation in that country as expeditiously as humanly possible, and bring our troops home safely.  The Iraqi people must be put in a position to govern and police themselves.  The same is true in Afghanistan, but my view differs in that country in that I feel that war was conducted at the right time, for the right reasons, and in the right manner.

I may have avoided this issue previously because it requires reference to real world politics rather than Atlas forum politics.  As a nation, we have a right and a duty to defend ourselves, and to retaliate if we are attacked.  The war in Afghanistan was a justified retaliation.  Iraq, on the other hand, did not pose any imminent threat to our nation, as President Bush has led us to believe.  While I agree that the removal of Saddam Hussein from power was a positive step for the world, I also believe that the removal of Kim Jong II would be a positive step, but I would not advocate invading North Korea.

[Fritz]

I have previously discussed differences between PBrunsel and myself as candidates.  Since that time, we have had a third candidate enter the race- Demrepdan.

I wish I could discuss what the differences on issues are between Demrepdan and myself.  I do not know his positions, as he has yet to express them.  The candidate has done no campaigning since his announcement of entering this race.

It appears likely to me that Demrepdan will win this election, whether he campaigns or not.  The reason for this is a high concentration of AFIP party members in the third district.  Several AFIP members have announced their intention to vote for Demrepdan, and these endorsements appear to be based largely on party.

I appeal to third district AFIP members to vote for candidate, not for party.  I respect Demrepdan's contributions to the forum, particularly the constitution.  But I have also made numerous contributions to the forum.

   While we respect the achievements of the former Attorney General, we have to wonder if he really wants the job. His campaign has been the most lackluster of the three candidates that have announced. Not only that, but his preciptous and wholly uneccessary decision to leave the office of Attorney General vacant before President Gustaf had even announced a nominee does not bode well for Demrepdan's interest in forum politics at this time. The voters of District 3 and of this forum would be ill-served if Demrepdan does not truly have an interest in the office. Unless he mounts a more vigorous campaign between now and the election, regardless of his position on the issues (whatever they may be) we cannot favor his election.

Vote for Fritz- a moderate liberal who really wants the job.

[ilikeverin]

Well, most of us know his positions from when he was active

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Fritz has my vote.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

But newer voters such as myself, weren't around when Demrepdan was active.  As that old adage goes:  "What have you done for me lately?"