I find the whole Gov/Spiritus affair to be unsettling on many levels, but I suppose the level that is relevant here are the issues that Pengu just brought up. You stated in this topic that you believe Gov was innocent, but you abandoned your commitment to defend him seemingly to protect your own reputation. As you said, your reputation would have been shattered if you had defended him.
Now you're running for government office in a region with strong principles that has had to go to bat against foreign regions to protect the rights of our Citizens and the sovereignty of our region. If you were called upon to do the same as a member of our government, would you look to your responsibilities and commitments to this region, or to your reputation in other regions? If you were called upon to try a case involving Gov or some other Citizen, could you ignore foreign pressure that may arise to come to a specific decision?
I don't agree at all with Gov dragging the issue out and making it unnecessarily personal for this venue, but I think given the situation as it happened with the motivations that you stated those are legitimate questions. And for the record, I like you very much as a person, and I'm glad you're a part of Wintreath, but I'm bringing these questions up because they're important questions for this election and for you. I feel in order to advance politically in this region, you will have to decisively convince the people through your words and actions that you are here for the long haul and that you won't abandon them or the region, even if sticking with us might be unpopular elsewhere.
Wintreath is an amazing community of friends. It's a great honour to be entrusted by this community with a role in its leadership, but it is also a responsibility, and not always an easy one.
It may come off as personal, but the issue here Wintermoot is is inability to honour commitments, no matter how unpopular it may seem. He only cared about himself and not about fulfilling his obligation to me. How can I trust him as a legislator if he can't even complete something major like that? We've already seen Denth up and left the region because of his self-centred behaviour.
Now, to respond to the next post, with relevant parts:
The fact of the matter is, if I had won, Gov would have just got himself banned again. You know that, I know that and Gov definitely knows that. I could not in good conscience fight a futile battle. I'd do no such thing even for myself. When you've lost, you just have to accept that. Gov is just too volatile. I built a strong case for him. He still has all the information I had prepared for the case. He had the arguments ready. He could have defended himself, but he would much rather have someone else in the plane with him as it crashed into the mountainside.
No I wouldn't have. I was banned because Tim admitted he wanted to be an asshole. This was about fighting a bully, and you let the bully have what he wants. I was not in an emotional state to defend myself rationally, and I needed someone else who knew Spiritus law better than I. The first person I asked was too busy and had medical issues. Dolphin started but couldn't finish the job because he had a job IRL and didn't bother saying much until the last minute that he was working lots of hours. When I came to COS for help, I trusted him he would help me. I'm an honour-based person, and I'm sorry if I felt that COS had any honour or decency or good character in him, but I went to him for that reason. I didn't violate the law, Tim just decided to be a douche.
Gov's case is...unique. Unique in that well, this is Gov we're talking about. No matter which region such a case would take place, whether it be TNP, Spiritus or even here, it is a lost cause. It is Gov's fault that this happened. His actions and behavior made it an impossible battle. If he had instead acted his age and respected the personal privacy of others, he'd still be in Spiritus and The North Pacific. I absolutely refuse to throw myself on top of the very bomb he armed.
It isn't my fault that this happened, now you're the one engaging in victim shaming. This had nothing to do with privacy violations - however rubbish the accusation was in TNP, it is irrelevant to Spiritus. There was no law violation on my part in Spiritus. I was barely active there to commit any violation of laws, and in the Spiritus law book, I violated none. I was bullied and disrespected simply because I don't have the social skills and grace of everyone else, and I don't fit Tim's views and ideology, so I was persecuted, and you essentially condoned that behaviour with your actions. I simply wanted to be treated with respect as you expect others to be treated, and instead I've been enduring harassment and bullying to far too many extremes than any of my social faux-pas have caused.
I believe everyone has a right to a fair trial, but when a fair trial is not an option there's just nothing that can be done. Frankly I regret being duped into defending him in the first place. Getting involved in that god awful mess has plagued me from the start and I am so tired of being harassed by Gov because I came to my senses. Until today I was willing to overlook all of the times he bothered me, despite the countless times I have explained myself to him. I even approved his citizenship in Renegade Islands. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. How did he thank me? By cussing out people in the RIA irc channel. I warned him about his language and behavior, frequently. Everyone else thought I was crazy to let Gov be a citizen. I also regret that decision. The fact that he has remained silent there since his last slip up is the only good thing he has done since coming over there. Never mind the fact that he hasn't made a single contribution to it. He only came to that channel to bug me about his case for the hundredth time.
I'm sick of it all. As a citizen here in Wintreath, Gov's rights matter to me. That's as far as it goes. I just can't tolerate him anymore. I don't like Gov in the least, but as a fellow citizen of Wintreath I have his back. However I will no longer involve myself in his personal issues with other people. Those are his problems that he has to either take care of or forget about and just move on with his life already. If Gov can't grow up and like a freakin' adult then I see no reason why that should be any concern of mine.
I have nothing to thank you for. You didn't honour your commitment to defend me and you just threw me under the bus because you only cared about yourself instead of the cause you so claimed to champion and believe in. You may claim you believe I am innocent, but your actions showed you're willing to throw someone to the wolves to save your ass. Your actions bring shame, dishonour, and disgrace upon yourself.
My contributions to the RIA, or lack thereof, have no relevance to the issue at hand, which is your credibility. I have readily explained that fighting to financially stabilise myself and keep a roof over my head for both myself and my cat, while dealing with the anniversary loss of my mother, was far more important than indulging anyone's whims or requests on Wintreath. Wintermoot and others mostly understood that. That is exactly why I haven't run in this election.
The only adult I don't see here is you, how you passively avoided speaking to me like a coward. You clearly didn't explain anything to my face until I had to directly press the issue, because you were not making logical sense. You never came to me with any issues you heard from others, and asked. If you did ask, I would have gladly addressed them all, and told you how their attempts to engage in character defamation were just A. hearsay, B. personal attacks and nothing of substance, and C. irrelevant to the Spiritus case or justifying Tim and Salax's behaviour. You instead, chose to side with the mob justice. It makes you look like a shitty lawyer, and even now, a shitty politician with zero credibility.
Your actions are inexcusable. You failed to communicate, you failed to uphold your end of the commitments, and you failed to show that you believe in innocence until proven guilty. In the end, your claims are hollow, at most a lie, and nothing but a poor attempt to cover yourself.
It may sound like I make this personal, because the way with which I have been hurt by SPiritus people has hurt me seriously. It was already bad enough that I was burned by Tim's other friends when their attempt to manipulate me with a fake suicide attempt was shitty enough, but now this.
The only reason I'm still sane, or haven't gone off the deep end in terms of NS, is Wintreath and I won't have that ruined by someone who wants to dishonour me for their personal gain or because they feel that appeasing the mob and bullies will further their political career.
That is all I'll say further on this subject matter. Either way, you don't deserve a vote, or a seat in the UH, IMO.