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Carry on with Robin

Hello everyone!  BSR here again with another campaign for the delegacy!  The last few months have been hectic, but here at the WA we've been humming right along, and we're back up to nearly 70 ENDORSEMENTS!!!  (From about 57 the time of last election—things are GREAT from a WA participation standpoint right now, we're also getting upwards of 25 votes by individual nations each WA vote as well, which is great, because it allows me to not rely on my mystic powers as a WA delegate to make decisions independently!)

As such, I've decided that I'll run again, especially considering as this is the one thing that I can do rather effectively (considering I've done it for a while now) that allows me to continue to remain engaged with the community and bringing some value to the region.  (At least I like to think as much). 

I can recycle some polls if that's what people want, too!  Nobody seems to take me up on any ideas for improvement of our WA system, so channeling my inner Reon, I think that we'll be able to continue to keep things going well. 

I DO however want to implement some program similar to TNP's WA system, in which there are regional security councilors and a vice delegate, less from any real threat of Wintermoot going poof overnight and more from an aesthetic and WA engagement lens.  People who I'd want to get involved in this sort of things include Valtrona, Warwik, etc, but again, this isn't a major concern for most people, so it doesn't have to happen if people don't have any overwhelming opinions on this in the ensuing thread one way or another.  (tl;dr: if you want change, I'd prefer to have a sizeable group advocating for it than not before I pull any triggers.)
The goals this term will remain the same as they do most terms: 

(1) To write and submit WA legislation as we deem it necessary and get what we write to vote!

(2) Continuation of the polling program (including poll recycling because apparently some folks want that! ) and trying to move our WA endorsements solidly into the 70s.  This is kind of hard, especially because Wintreath has broadly diversified away from just a NationStates region.  Still, getting more people to the region would expand our community, and meeting new people is always a good thing!!

(3) As I've tried previously, with little success because we're a pretty laissez-faire as a region with respect to the WA, coordinating with TNP in the WA would probably be the best way to amplify our small say into something a bit larger, and we have pretty great relationships with TNP.  Fiji is on their WA council and he's a friend, so he's definitely a good go-to person if folks end up interested in our pursuit of that sort of thing.

(4) If anyone in the community wants anything from the WA office, we are always willing to attempt any crazy plan, no matter how far fetched or half baked the idea may seem at first.  Seriously!  Nobody ever takes me up on this, but I'd totally think it'd be awesome if someone did this season!!
In summary: This is an amazing group of people, and I would love to be able to continue to serve in the Regional capacity where I feel I can bring the most to the table with where I am in life right now.

Yes Minister

1) Why are you running for this position?
  I am sincere, thorough and a good communicator generally, and though I lack some of the more graphics-related skills necessary for other cabinet positions, I'm able to generate some interest in the WA, I think! 
  *obligatory remark that I am also a Devout Potatoeist and clearly not a Tomatoist Heretic
2) What do you aim to accomplish as Thane? As part of this, you must include at least one thing that you promise to do beyond the minimum listed duties of the position during your term. It should be measurable, so that it's black and white whether you fulfilled this mandate at the end of the term if you are elected.
  Getting community involvement in creating quality polls that generate fun little activity is hard, but I'll continue my efforts there!!  Also I'll try keeping the endorsement level close to the 70+ endorsements range as much as possible, but gaining more endorsements would be even better! (Similar goals to last time!)
2a) If you are an incumbent running for re-election, did you fulfill your mandate from the June election? If not, why didn't you?
  We definitely kept the mandate with the total number of endorsements.  There were also several WA announcements that I made on the message board. Polling did fall off a bit this quarter but that was largely because I shifted focus to endo increases. 
3) What qualifications or experience do you have in the area that you are running in?
I have been delegate for a while now, so I like to think I've got the hang of things!!  I'm also Wintreath's Ambassador to TNP and Europeia, which are also cool regions!
4) How do you plan to have the time to fulfill the duties of the position until the next election in March?
It's late in my current university quarter so early this session may be tough but overall activity should pick up and then we can go from there! 
5) Are you currently a part of any other NationStates regional or organizational government? If so, please include those regions and positions.
I am still Lord of Development in New Hyperion!! (the Wintreath Vassal Region) 
Additionally, if you read everything which I have written, know that you are cool and definitely should consider a job in the Civil Service and consequently, "I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a by no means disagreeable obligation which has, over the years, become more or less established practice in government service as we approach the terminal period of the year — calendar, of course, not financial — in fact, not to put too fine a point on it, Week Fifty-One — and submit to you, with all appropriate deference, for your consideration at a convenient juncture, a sincere and sanguine expectation — indeed confidence — indeed one might go so far as to say hope — that the aforementioned period may be, at the end of the day, when all relevant factors have been taken into consideration, susceptible to being deemed to be such as to merit a final verdict of having been by no means unsatisfactory in its overall outcome and, in the final analysis, to give grounds for being judged, on mature reflection, to have been conducive to generating a degree of gratification which will be seen in retrospect to have been significantly higher than the general average."

Welcome to the campaign...I was wondering if you'd get yours in in time.

It looks like this may be the only contested election that we have this election, with Katie also running for the position. What do you think would set you apart from her as Delegate? And do you have any response to her answer to the same question, which was that she could be more consistent with some things such as running polls than you have recently?

Oh campaigns being last minute is a must, lest the world become too predictable.

Honestly I didn't expect a contested election, I think that I'm pretty open about being totally game for improvements so long as they make sense and are gradual. The only real poll feedback that I've gotten has been Katie's election thread which says that she'd be for recycling some of my old polls (we've used lots of topics in the past, and I just assumed people wouldn't want to redo polls because it'd come off as overly spammy (which is a characterization of the delegavy which I'd like to avoid personally )

As far as what would set me apart, other than the fact that I would be another person in the Riksråd and consequently be able to offer more community opinions on how we want to go about things moving forward, it's a tricky question. I like to think that I strike a good balance with the delegate, not over complicating things but also being pretty conspicuously open to ideas that community members bring forward, directing the occasional person messaging the delegate about a problem to the proper person to take care of it in goverment, etc? I don't want to imply that Katie wouldn't be good too though, because I'm sure she'd also do a good job because she also cares about our community.

As far as a rebuttal to her poll consistency statement, I was mostly keeping things low because I was focusing on trying to up our endorsement numbers the past term more than the polling. If more polls, including recycled polls, are something that people want, I'd definitely be game. To use one of my favorite Quaylisms, "whatever [the community] wants, I'm for"

The trick is getting people to tell me what they want