Proposal Appointment: McChimp as Director of Public Relations

[Debussy]

Shareholders of Lazarus,

@"McChimp" has been appointed to serve as Director of Public Relations. As per Mandate 12 IV.6, this appointment is subject to a simple majority confirmation by the Shareholders of Lazarus.

The appointment announcement by Managing Director @"Temmi"

Hey everyone! Thanks for bearing with me. I am making two appointments today. I am still waiting to speak to some others before making my decision on the other cabinet positions so please be patient with me on those!

I've decided to go ahead and reappoint Roavin. Though I am not experienced with military affairs, the reception Roavin received when he was just appointed a week or so ago, along with testimony about his experience in the field, means there is no reason for me to appoint anyone different.

I have also decided to appoint McChimp as Director of Public Relations. I think it's important to surround yourself with different viewpoints and perspectives. I spoke with McChimp at length about his ideas and approach to foreign affairs for Lazarus and I think working alongside him we will be able to ensure we're taking the right steps with the right regions. I think we can do better with how active we are with our FA and I expect us to get a lot accomplished over the next few months. Ryccia has done a great job and I've asked him to stay on as Deputy to continue working with on-going treaty negotiations and more!

Additionally I wanted to mention that once I have the cabinet in place, I'll be working on a list of specific projects/goals for each ministry that we'll release to the rest of the region so everyone knows what we're trying to do and can help! This way we can also track our progress If you have a desire to help Lazarus grow or have some ideas about how to make our region better, feel free to reach out to me in NS or on Discord. ^-^

This thread may be used for discussion and motions regarding this appointment.

-- Debussy, Speaker

 

[joWhatup]

I am hesitant, so to speak, on this appointment. The person in question has quite a bit of a temper and I am somewhat concerned it might not exactly help to improve our standing abroad if they are unable to keep this in check. Speaking from personal experience, I am concerned that you aren't able to keep a cool head where one is required.

I also have other questions and concerns I would like answers to:

When I took over as Director of Public Relations earlier this year, when Sylven was Prime Minister, following your service in that office, the department was inactive and disorganised: we were short on ambassadors, the department in question did not seem to be informed about it's purpose, there was no list of ambassadors to speak of, and foreign updates were not written or published. This has somewhat improved when Domais and Ryccia were in office, but it is still somewhat short on staff, and it's position is fragile, so to speak. I recognise you may have only had a relatively short time in office, and you may have been unable to resolve these issues in the time you were given, but I would still like to know what you plan to do to prevent these things in the future, how to keep the department active and engaging.

Furthermore, where do you think the PR department should aim itself at? Which regions are natural allies, which regions aren't? What makes you distinguish one from the other? What do you think our broad approach to alliances should be? In particular, what should our approach to NPO-allied regions be? How will we strengthen ties to our current allies?

Those are broad concerns and questions I have that I wish answered before I determine amything.

 

[McChimp]

You've painted a really dim picture of what I think of as a rather successful stint as FA minister despite extreme adversity.

I'm capable of being diplomatic: I wrote our treaty with TSP from scratch and saw that ratified by all parties. I'm also capable of saying no when that's necessary: I told TEP that their conduct made it clear that a treaty between us wasn't appropriate. Half a year later, TWP and Osiris have reached the same conclusion and recently dropped their treaties with TEP. Sometimes the guy representing this region has to be able to put his foot down.

My priorities and Sylven's priorities didn't always line up. In particular I thought she was too accepting, that she let people take advantage of Lazarus too much. She let people publish interviews with fascists who had attempted to subvert TNP in the Gazette, people who it later turned out were fascists attempting to subvert Lazarus. She often put up polls asking the citizenry about really important FA decisions before she had told me she was going to make a decision at all. In particular she took this approach when she was asked what Lazarus would think of Osiris making peace with the NPO. During the resulting "peace or not?" poll Lazarene citizens were deprived of the full context of the situation and the then-FA minister of Osiris actively campaigned for ending the war despite the obvious conflict of interest. In another case I had to wade in after she invited Unibot into Lazarus on the NSGP forum. In all of these cases I told her that I thought she was being reckless.

In the end I was replaced because Sylven wanted an extensive ambassador programme with monthly reports where I wanted to create a close-knit FA team, write reports quarterly and to extend efforts like those that had seen success in TSP to other regions. In the end, I don't think my replacement delivered the ambassador programme she wanted either and on top of that the clear agenda I had agreed with her was totally abandoned, either because the candidate she replaced me with was unable to work with the regions I had been working with or was unwilling to.


With regards to this term, I'd like to put that agenda back on the rails. In pursuit of this, there will be interregional events that will hopefully engage not only our ambassadors-who we ought to keep now that we have them-but also the whole region with the rest of the world. I want to see our treaty with TSP-who I think is the most obvious candidate for alliance amongst the GCRs-progress to a full mutual defence pact. Perhaps this might allow us to befriend other members of that sphere. The groundwork has already been laid and TSP is a reliable region. If we ever need help, we would be able to depend on them: I think that's the most important quality for a friend to have.

 

[Domais]

I would like to state one thing, when I started in FA so in April/May so regions haden't received an update since Ham was an ambassador, so like 10 months or so. This was a general failure of a lot of people.

 

[joWhatup]

You've painted a really dim picture of what I think of as a rather successful stint as FA minister despite extreme adversity.

That may be. While I do not deny your successes during your term, there were, from my perspective at least, certainly also some issues and I consider it worth the time and effort to request clarification about what your ideas are to prevent such issues from occurring in the future.

I'm capable of being diplomatic: I wrote our treaty with TSP from scratch and saw that ratified by all parties. I'm also capable of saying no when that's necessary: I told TEP that their conduct made it clear that a treaty between us wasn't appropriate. Half a year later, TWP and Osiris have reached the same conclusion and recently dropped their treaties with TEP. Sometimes the guy representing this region has to be able to put his foot down.

My priorities and Sylven's priorities didn't always line up. In particular I thought she was too accepting, that she let people take advantage of Lazarus too much. She let people publish interviews with fascists who had attempted to subvert TNP in the Gazette, people who it later turned out were fascists attempting to subvert Lazarus. She often put up polls asking the citizenry about really important FA decisions before she had told me she was going to make a decision at all. In particular she took this approach when she was asked what Lazarus would think of Osiris making peace with the NPO. During the resulting "peace or not?" poll Lazarene citizens were deprived of the full context of the situation and the then-FA minister of Osiris actively campaigned for ending the war despite the obvious conflict of interest. In another case I had to wade in after she invited Unibot into Lazarus on the NSGP forum. In all of these cases I told her that I thought she was being reckless.

While fair, a minister of Foreign Affairs in particular needs to be capable of working closely with the Prime Minister and the rest of the Cabinet, as opposed to pushing their own views for foreign policy in opposition to the Prime Minister. While I agree that Sylven could be uncommunicative at times, it seems odd to me that you took this question to bash Sylven, which has little to do with my actual comments, and accuse a fellow Lazarene of an obvious conflict of interest, which also does not respond to my concerns.

In the end I was replaced because Sylven wanted an extensive ambassador programme with monthly reports where I wanted to create a close-knit FA team, write reports quarterly and to extend efforts like those that had seen success in TSP to other regions. In the end, I don't think my replacement delivered the ambassador programme she wanted either and on top of that the clear agenda I had agreed with her was totally abandoned, either because the candidate she replaced me with was unable to work with the regions I had been working with or was unwilling to.

With regards to this term, I'd like to put that agenda back on the rails. In pursuit of this, there will be interregional events that will hopefully engage not only our ambassadors-who we ought to keep now that we have them-but also the whole region with the rest of the world. I want to see our treaty with TSP-who I think is the most obvious candidate for alliance amongst the GCRs-progress to a full mutual defence pact. Perhaps this might allow us to befriend other members of that sphere. The groundwork has already been laid and TSP is a reliable region. If we ever need help, we would be able to depend on them: I think that's the most important quality for a friend to have.

 

[McChimp]

That may be. While I do not deny your successes during your term, there were, from my perspective at least, certainly also some issues and I consider it worth the time and effort to request clarification about what your ideas are to prevent such issues from occurring in the future.

We don't have all that many ambassadors. Do you have an idea how to advertise the Department more, and recruit new ones?

The only thing about my term I would regard as unsuccessful was my failure to appoint ambassadors. It wasn't ideal but I think you've overblown it massively. The department wasn't a mess under me: it can't've been, it achieved a great deal with foreign regions. That is its mission. Ambassadors are-except in cases where they're required by treaties-a nicety, not a necessity. That said, if there is a shortage of them at the minute that will be solved in short order now we have a government that intends to re-engage with the region. I think that if we ask people, they will come.


Doing so has served me well domestically. On the interregional stage, however, compromises are more practical.

While fair, a minister of Foreign Affairs in particular needs to be capable of working closely with the Prime Minister and the rest of the Cabinet, as opposed to pushing their own views for foreign policy in opposition to the Prime Minister. While I agree that Sylven could be uncommunicative at times, it seems odd to me that you took this question to bash Sylven, which has little to do with my actual comments, and accuse a fellow Lazarene of an obvious conflict of interest, which also does not respond to my concerns.

...Much like your criticism of Sylven's term as Prime Minister, this does not respond or answer the questions and concerns brought up.

It was you who brought up my previous service as a reason to doubt my capabilities. You may not like the explanation for its few shortcomings but it's true nonetheless. My energy for the department was often wasted trying to dissuade Sylven from making the mistakes she was making. This is why second priorities like ambassador programs fell by the wayside.

Sylven appointed me so that I could advise her, not to tell her only what she wanted to hear. I advised her.


If you're going to accuse me of leaving the department "inactive and disorganised", Jo, I think you can probably sit and take a bit of what you're giving.


TSP is the most obvious candidate for an alliance because we already have an NAP with them and because, unless something has changed drastically, there should be a clear road to one.

We should aim to build ties with that section of the world because we're a neutral region. We already have at least two raider allies, we ought to diversify.

I regard them as reliable because they've always been reliable in the past.

Plans for UCR alliances, which I did not disregard last time, are currently being handled by somebody else.

Do our ties with these regions need strengthening? I will work to maintain them, certainly.

 

[joWhatup]

That may be. While I do not deny your successes during your term, there were, from my perspective at least, certainly also some issues and I consider it worth the time and effort to request clarification about what your ideas are to prevent such issues from occurring in the future.

We don't have all that many ambassadors. Do you have an idea how to advertise the Department more, and recruit new ones?

The only thing about my term I would regard as unsuccessful was my failure to appoint ambassadors. It wasn't ideal but I think you've overblown it massively. The department wasn't a mess under me: it can't've been, it achieved a great deal with foreign regions. That is its mission. Ambassadors are-except in cases where they're required by treaties-a nicety, not a necessity. That said, if there is a shortage of them at the minute that will be solved in short order now we have a government that intends to re-engage with the region. I think that if we ask people, they will come.

Doing so has served me well domestically. On the interregional stage, however, compromises are more practical.

Compromises are, as you say, more practical. I have never known you to be particularly careful or compromising, though, which is my primary concern.

My energy for the department was often wasted trying to dissuade Sylven from making the mistakes she was making. This is why second priorities like ambassador programs fell by the wayside.

I agree that things like inviting Unibot or the lack of communication between her and her MoFA were mistakes, but the tone of your post suggested you disagreed with her on broad policy. It is your job to further the agenda the Prime Minister sets, as well as advice the Prime Minister on matters of foreign policy, but not to dictate what that agenda should be.

If you're going to accuse me of leaving the department "inactive and disorganised", Jo, I think you can probably sit and take a bit of what you're giving.

TSP is the most obvious candidate for an alliance because we already have an NAP with them and because, unless something has changed drastically, there should be a clear road to one.

I can see that the road is open, but what in TSP tells you that we should take that particular road?

We should aim to build ties with that section of the world because we're a neutral region. We already have at least two raider allies, we ought to diversify.

why would we do that? How does it benefit us?

I regard them as reliable because they've always been reliable in the past.

Can you cite examples?

Plans for UCR alliances, which I did not disregard last time, are currently being handled by somebody else.

Do our ties with these regions need strengthening? I will work to maintain them, certainly.

Strengthening ties never hurts every once in a while.

 

[Frankender]

With all due respect to all parties involved, this seems more like an interrogation than an interview

 

[McChimp]

An action's importance is not measured by how many people it is undertaken by. Treaties are not just "flashy": they are essential to the security of the region. Again, you are massively overblowing my having decided to prioritise that over sending out a small regional report once a month into some kind of a big deal when it's really not. It was even presented to me as a perfectly normal decision to take when deciding what to do with an FA department when I asked those who had apparently distinguished themselves in that field for advice.

Compromises are, as you say, more practical. I have never known you to be particularly careful or compromising, though, which is my primary concern.

As I was saying, you have only ever dealt with me domestically.

I agree that things like inviting Unibot or the lack of communication between her and her MoFA were mistakes, but the tone of your post suggested you disagreed with her on broad policy. It is your job to further the agenda the Prime Minister sets, as well as advice the Prime Minister on matters of foreign policy, but not to dictate what that agenda should be.

Any such suggestion is your own invention.

why would we do that? How does it benefit us?

You've put it so well yourself, though. There is a conspicuous absence from your list, isn't there? Diversifying our alliances means that we have more reliable protection against a wider range of interests.

Can you cite examples?

I seem to recall them sending military aid when the Rahls last tried to make this region their plaything.


You must not have been listening earlier this year when I told people that I had selected an FA deputy specifically because of their enthusiasm for UCR relations. As it happens, I haven't told somebody else to handle it. Your government did. It is still being handled by the person your administration appointed. Do you still think that represents a lack of interest?

 

[Debussy]

I motion to vote.

 

[Demonos]

I second the motion to vote.