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"Senate Forces Withdrawal Of Capable Nominee Because ?????"HEM Tiberius
Managing Editor
Op-Ed
Earlier this week, Chief Comrade Prim submitted Maowi to fill the role of Councilor of World Assembly Affairs. Up to this point, the role had been filled by United People of Centrism, who vanished off the face of the earth as university began (understandable, if unfortunate).
"Maowi has been a steadfast contributor in World Assembly Affairs, with very in-depth knowledge of WA workings and knowledgeable about the key players in the WA, the WALL discord server, and the NS WA Discord Server," Chief Prim told the Senate. "As the WA has been slower recently and has a slightly less burdensome task list than the Ministry of Communications [...], I think Maowi will be deftly able to manage and delegate the tasks of both departments."
The Senate, evidently, didn't agree.
Without asking a single question of the nominee, Speaker GraVandius slammed the door on her immediately.
I could not be less hyped about there being a Minister-Councilor, whomever was the nominee. It represents an evidently complete paucity in talent pipelines in two ministries, at least in the eyes of you two [...] I really just don’t see a joint appointment here working out in either the short term or the long term, regardless of the talent of the nominee.
Senator Rand, also critical of the nomination, responded on the opposite end of the spectrum: by firing off a battery of half-a-dozen questions.
"I do wish to express my deep concern for the state of our government where we are so challenged to fill such a basic position. This nomination should be subject to significant scrutiny," Senator Rand suggested, prior to listing out his litany of different questions, most of which related to the dual nature of the appointment.
Sources from inside the Goldenblock indicate the whip counters inside the Senate saw the nomination consigned to failure, and Maowi withdrew her name from consideration.
For no real reason.
While Maowi's confirmation would've been historic in that she would've been the first person to hold a Council and Ministry job at the same time, the act of holding more than one role at once is not unheard of, or even rare. Senator Astrellan, who shared after the nomination was pulled that he would've voted in favor of Maowi, holds the roles of Minister, Senator, Deputy First Minister, and for this week, acting First Minister. Astellan was asked no questions about dual roles when unanimously reconfirmed by the Senate as Integration Minister.
Senator Rand, who asked his laundry list of questions, including the bizarre demand for a list of alternative candidates that were considered but deemed to not be good enough, also serves as a Justice on the High Court. In his own reconfirmation last week he wasn't asked a single question about dual roles, and was confirmed unanimously.
While some people may say that holding multiple positions in the executive is different than holding multiple roles in different branches, this argument is really position-contingent. It might be tricky to serve as Grand Admiral and Minister of Recruitment, but executive roles like Councilor of World Assembly Affairs or Attorney General are much less time-intensive (perhaps even less so than the Senate), as Chief Prim pointed out from the outset of his nomination remarks.
There's been much discussion in the region about how even as the domestic side of government staffs up with new members and fresh talent, the foreign affairs side remains run largely by veterans and old hands. This would've been an opportunity to introduce a qualified, trained, promising new member to the FA side of the government. The Senate, sadly, decided to go a different way.