Senator Lloenflys Runs for First Minister






A Surprise from the Minister
The 'Goose Got Loose

Written by Unmighty Hezekon









In a surprising announcement yesterday, April 26, Senator Lloenflys made clear he would be running for First Minister on a ticket with Former President Sopo in the upcoming election. "My fellow Europeians, [f]or the Fourth time in the last four months I stand before you today to ask for your vote,” Senator Lloenflys said at his campaign launch event. “Sopo and I are pleased to be running, and hope to earn your vote in this election.”

What makes this announcement surprising is not that his is a dark horse campaign -- a recent flash poll, however small in sample, recorded him as being one of the most popular contesters in the eyes of the public. It is his decision to run for office this election that is surprising, given his recent statements to the contrary. In one case, he stated on a radio broadcast that covered potential First Minister candidates that he would not run for the office. (Possibly to the dismay of some that were hoping he would accept the challenge.) Consequently, it had seemed that the Minister of Culture and two-term senator would be leaning toward a simpler, more laid-back position after the next election.

However, after last night's post, it has become indisputable that the man with the mongoose avatar (as well as, for currently unknown reasons, a picture of Chester A. Arthur) has decided he will put his name in the pool of FM hopefuls. He is running on a platform that attempts to do several fixes he feels are necessary: a rejection of what he calls "an 'us vs. them" mentality between "pro-executive" Citizens and "pro-legislature Citizens"; a more comprehensive look at the role of the Deputy First Minister and Deputy Chief of State; as well as to "create a mechanism for amendment of the Constitution that includes a vote from the people."

He also advocates having a more visible First Minister role, such that he and Sopo as Deputy would work more in step with his chosen ministers to help improve both relations and output from the ministries. He mentioned, in particular, the Ministry of Communications as likely the primary beneficiary of this action, as he sees it to be in the most need of support. "I don’t think there is much question that the Ministry of Communications feels like the Ministry most in need of significant work," he stated. “The content put out by the EBC has dropped significantly over the last term, and until very recently the content that was coming out was primarily in the form of straight interviews rather than analysis pieces.” This is most likely with regards to Vinage Vinage's resignation as minister and subsequently Deputy Minister recombis' nomination as his replacement and the fallout that occurred shortly thereafter. He claims that he and Sopo will "play a heavy role" in Communications, stating "[t]he Minister will have regular contact with both Sopo and myself, effectively acting as a sort of 'Editorial Board' to plan content and ensure it is being produced." He also mentioned the possibility of an "Associated Press"-style relationship between the private media and the EBC, in order to "provide exposure to private media, increase the number of writers available to the EBC, and potentially do a great deal of good for journalism as a whole in the region."

After his initial announcement, there were subsequent comments on his campaign post that congratulated his bid and that further questioned him for his plans if he gains the office. Among them was an interest in interministerial activity, mentioned by Deputy Chair of the Citizens Assembly shufordbrian, who pointed to his EBC Culture Radio series he had done when he was the Minister of Culture, a collaboration of sorts between the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Radio. Lloenflys agreed with this, adding "collaboration between Ministries . . . could make for outstanding content." Astrellan, Deputy Minister of Recruitment for the Ministry of Interior, asked if there were plans to improve integration of new citizens. He mentioned that there seems to be an attrition of sorts for newcomers who want to join in positions; that there seems to be "large expectations on many roles," and that "[many citizens] simply get bored or hit a glass roof and leave, despite possibly having great potential." Lloenflys, in a much longer statement, reflected that he'd had similar discussions about this topic shortly before the post and that his plan to tackle this problem was with more First Minister and Deputy FM interaction and support for newcomers thrust into such roles as Minister of Communications, which have complex structures like the EBC to consider. Lethen brought up the question of the role of DFM, considering the ongoing Deputy Devolution amendment in the senate, to which Lloenflys said likely they would be "grandfathered in," but that if the law were changed, Sopo "would be confirmed to a less intensive ministry role where he could fulfil the functions of the office while still assisting on special projects as time allows." Prim mentioned an interest in resurging the Weekend Games for MinCul, with some changes to allow for the trends of the Discord chat (such as it being during the week as opposed to the weekend), and Lloenflys seemed interested in continuing this as well.

At time of press, only one other ticket had announced a bid for the upcoming election. A few hours prior to Lloenflys’ announcement, cuddlebuns launched a campaign with Vlaska pegged as the deputy first minister candidate.

Overall, it appears that Lloenflys is fairly confident in his platform, as well as his and Sopo's abilities to overcome obstacles as they arise. As time marches forward, and more people fling their proverbial hat into the ring, there is likely to be more questions asked, and more detailed answers expected.
 
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The quality of your articles makes me want to kiss you. I hope you'll be Comms Minister someday soon.
 
Nice reporting! I too was surprised Lloen turned the horse around and got Sopo to join him on it. This election will be a spicy one.
 
The quality of your articles makes me want to kiss you. I hope you'll be Comms Minister someday soon.
I do appreciate the compliment. These fuckers take time.
Yeah, I found in college, one of the key things to cutting down on paper writing time was to get really good at editing *while* you write. It definitely takes some practice to keep a constant eye on grammar, formatting, etc. while you are writing, but it really helps when it comes to publishing things like this quickly.

(y)
 
The quality of your articles makes me want to kiss you. I hope you'll be Comms Minister someday soon.
I do appreciate the compliment. These fuckers take time.
Yeah, I found in college, one of the key things to cutting down on paper writing time was to get really good at editing *while* you write. It definitely takes some practice to keep a constant eye on grammar, formatting, etc. while you are writing, but it really helps when it comes to publishing things like this quickly.

(y)
NS was one of the things that helped me really hone that skill of editing while writing, particularly with articles for private newspapers and with speeches. In hindsight, I think I wrote more for NS in high school and college than I may have in either institution (which says a lot when your collegiate major and minor are both writing-heavy :p ).
 
The quality of your articles makes me want to kiss you. I hope you'll be Comms Minister someday soon.
I do appreciate the compliment. These fuckers take time.
Yeah, I found in college, one of the key things to cutting down on paper writing time was to get really good at editing *while* you write. It definitely takes some practice to keep a constant eye on grammar, formatting, etc. while you are writing, but it really helps when it comes to publishing things like this quickly.

(y)
An even quicker time saver is to never edit anything you write! :p
 
The quality of your articles makes me want to kiss you. I hope you'll be Comms Minister someday soon.
I do appreciate the compliment. These fuckers take time.
Yeah, I found in college, one of the key things to cutting down on paper writing time was to get really good at editing *while* you write. It definitely takes some practice to keep a constant eye on grammar, formatting, etc. while you are writing, but it really helps when it comes to publishing things like this quickly.

(y)
An even quicker time saver is to never edit anything you write! :p
i love how self-aware you are

(really)
 
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