Washington 2017: The U.S. Political RP IC-Volume II (OPEN)

[Tallahassee News Station]

"Now that ain't very much clear or helpful."

"Mmmm...alright then. Look, I need a doctor, not a policeman."

Pepper spat off to the side. "Leg looks fine, and still whinin. Florida done gone soft."

He stuck his thumb back gesturing to Mateo. Come on son, let's get your partner and have a little powwow about what we're gonna do here, let the doc deal here

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

Juan do the immediate walking up to Officer Brooks

“You need a splint”

[Prolieum]

Gene Eric's Office, Harte Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.

"I'd like to ask a little more on the executive order and the bathrooms, if you don't mind," Eric requested. "When you're talking about after the 'full surgery', about how would you work all that out? Is that a ban before the surgery and the legal hoops and then an mandate after?"

[Dentali]

Gene Eric's Office, Harte Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.

"I'd like to ask a little more on the executive order and the bathrooms, if you don't mind," Eric requested. "When you're talking about after the 'full surgery', about how would you work all that out? Is that a ban before the surgery and the legal hoops and then an mandate after?"

"Lets deal with these one at a time. So the bathroom... obviously if we just allowed anyone who said they were gender fluid or made claims of being transgender to use a bathroom then its rife for abuse. As such you need to actually prove you are transgender. Physically transitioning is a long process, it is involved and difficult, add on top of that getting your gender changed legally... In my book its alright to use the restroom of their legally recognized gender. Its not legislation I plan on pushing, I doubt itd get through the legislature in the state but if it got to my desk id sign it."

[Prolieum]

Gene Eric's Office, Harte Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.

Eric nodded slightly. "I suppose that I end up asking after that, with what you've said there about transgender laws, and what you said before about private businesses and their decisions, why you're against the order?"

[Prolieum]

Hammitch Residence, Anchorage, Alaska

"Well," Travis sighed. "Worst he can do is say no."

He'd been mulling over his options over the last few days, both on the employment and the campaign sides of things. On reflection, it had been rather remarkable how far he had gotten off of stumbling, shoestrings, luck, and a lot more background work than he ever knew he had the last time, running before he had ever learned how to walk. Now that he had been knocked off his feet, he had to go in the right order this time, and make sure he knew how to crawl before he even got to that first stage.

He had been considering rounding up some people for a meeting of some kind, town halls as they called them, and getting the community in on it, but the logistics of that were already a bit of a headache, getting a printer to advertise with some posters and working out a place to rent among the mundane but irritating concerns, and he was going off in another direction. The cost for a ticket down to the closest state of the contiguous wasn't too bad, but that was getting ahead of himself by assuming that he'd need to buy one. He really had to get better at putting things back in order.

Squinting at the number on the boxy screen of his desktop, he spun the old dial of his landline, kept less out of Luddism, and more out of finding it perfectly adequate for his purposes, and waited as the phone rang, seeking to connect to the office of one Edgar Brankers.

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

Hammitch Residence, Anchorage, Alaska

(Image)

"Well," Travis sighed. "Worst he can do is say no."

He'd been mulling over his options over the last few days, both on the employment and the campaign sides of things. On reflection, it had been rather remarkable how far he had gotten off of stumbling, shoestrings, luck, and a lot more background work than he ever knew he had the last time, running before he had ever learned how to walk. Now that he had been knocked off his feet, he had to go in the right order this time, and make sure he knew how to crawl before he even got to that first stage.

He had been considering rounding up some people for a meeting of some kind, town halls as they called them, and getting the community in on it, but the logistics of that were already a bit of a headache, getting a printer to advertise with some posters and working out a place to rent among the mundane but irritating concerns, and he was going off in another direction. The cost for a ticket down to the closest state of the contiguous wasn't too bad, but that was getting ahead of himself by assuming that he'd need to buy one. He really had to get better at putting things back in order.

Squinting at the number on the boxy screen of his desktop, he spun the old dial of his landline, kept less out of Luddism, and more out of finding it perfectly adequate for his purposes, and waited as the phone rang, seeking to connect to the office of one Edgar Brankers.

A woman’s voice came through the other end of the line

“Hello you have reached the office of Senator Edgar Brankers, how can we help you today?”

[Prolieum]

Hammitch Residence, Anchorage, Alaska

"Good morning Ma'am, I hope you're having a fine day today. My name is Travis Hammitch, and I wanted to know if there's any chance that I could get a message through to the Senator, or even get him on the line," Hammitch replied.

[Dentali]

Gene Eric's Office, Harte Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.

Eric nodded slightly. "I suppose that I end up asking after that, with what you've said there about transgender laws, and what you said before about private businesses and their decisions, why you're against the order?"

"I think our government is served by diversity, President Reed took some heat for the number of democrats he put in his administration but frankly I think it was brilliant. Having different points of view is vital for such a diverse country, it goes beyond party. I think the order needlessly drew a line in the sand that isolated members of the American community. Furthermore I believe private individuals have rights that the government does not, I believe private individuals can wave the confederate flag but it can't fly on a statehouse. Discrimination based on gender, or sexual orientation is wrong, and its wrong for the US government to discriminate against its own citizens."

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

Hammitch Residence, Anchorage, Alaska

"Good morning Ma'am, I hope you're having a fine day today. My name is Travis Hammitch, and I wanted to know if there's any chance that I could get a message through to the Senator, or even get him on the line," Hammitch replied.

“Thanks for calling us today Mr. Hammitch. The Senator is always happy to speak to his constituents, and he is currently available. Just one moment while I connect you with the Senator.”

The woman responded crisply to Hammitch’s request

[Prolieum]

Gene Eric's Office, Harte Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.

"Would you apply that standard to the military as well?" Eric asked, not showing any sign of Anderson's comment impacting him one way or another on his face.

[Prolieum]

Hammitch Residence, Anchorage, Alaska

Hammitch blinked, hardly having expected to get through, only adding that last part in as a throwaway. Deciding to take it as a good omen, he checked a slightly wrinkled sheet of notebook paper to make sure he had his pencil-written checklist at hand, and offered his gratitude to the receptionist. "Thank you very much, Ma'am."

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

Hammitch Residence, Anchorage, Alaska

Hammitch blinked, hardly having expected to get through, only adding that last part in as a throwaway. Deciding to take it as a good omen, he checked a slightly wrinkled sheet of notebook paper to make sure he had his pencil-written checklist at hand, and offered his gratitude to the receptionist. "Thank you very much, Ma'am."

Brankers’ voice came after a short pause.

“Hello? This is Edgar Brankers, how can I help you today? “

[Prolieum]

Hammitch Residence, Anchorage, Alaska

Hammitch cleared his throat. "Good morning, Senator, my name is Tr-" he cut himself off mid-sentence, reminding himself that he was trying to push his title back into the forefront, especially now that he was unemployed. A half-second later, he continued. "Colonel Travis Hammitch, former Director of the Alaskan State Troopers. Thank you for taking my call."

[Dentali]

Gene Eric's Office, Harte Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.

"Would you apply that standard to the military as well?" Eric asked, not showing any sign of Anderson's comment impacting him one way or another on his face.

"If someone is physically and medically capable and has the dedication to this country, then yes they should be allowed to serve. I am not a doctor, I have never been in the military so I defer to others to decide the physical and mental capability of a potential solider."

[Prolieum]

Gene Eric's Office, Harte Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.

"That would be a yes, then?" Eric asked, smiling slightly at what looked to be a mild evasion.

[Dentali]

Gene Eric's Office, Harte Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.

"That would be a yes, then?" Eric asked, smiling slightly at what looked to be a mild evasion.

"Yes, a similar standard. But national security comes first in the military, if someone is not fit for duty that is the end of the discussion."

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

Hammitch Residence, Anchorage, Alaska

Hammitch cleared his throat. "Good morning, Senator, my name is Tr-" he cut himself off mid-sentence, reminding himself that he was trying to push his title back into the forefront, especially now that he was unemployed. A half-second later, he continued. "Colonel Travis Hammitch, former Director of the Alaskan State Troopers. Thank you for taking my call."

Hammitch.., that name rang a bell, albeit a very quiet one and completely drowned out by the tidal wave of confusion regarding why the Colonel of the Alaskan State Troopers was caling a Senator from Washington. Brankers' response sounded confused, and unsure of what is happening.

"Oh Colonel Hammitch, what can I do to help?"

[Dentali]

Congressman Michael Emberton
Pikeville, Kentucky



Emberton woke with a start, he attempted to watch the Congressional Baseball game but was bored out of his mind. He felt no need to physically go to the game, time off was rare and he wasn't going to waste it on the President's vanity project. He was at home alone, "where was Laura" he thought stirring from his chair before the realization came to him, gone. His wife had been dead for a decade, yet every day he awoke expecting her to be beside him.

Sighing and rising to his feet Emberton drew the attention of his old dog Sawyer perked up and walked up to him happily. Emberton have quick scratch behind the ears for Sawyer before making a ham sandwich for himself, typically he would have music playing but for now he allowed the house to be swallowed in silence aside from Sawyers nails tapping the tiles.

Sawyer got two walks a day, usually but today Emberton decided on a third. The old dog was spry and in good shape, eager to go for a constitutional. Together they strolled the neighborhood they had spent decades in, where his children had been raised and where grandchildren still visited. Others his age had retired, moved on to smaller homes... now the neighborhood was full of younger generations, new families... all looked alien to him. How would they know him? he wondered, how would he be remembered?

[Prolieum]

Gene Eric's Office, Harte Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.

Eric mulled for a moment before replying. "Well, you can take a breath if you want to, because I think that's about it for my taking you over the coals on those issues. I won't hide it, that's where most of my concerns are, but we're through the rockiest ground."

"I was curious, I've heard that you've been aggressive on wanting to cut out subsidies when you've been campaigning. With what you've been saying about business, and this economy just picking itself up, you don't think they'd be useful?"

[Prolieum]

Hammitch Residence, Anchorage, Alaska

"Well Senator, I was hoping that I'd get the chance to talk to you, face to face, if you thought you could carve out the time." Hammitch replied.

[Dentali]

Gene Eric's Office, Harte Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.

Eric mulled for a moment before replying. "Well, you can take a breath if you want to, because I think that's about it for my taking you over the coals on those issues. I won't hide it, that's where most of my concerns are, but we're through the rockiest ground."

"I was curious, I've heard that you've been aggressive on wanting to cut out subsidies when you've been campaigning. With what you've been saying about business, and this economy just picking itself up, you don't think they'd be useful?"

"In Pennsylvania its a different story, the subsidies i'm talking about are essentially corporate welfare and patronage for huge companies." Anderson pulls out a notebook and flips through "Sorry, I want to give you accurate numbers... Its to specific companies and totals in billions of dollars, independent organizations, think tanks and even government agencies have consistently reported its failure in promoting economic growth."

"Estimates have said consistently that for every tax dollar we spend on corporate welfare in Pennsylvania we only see 10 to 20 cents in economic growth. For helping jobs its only estimated to save under 2,000 jobs a year. Simply put its not a good investment."

"What I want to do instead is take the $847 million that our state spends on corporate welfare and use it to reduce the corporate income tax from 9.99% to 7%. That brings us from the 3rd highest corporate income tax rate, to the 19th highest. That benefits everyone instead of specific companies with lobbying power, and will help unleash the economy. Ideally i'd like to cut it by $400 million the first year and then $200 million subsequent years so it's less of a shock."

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

Hammitch Residence, Anchorage, Alaska

"Well Senator, I was hoping that I'd get the chance to talk to you, face to face, if you thought you could carve out the time." Hammitch replied.

Brankers became even more confused with that statement, he thought that there was some sort of investigation that he was a part of

“Why.. of course. Would next Friday at 10:00 PM be good? I will just be finishing a constituent meet and greet in Spokane.”

[Prolieum]

Gene Eric's Office, Harte Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.

"Looks like you did your homework," Eric commented. "Is this more of an issue of pragmatism for you, or principle, ending subsidies?"

[Prolieum]

Hammitch Residence, Anchorage, Alaska

Hammitch started to fumble around on his cluttered desk for a calendar, but abandoned the effort after a few seconds. He knew he didn't have anything going on.

"Next Friday would be a fine time for me, Senator. It's a late hour, but I should be all right with a little coffee for reinforcement. I would come to you of course, at your convenience. Spokane, you said?"