The Land Of The Free: American Political Roleplay (OOC II)

[Stellonia]

I still haven't received an answer.

The Texas 9th. Strongly Democratic, in the margin of the 70%+.

What happened to not-Al Green (or whoever was in his place)?

I still haven't received an answer.

A lot of posts get lost in the mix, our apologies

I understand.

[Gordano and Lysandus]

The Texas 9th. Strongly Democratic, in the margin of the 70%+.

What happened to not-Al Green (or whoever was in his place)?

A lot of posts get lost in the mix, our apologies

I understand.

Suraj Shah was recently elected a Senator in a special election, in a shock upset.

[Stellonia]

What happened to not-Al Green (or whoever was in his place)?


I understand.

Suraj Shah was recently elected a Senator in a special election, in a shock upset.

Who is seeking to take his place?

[Gordano and Lysandus]

Suraj Shah was recently elected a Senator in a special election, in a shock upset.

Who is seeking to take his place?

So far there's pretty much been nothing arranged for the special election.

[Stellonia]

M.C. is reluctant to run because it would force her to choose the label of Republican, Democrat, or independent, and she does not want to commit to any of those labels at this time. She has never had to run for election under any partisan label because she has only run for Mayor of Houston, and elections in Houston are officially nonpartisan.

[Sanabel]

M.C. is reluctant to run because it would force her to choose the label of Republican, Democrat, or independent, and she does not want to commit to any of those labels at this time. She has never had to run for election under any partisan label because she has only run for Mayor of Houston, and elections in Houston are officially nonpartisan.

She will likely have to choose sooner or later if she wants to seek higher office

[Stellonia]

M.C. is reluctant to run because it would force her to choose the label of Republican, Democrat, or independent, and she does not want to commit to any of those labels at this time. She has never had to run for election under any partisan label because she has only run for Mayor of Houston, and elections in Houston are officially nonpartisan.

She will likely have to choose sooner or later if she wants to seek higher office

What is the deadline?

[Kargintina the Third]

She will likely have to choose sooner or later if she wants to seek higher office

What is the deadline?

Probably whenever primaries start

[Sanabel]

She will likely have to choose sooner or later if she wants to seek higher office

What is the deadline?

Idk what she’s running for next

[Kargintina the Third]

What is the deadline?

Idk what she’s running for next

Going for biggest clown ohhhhhhhh

[Sanabel]

Idk what she’s running for next

Going for biggest clown ohhhhhhhh

Boom, roasted

[Gordano and Lysandus]

I feel like I should be doing something right now.

[Stellonia]

What is the deadline?

Idk what she’s running for next

She is presently mulling whether to run for president in 2020. Any campaign for Congress would have the ultimate objective of supporting her campaign for the presidency. With this in mind, she would probably try to run a close but unsuccessful race that would boost her national profile (similarly to Beto O'Rourke, Stacey Abrams, and Jon Ossoff).

Idk what she’s running for next

Going for biggest clown ohhhhhhhh

She would probably clown the hell out of whoever decided to run against her.

[Federal States of Xathuecia]

Wow maybe I should make a Republican Senator rather than a Democrat, yikes

It's just vexing because we need strong player characters for the Alaska and Alabama seats to help keep the Senate race competitive.

Alaska?

Don’t you mean maine?

Anyways, I’m working on my Alaska astronaut Senator.

[Gordano and Lysandus]

It's just vexing because we need strong player characters for the Alaska and Alabama seats to help keep the Senate race competitive.

Alaska?

Don’t you mean maine?

Anyways, I’m working on my Alaska astronaut Senator.

I'm surprised Sana didn't start rocking back and forth with his knees clutched to his chest in the corner when I heard she was an astronaut.

[Federal States of Xathuecia]

I feel like I should be doing something right now.

Deal with Holt and Voh

[Federal States of Xathuecia]

Alaska?

Don’t you mean maine?

Anyways, I’m working on my Alaska astronaut Senator.

I'm surprised Sana didn't start rocking back and forth with his knees clutched to his chest in the corner when I heard she was an astronaut.

Why?

[Gordano and Lysandus]

I feel like I should be doing something right now.

Deal with Holt and Voh

Well, they've got to finish goofing around and Holt's gotta come own up to Carrie before any of that.

[Titanne]

Deal with Holt and Voh

Well, they've got to finish goofing around and Holt's gotta come own up to Carrie before any of that.

yeah he's gonna meet with Carrie soon

I'm waiting on WCC to respond to Troy and finish up that conversation and then he'll go.

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

Well, they've got to finish goofing around and Holt's gotta come own up to Carrie before any of that.

yeah he's gonna meet with Carrie soon

I'm waiting on WCC to respond to Troy and finish up that conversation and then he'll go.

Alright, hang on.

[Kargintina the Third]

Idk what she’s running for next

She is presently mulling whether to run for president in 2020. Any campaign for Congress would have the ultimate objective of supporting her campaign for the presidency. With this in mind, she would probably try to run a close but unsuccessful race that would boost her national profile (similarly to Beto O'Rourke, Stacey Abrams, and Jon Ossoff).

Going for biggest clown ohhhhhhhh

She would probably clown the hell out of whoever decided to run against her.

Straight to President? Why not start small and work up

[Sanabel]

Alaska?

Don’t you mean maine?

Anyways, I’m working on my Alaska astronaut Senator.

I'm surprised Sana didn't start rocking back and forth with his knees clutched to his chest in the corner when I heard she was an astronaut.

I am currently in the fetal position

[Sanabel]

I'm surprised Sana didn't start rocking back and forth with his knees clutched to his chest in the corner when I heard she was an astronaut.

Why?

I absolutely despise astronauts turned senators with 0 political experience in between for a number of reasons, namely because it reminds me of Buck Havich

[Azekopolaltion]

(Image)

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Character Information Sheet

NS Nation Name: Azek
Character Name: Marcus "Mark" Carter Bateson
Character Gender: Male
Character Age: 62
Character Height: 6' 5"
Character Weight: 191 lbs
Character Position/Role/Job: Junior United States Senator from Tennessee (2019-), 49th Governor of Tennessee (2011-2019), Mayor of Chattanooga (2001-2009), Member of Chattanooga City Council from District 3 (1989-2001), Member of Chattanooga City Commission (1985-1989)
Appearance: (Image)
Character State of Origin: Tennessee
Character State of Residence: Tennessee
Character Party Affiliation: Republican
Main Strengths: Experienced, careful with public statements, not very controversial, trusted by Republican party leadership, seen as a balanced figure (gives him an advantage in being selected for important positions)
Main Weaknesses: Can be detached, kind of elitist, not really in touch with the new conservative populism of Wolf, a bit boring, quite a bit of nepotism in starting his career.
Biography:

Marcus Bateson was born on April 14th, 1957 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His father worked as a clerk for a U.S. Court of Appeals judge, while his mother was a homemaker. He was the youngest of three children, his oldest brother being nine years older than him. Mark was an average school student, attending the local public school; he was decent at math and writing, but nothing spectacular. He graduated without much fanfare in 1975, and proceeded to earn his BS degree in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville after majoring in Business Analytics.

From there he returned to Chattanooga in 1979. By this time his brother, Jerrold Bateson, an accomplished lawyer-turned-local politician, was already serving as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from Chattanooga. Jerrold was an ally of the city's mayor, having served as the city government's lawyer in several high profile cases regarding use of state funds. Using his connections in the city, Jerrold got Mark a job in the Chattanooga Office of Economic and Community Development. Mark's job was to do field work with local businesses and inform the Mayor's Office of community/economic development related issues.

He steadily rose the ranks at the department, soon heading a mayor-appointed task force in 1983 to spur entrepreneurship and growth. A year later, Mark married the mayor's daughter, Amelia, only increasing his closeness to the very popular Republican mayor of the city, who had just been elected to his second term in office. Mark was nominated to head the department in 1984.

At this time, Chattanooga did not have a city council; instead, legislation was decided upon by the small commission-style body of the city with five individually elected representatives, not elected by district. With the mayor's support, Mark ran for a seat on the commission in 1985 and won easily. During this time he was one of the mayor's chief advocates on the commission, being a loud supporter of his downtown development and urbanization projects.

In 1989, the U.S. District Court ruled that Chattanooga's commission style government was illegal and mandated that the city develop a council system with councilmen elected from individual districts. Mark ran to represent District 3 in the city council, and was elected with relative ease (having already served on the city commission). During his time as a council member, he was a strong proponent of cutting local taxes, which he got done with the mayor's support. Mark was also a strong supporter of the mayor's push to develop downtown Chattanooga and rebuild its waterfront. The construction of the Tennessee Aquarium and the preservation of the Walnut Street Bridge were also projects that Mark was a public advocate for.

Upon the elderly mayor's refusal to run for a sixth term in 2001, Mark instantly threw his hat into the ring to become Mayor of Chattanooga, having been perhaps the loudest legislative ally of the mayor for 12 years. Mark's closeness to the mayor also brought along many powerful allies in the city Republican machine, including donors and political supporters. He faced off against five other candidates, the two most prominent ones being the Fire and Police Commissioner as well as the State Safety Department Head.

Mark campaigned as a relatively fiscally conservative Republican who promised to trim the fat from the city budget and put it into useful projects, such as raising teacher pay. He also promised to promote local growth as he had done in the mayor's office and the city council. Mark won with 57% of the vote, having earned the incumbent mayor's endorsement along the electoral cycle.

Immediately, the new mayor got to work in promoting his pet development projects, including a $120 million riverfront renovation project to build on his predecessor's success. He also half-carried out his electoral promise to boost teacher pay, implementing a merit-based bonus system for teachers. The system, established in 2002, awarded teachers and principals bonuses for improving student performance at Chattanooga's lowest performing schools. This was shown to improve the rate of third graders reading above grade level from 53% to 74%. He also worked to make the city budget more efficient, controversially cutting funding significantly for city healthcare initiatives, instead investing it in crime reduction and urban development.

Mayor Bateson was elected to a second term in 2005, by the skin of his teeth. Chattanooga was slowly becoming more liberal in both its social and economic views. Tennessee had just elected a Democrat to the governorship, the previous governor having significantly slashed welfare spending. Bateson pointed to his record in cutting city crime by 26% and violent crime by 50%, and it was true that his development projects had modernized the city and made it a better place to live. He defeated his Democratic opponent, a prosecutor who seemed much more fixated on wider Tennessee issues like suing the state government on several grounds, 53% to 47%. His second term passed by quietly, with a few cuts to certain teacher training programs and even employee pensions to further fund infrastructure projects and crime reduction. His biggest success was encouraging Volkswagen to open a production facility at the Enterprise South Industrial Park, the site of the former Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant. By the end of his second terms, Mayor Bateson had been credited with creating nearly 12,000 jobs over the years of his mayorship.

Bateson decided not to run for a third term in 2009, since the city Republican Party had a few corruption scandals, only giving the Democrats more ammunition in the upcoming elections. The city had also become a dramatically more liberal place, perhaps as a result of the increased migration to Chattanooga and the rapid urbanization of the city, ironically under Bateson's mayoral policies. As predicted, his successor was a Democrat.

Up until that point, Bateson had not been very involved in national politics. His social views were somewhat unclear, since his mayoral tenure had been heavily focused on development projects, education, and crime reduction. But, having stepped down as mayor, he instead decided to announce his candidacy for Tennessee Governor in 2010. In the Republican primary, he faced off against the Tennessee Lieutenant Governor and a U.S. Representative. He was the underdog in the primary, although the Lieutenant Governor's advantage was larger than perceived because Lt. Govs in Tennessee are not elected by the public, but are automatically appointed if they are Speaker of the Senate.

Bateson started rising in the polls after the general Republican public seemed by his record of job creation and economic revitalization in Chattanooga. He portrayed himself as the best candidate for business, having encouraged entrepreneurship and growth as mayor. He said he could take on any Democrat on the economy. He also stressed his executive experience as mayor, which other candidates simply couldn't claim. He won the primary with 46% of the vote.

The general was expected to be a clean sweep for the Republicans, after several Democrats other than the former governor's nephew declined to run. Bateson's Democratic opponent was an attorney who lacked pretty much any charisma. Bateson also hit his opponent on the fact that he had practiced law in New York, and lived in NYC for most of his life before retiring and moving to Memphis to fill his uncle's shoes after retiring from law. Bateson won the general with 65% of the vote. The Republicans also increased their majorities in both chambers of the state legislature, giving the GOP complete control of state government for the first time since 1869. He assumed office in January of 2011.

Governor Bateson stated that his top priority was cutting taxes and creating jobs. In his first year, he signed a state budget that reduced the budget by almost 4%. He was accused of corporate welfare and ignoring needs of state employees by using a bulk of the budget to finance the construction of a manufacturing plant near Memphis and a chemical plant near Cleveland, TN. However, Bateson pointed to the fact that his budget raised state employee wages by 1.5%. He also faced some backlash from activists and the courts in 2011 when he imposed a curfew in Legislative Plaza to curb the Occupy Nashville protestors. He sent in police and arrested 30 protestors, but both the arrests and the curfews were struck Downey the courts.

In 2012, Bateson signed legislation to cut all state funding to Planned Parenthood, which was celebrated by conservative activists and pro-life groups in Tennessee. The same year, he managed to pass $50 million in tax cuts and created a simpler cash grant system for companies seeking to relocate to Tennessee. He also made national Republicans very happy when he refused to create a state run health care exchange, a provision that the Affordable Care Act promoted for states.

Reelection was a breeze in deep red Tennessee; he ran against a few primary challengers who were not of much importance, and proceeded to win the general election with over 70% of the vote in 2014. His social conservatism and fiscal conservatism really helped him carry it all the way. He took a few more controversial steps when he signed legislation to make the Bible the official book of Tennessee. He however also raised state employee wages in 2016 by 2.5%, while lowering the state sales tax by a percentage point. He also fulfilled a promise in 2018 as governor to enact Constitutional Carry legislation, which allowed Tennessee residents to carry a handgun without a license or permit.

In 2018 Bateson announced his run for the vacant U.S. Senate seat, following the retirement of [not-Corker]. He became the immediate frontrunner, wiping out the Representative who was also running the Republican primary. Running on a very solid conservative record, he faced off against another Tennessee Governor in the general, a Democrat. The race, although in a red state, was very close. It was by a stroke of luck that the [not-Kavanaugh hearings] were occurring around that time, which invigorated many Republicans in the South. He won by over ten points, 55% to 44%.

He was sworn in as U.S. junior Senator for Tennessee in 2019. In his time there, he has not led on many issues, although he has been a reliable party vote and is watching the GOP presidential primary with interest.

Healthcare: Against the ACA, wants repeal and replace. Sell health insurance plans across state lines and increase competition by getting rid of anti-free market regulations. Also would support a compromise solution that allows health insurance companies to sell plans that do not comply with the 10 essential health benefits as long as they sell at least one plan abiding by Bahariacare standards.

Gun rights: Pro-Second Amendment, opposes any attempt to regulate access to guns. Anti-universal background checks, against the bump stock ban, against assault weapons ban, etc. Only in support of red flag laws, but prefers that it be left up to the states.

Taxes: Make the Wolf tax cuts permanent, but in the long term push for a flat tax. Wishes to abolish the IRS.

Social Security: Believes that if Social Security is not privatized, it will face serious budgetary shortfalls and will be at risk of falling apart. Privatizing Social Security a big issue for him.

Abortion: Supports defunding Planned Parenthood, banning all abortions with exception of when pregnancy endangers the life of the mother. Supports most compromise positions as well, like 20 week abortion ban.

Education: For school choice with charter schools and vouchers. Opposes Common Core. Agrees that teacher salaries should be raised. Believes federal student loans should be scaled back and private lenders should be more involved, so that colleges are pushed to reduce costs.

LGBTQ+ Issues: Personally believes marriage is legally defined as between one man and one woman, disagrees with Obergefell v. Hodges. Believes federal government should not infringe on the rights of businesses and individuals to abide by their personal beliefs when it comes to serving same-sex couples.

Immigration: Believes in allowing and even expanding legal immigration, thinks that legal immigration is pro-market and pro-growth. However, he is a strong opponent of open borders and weak border security. Wants to require that businesses use E Verify to identify the status of potential employees, and report them to ICE if they are undocumented. Against automatic amnesty to undocumented immigrants, against comprehensive immigration reform, and supports the Wolf Wall.

Electronic surveillance and civil liberties: Believes that current surveillance powers of the federal government are in the best interest of citizens. Believes that national security should come first, and publicly claims that whistleblowers like Edward Snowden are "traitors."

Confederate monuments: As a Senator for a southern state with hundreds of Confederate monuments, Bateson is a strong opponent of removing these statues and believes that the history of the Civil War should be presented fairly. Stated that "Confederate monuments are part of the South's heritage, and are monuments to Southern pride rather than slavery." These comments attracted controversy.

Reducing bureaucracy: Believes that federal government waste should be trimmed. Federal departments like Energy, HUD, Commerce, and Education should be eliminated.

Other Info: Married for 35 years to his wife Amanda. Has one son, Jonathan, who runs a marketing company in Kentucky.

I have read and accept the rules of the roleplay: Azek

Ok, added in his views in a separate section.

@Sana here’s the GOP Senator with edits

[Sanabel]

Just gonna have Meel or Dent look it over Azek