Centennial Plaza
Hawthorne, Northrop-Grumman
Monday, January 31, 2067
9:00 A.M. HST
Press conference rooms for nations have a tendency to be incredibly ornate, comfortable for all its inhabitants, and conduce to showing a carefully sculpted appearance from that particular nation’s leaders, but the room for the Corporation was anything but that. While it had managed to outlast the continuing deconstruction of the capital complex, it was not entirely untouched by the scrapping efforts. Gone were the intricately designed, silver-framed, cerulean blue lighting panels concealing the harsh, cold battleship grey walls, the plush seating for the press, the drop ceiling overhead that originally masked the piping and cabling, the grey commercial carpeting, and just about everything else that was not completely necessary for holding a press conference. In their place were simple metal fold-up chairs, lined up in rows, and at the front of the room stood a basic wooden podium and attached microphone.
On this day, journalists representing various nationalities and publications, such as the Hawthorne Sun-Times, the Wilmington Sentinel, and the Northrop-Grumman News Network, had assembled here and were patiently seated, talking amongst themselves about what the topic of this conference could possibly be. They tossed up many ideas, including the economic depression, the continuing conflict between the various religious factions, which had resulted in allowing foreign troops to assist the Grummian army in peacekeeping, and the subsequent problem of corruption within the local governments. Of course, their answers would come soon enough as the three leaders entered the front of the room through the side doors and approached the podium area. Standing at the microphone was Vice Chairman Naelthasser, a tall Noldor with long, golden hair and still as always wearing his conservatively-toned grey robes. Behind him and standing shoulder to shoulder with one another were Chairman O’Neill, an aged human – about one hundred nine years old but thankfully did not appearing to be much older than seventy five – who wore his old dark blue Air Force Uniform, and, his wife, Chairwoman O’Neill, a relatively youthful appearing wood elf, who wore simple khaki slacks and a crimson wool turtleneck.
After checking the time to make sure that everything was proceeding according to schedule, Naelthasser began. “For some time already, the Corporation has been wallowing in its own inefficiencies and ineffectiveness, unable to properly carry out the continued governance of this nation. It has prevented us from providing an appropriate response whenever a conflict, whether civil or economic, arises and has exasperated those same problems. Attempts have been made to reconfigure how the government functions but to no avail; the problems are so engrained within the present governing structure that a complete reconstruction is needed.
“Therefore, the Chair has unanimously agreed to dissolve the present corporate government and create a provisional one designed to guide us through this lengthy processes as we build a complete governing structure from the ground up. The first step of the process, which I will discuss in detail this morning, will deal primarily with the issues facing local governance, and then the second step, which will be detailed in future conferences and press releases, will focus upon national governance.
“Firstly, smaller municipalities that contain populations numbering less than one hundred thousand people will be consolidated into their adjoining cities, counties, or townships so that expenditures could be reduced through the elimination of redundant positions in local government, separate information systems, unnecessary structures, an overabundance of police forces, and separate court systems. These positions will be eliminated through early retirements and simple attrition.
“Secondly, the importance of public education has always been understood by the Chair and we have been dismayed by the increased burden placed upon teachers, students, and administrators from constant budget cuts by municipal officials. We feel that this hindrance to our children’s educations will only serve to weaken our economy, weaken our society, and place us at a disadvantage when competing with other nations. Because of this, public education will no longer be controlled by the local governments and school districts will be consolidated into regional districts that would be fully operated and funded by the central government. The share of taxes that had been previously collected from these localities would be shifted to the central government.
“Thirdly, to address the issues surrounding the religious conflict, our efforts are focused upon preventing such an occurrence from ever happening again and taking steps to ensure that there is no further incentive to attempt to do so. Religious leaders will be restricted from endorsing particular candidates, and their religious will no longer be allowed to be involved in the establishment or maintaining of political parties. Campaign finance reform will prevent private funding of campaigns and only allow public financing that will be attained via a small tax; the intention here is to prevent those with significant amounts of money from dominating the political field and ensure an equal playing field for everyone involved. The prosecution of those involved in the recent violence will be expedited through the court system so that reprisals against them and others are limited and that justice is served in a swift manner. Finally, when the previous reforms have been enacted, general elections will be held for all political positions within every locality in the following months. The conflict is of grave importance to our nation, and we will promptly enforce these regulations by whatever means we have at our disposal. Toleration of these assassinations, extortion, malfeasance in office, and arson is at an end.
“Lastly, the contrasting local laws, including business regulation, taxation, and civil rights, will become more uniform, which would allow corporations and small businesses to continue to operate with greater ease, attract more businesses to our nation, and allow individuals more freedoms within their personal lives. We will also restrict the ability for localities to criminalize acts that its citizens have done in other localities; an example of this would be if a homosexual couple entered into a civil union in another locality, they would not be imprisoned or penalized if they returned to a localities that restricted such a thing. It is in the best interests of everyone involved that municipalities not effectively become their own fiefdoms within this nation. We are one country, one people, and we should recognize that fact and work together.
“In closing, these changes are the start of a gradual progression that will be happening across the nation over the coming years. It will be difficult, but we assure you that it will make life and society’s functioning improve over the long run, so please be patient and understanding as we proceed through this process…Now we will have Chairman O’Neill come forward with a few important remarks of his own to conclude this briefing.”
Glancing towards the Chairman, Naelthasser solemnly nodded, stepping away from the microphone to give the elder human some space, who then slowly approached and grasped either side of the podium’s wooden frame, gazing outward at the television cameras focusing in on him. The white-haired man, whose face now carried deep wrinkles from age and stress, sighed softly, barely recalling the last time he had address the public like this. In the passing years, he had gotten older, weaker, and, on cold days such as this, taking a long while to actually be able to stand and walk without assistance. He also had rarely been out in public anymore and rarely ever travelled, limiting his exposure to all that he cared about, so after some careful thinking, he thought that he finally ought to address the people he governed and tell them what he felt.
“You all know my love for long, flowery speeches, so I’ll keep this short,” he started with a barely perceptible smile. “It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve you for the past forty-five years; some of the greatest moments in my life have been here in office. You have taught me many things, you have treated me with tremendous respect, and I am thankful for you all. But now, I feel that my time here should be coming to a close. You deserve someone who can go out there and fight for you on the front lines and someone who you can easily access to share your concerns. So I’m stepping down from my position as the final Chairman of the Corporation, and my wife, Siri, will be the new leader of the provisional government. I place my full faith and confidence in her abilities to lead as I’ve watched over her over these decades to see her grow into someone fit to take my place. I’ll however stick around as an advisor, to some degree, so that the transition between my leadership and hers will go smoothly.
“Thank you all for allowing me all these years of service.”
He quietly and respectfully bowed his head, realizing that this would be the last time he’d ever address his people in that manner, and backed away from the podium, returning to his place beside his wife. She grabbed his hand gently in hers and gave it a squeeze of reassurance.
“Are there any questions you wish answered today?” the Vice Chairman eventually asked to break the stunned silence that had permeated the room.
OOC: Basically, my intention for this thread is to outline everything that is happening to the Grummian government as it goes through this lengthy period of reformation, which will inevitably result in a number of press conferences that will all be posted to this very thread.
In terms of who would be there at the press conferences: if your nation has interacted with me in the past on a favorable basis, then your press would probably be allowed there, but if you haven't then that most likely won't be the case. Though, there is always the option of a public statement, reaction, or whatever your government thinks, which I'm perfectly fine with. The Chair (the corporate leaders) rarely ever do press conferences with Q&A afterwards, so they tend to be very picky about who is allowed in there.
Also, if you have any questions about what’s going on in NG or anything else, feel free to send me a TG.
Finally, this thread is basically a continuation of this one: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=135262 but it’s not required reading for this thread.
