Atlas CEO Daniel Irons announces candidacyJame McManus (@JayMcManus)
9 March 2017 | Ulysses, C.D, United States of Caprica
Atlas Elysium Campus, Caprica| UP photo Ulysses, C.D., United States - Billionaire defense contractor Daniel Irons announced his candidacy for President Thursday. Becoming the 6th candidate in the increasingly crowed race for the 2018 election.
In an extensive speech on the steps of the Atlas Corporations Elysium Headquarters, Irons spoke of ''breaking the wheel'' of modern Caprican politics.
Irons announced in a press release later that he would begin his campaign by visiting veterans' hospitals starting first with the largest such hospital in Caprica City later this week. He would also headquarter his campaign in the city as well.
The billionaire's announcement, according to insiders familiar with the campaign, will be followed with a audited financial summary of his assets and debts.
Seneca Smith, our in house political analyst had this to say.
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Irons speech was both underwelming and overwhelming in equal measure.
He was quick to portray himself as the political outsider that could fix the problems many Capricans view the country as being plagued with while carefully skirting around his and his company's own role and benefit from it, as one of the largest defense contractors in the region.''
Irons despite his claims is no stranger to politics, routinely topping lists for campaign donations to the centre-left Prosperity Party and Centre-right Conservative party for the past five years in a row.
It's reported that Irons first seriously considered running after President Kenway's controversial non fly zone over the west Caprican sea, launching a presidential exploratory committee last fall.
Irons is the founder and current CEO of Atlas International, a major defense and securities firm notable for offering the ''complete package'' that is the capability to conduct complex humanitarian aide work in tandem with providing it's own security and the security of installations, resources and government personnel. More than 70% of it's revenues were generated by lucrative federal government contracts in 2016 and the company has invested heavily in the emergent technologies and infrastructure sectors.
Irons work with Atlas and incredibly profitable contracts for work in Kamalbia and Insula Fera have made him incredibly wealthy with estimates of his personnel net worth being upwards of a billionaire talents with some even going as high as the tens of billions.
Despite the somewhat secretive and complicated nature of his business, Irons himself has not shied away from media attention and at times can be said to have sought it out, notably traveling to Insula Fera within a week after active combat operations were declared over, and making numerous trips to Kamalbia where Atlas has been heavily involved for almost half a decade building infrastructure and providing security first to the interim coalition administration and then to the Kamalbian government .
In 2014, after Atlas was awarded a ₮200 million talent contract to provide training and security to State department foreign service officers, Irons embarked on region wide tour of Caprican embassies stopping in the Blackhelm Confederacy, the Conite Republic, the Kingdom of Aquitayne and the Belkan Federation meeting with diplomats and his counterparts in the domestic defense industries in those countries.
Immediately after the 2016 Oldtown attacks, Irons was among the first to aide to the victims of the terror attack, saying only ''in the face of tragedy, we must show the world that we are the very best of humanity.'' Atlas subsidized utility costs for the most affected communities and paid for the repair and renovation of the local shopping center where most of the killings took place.
As a private citizen, Irons has taken the lead in environmental protection, declaring in 2012 that his private estate would be energy self-sufficient by the end of the year and pledged Atlas would only purpose fuel efficient or hybrid vehicles for it's corporate fleet going forward.
Politically, the billionaire CEO is a bit less willing to state his positions. In the 2008, Congressional elections, Political Action Committees associated with the businessman donated over a million talents to candidates identified as liberal conservatives or conservatives. Irons endorsed the Prosperity party in 2008,2010 and again in 2012, though has refrained from donating or speaking in support of the party since then, instead supporting the more right wing, Conservative Party in the 2014 and 2016 elections.
In his candidates speech, Irons called out Caprica's allies in the East Astyria Treaty Alliance, urging them to take a stronger part in the organizations collective defense agreement, lambasting them for ''allowing Caprican soldiers to die while they sit idly by, watching on their television screens''.
While avoiding specifically blaming the current Prosperity Party administration for not doing more to combat international terrorism, Irons did lay heavy charges at the feet of sitting politicians in Ulysses, saying that the system has ''failed.''
Analysts note this could be an indication of a desire for a more proactive and involved foreign policy and potentially a decidedly hawkish Irons administration if elected.
While no direct domestic concerns were outlined in his announcement speech, Irons did mention an return to fundamental Caprican values that could be construed as conservative leanings at home.
Economically, the Irons camp has been mute on the candidates plans for the Caprican economy which has started to stagnant in the last 3 quarters, sparking fears of a coming recession.
While his announcement is still fresh, Irons is polling nicely with current numbers indicated a slight three point advantage over incumbent Kenway.
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