Tomb Resigns as TNP Delegate
Disagreements over transparency in the NPA
COMMENTARY | UNIBOT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
In a very surprising turn of events, the newly re-elected delegate of the North Pacific has tendered his resignation. It’s not every day that a delegate, re-elected with 72% support in the same week, resigns, although unfortunately a similar circumstance (under different conditions) beleaguered McMasterdonia’s final term as delegate of the North Pacific when he was forced to resign shortly after taking office too – Tomb’s resignation, however, has been far more mysterious and dramatic – many questions still remain unanswered. Tomb spoke to citizens in a brief letter noting that he had ‘received a really disturbing telegram regarding all these recent incidents,’ and in light of the information he received, he felt compelled to resign as Delegate of the North Pacific – he also said he had no intention to disclose what this information entails, while citizens have speculated whether the telegram may have been an attempt at blackmailing Tomb, but this remains purely speculation and not confirmed.
Tomb refused to comment to the Rejected Times on the contents of this mysterious telegram, but he did speak cordially about his region – emphasising that he had no ill will towards his region; ‘The North Pacific has given me nothing but utmost respect as their delegate and citizen,’ he says, ‘and I have nothing to say other than that.’
This week has been a rough week for the re-electee; although being soundly re-elected, he did face controversy when Cascadia announced prematurely that he had been appointed as Culture Minister, despite the fact that the (popular) sitting Culture Minister, Lord Lore hadn't been told first that he would be shuffled to the Entertainment Ministry. The controversy with his new cabinet appointments continued when Tomb also chose not to reappoint Eluvatar as Minister of Defense in favour of Gladio – this aroused a lot of controversy especially because the North Pacific’s success in the Lazarus mission was attributed to Eluvatar’s hard work there; indeed, Tomb had singled out the North Pacific’s defense of Lazarus as ‘something to be proud of’ in his own election campaign.
It’s possible that Eluvatar’s non-appointment may have to do with an ongoing disagreement internally over military policy and transparency. Flemingovia, a long time citizen and recently a critic of the North Pacific Army’s invading abroad, brought a proposal to the Regional Assembly arguing that ‘unless regional security demands secrecy’ that the Regional Assembly ought to be legally informed of an operation abroad – while Eluvatar was supportive of the measure, Tomb and Gladio were very much against (the latter calling it a 'terrible idea') – this became an even more polarising issue shortly later when only two days afterwards, the North Pacific Army invaded Atlantic alongside the South Pacific Special Forces. A legal question for review has been brought to the attention of the Courts which argues that NPA Policy (which dictates the Assembly shall only be informed of missions after they are completed) contradicts the need for the Assembly to know, given that the Assembly possesses an override mechanism for missions (an override which is useless if people don’t know about it until the mission is complete).
At the present moment, a discussion regarding the possibility of the override against the Atlantic mission is ongoing, but unlikely to succeed or even go to vote before the operation ends.
Things became even more uncomfortable for Tomb's administration, however, when Flemingovia had applied to join the North Pacific Army and his application was rejected; according to Flemingovia, during this application he had apparently been told publicly by the deputy Minister (now Minister) of Defense, Gladio, that he was not trusted and may be removed for ‘inactivity’, while Eluvatar, he notes, personally supported his application, he also says that Eluvatar relayed Tomb’s ultimatum to him: drop the ‘satirical posts’ and criticism of the North Pacific Army or his application would be rejected. Flemingovia turned down those conditions and his application was rejected; he has now brought this issue to the courts, arguing that a gag rule on criticism for new applicants violates the Bill of Rights and its Freedom of Expression. Cormac Stark would later attempt to pursue a recall of Tomb, citing the Flemingovia incident, along with other recent issues with his administration.
Ultimately, it’s currently impossible to say what it is exactly that has prompted Tomb’s resignation, but certainly it is possible that this trouble over defense may have played a role. Within the past few hours before his resignation, we’ve learnt he has replaced a popular Minister, putting in place a more invader-friendly one, while trying unsuccessfully to silence another citizen’s criticism of the North Pacific Army and its increasingly aggressive approach abroad. Indeed, in many ways, I think this is an issue that has been brewing since r3naissanc3r’s administration, let alone Tomb; from Scotland to Fandom Alliance, the Rejected Times has been covering civil unrest with the North Pacific Army’s conduct abroad for well over a year now – indeed, the appointment of Eluvatar (a more defender-leaning General) by Tomb had originally signaled a change of tune for the raid-heavy army when during his original campaign for delegate, Tomb had called to ‘increase our participation in more defensive missions and operations’ – but these recent actions by his administration have signaled an about-face and a retreat on a problem which will only continue to grow without a change in the culture from ‘the top’, so to speak. I would have to expect that military policy will be squarely one of the more pressing issues for the upcoming special election to decide the North Pacific’s new delegate.
Generally speaking, I think the North Pacific is moving towards a crossroads where it has to find a new ‘centre’ (the new ‘reasonable’) – because the old independent compromise (‘raid a lot, defend a bit, justify the imbalance as in our interests’) isn’t holding water anymore and hasn't for many citizens in the North Pacific who are looking for a military which broadly represents them – this may be a debate that was left over from the ambiguity of the NPA Act (a compromise bill which passed the debate over the NPA’s ideology to future generations), or it may be a sign that a new compromise akin to the NPA Act might be necessary to resolve current tensions in the North Pacific as the NPA Act had at least in the short term for tensions then – perhaps a new transparency policy, or a discussion on the application process? Who knows what might come up in the upcoming special election…
The Vice Delegate, SillyString (also known as Astarial), has succeeded Tomb legally as sitting delegate and will look after the region in the interim period; meanwhile special elections have yet to officially begin. The Legal Code had historically required a special election begin ‘within two days after [a] vacancy is noticed’ – as far as this legal eye can see, no such requirement exists anymore, so it may just be up to the ‘law gods’ as to whether a special election should begin immediately or whether a couple of days may be allowed, but once a special election begins, the law is fairly clear in stating that there can only be five days allowed for nominations and campaigning. A short space of time for a region still reeling in shock of recent events. A landslide victory now an avalanche.
