Twilight's Last Gleaming: An American Political RP OOC (Open

[Makko Oko]

Hm...any primary state you'd recommend? I don't know much about politics irl lol. I do know the primaries are where people from both parties are voted to represent them in the Presidential elections though. I know it sounds bad to not know much about irl politics, but it doesn't mean I don't like roleplaying it .

That's okay. Feel free to ask questions and we're happy to answer. The traditional first primary states are Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. They're all relatively small states population-wise but being early in the primaries means a Governor there can have some influence.

Viva Las Vegas! I'll be the Governor Of Nevada. Does that sound good to you all?

[Flex town]

wow

[Madrinpoor]

That's okay. Feel free to ask questions and we're happy to answer. The traditional first primary states are Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. They're all relatively small states population-wise but being early in the primaries means a Governor there can have some influence.

Viva Las Vegas! I'll be the Governor Of Nevada. Does that sound good to you all?

Sounds great! Go for it!

[The Sarangtus Lands]

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Please note that due to the specific circumstances of the character's faceclaim, the spoiler image does not represent a 100% accurate image at this point in time, but it will come 2010-2012. I apologise for any inconvenience that may be caused by this.

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Character Application and Information Sheet

NS Nation Name: Greater Arab State
Character Name: Thomas Volker
Character Gender: Male
Character Age: 44
Character Height: 5'11
Character Weight: 180 lbs
Character Position/Role/Job: Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform (2007-Present), Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform (2001-2007), Chair of the House Committee on Administration (1999-2001), Representative for Missouri’s 8th Congressional District (1995-Present), Representative for the 145th District of the Missouri House (1989-1995)
Character Country/State of Birth: Missouri
Character State of Residence: Missouri
Character Party Affiliation: Republican (1976-Present)
Faceclaim: Mark Meadows
Main Strengths: Knows where the bodies are buried, strong connections both within his district and across Missouri on account of both his tenure in the state legislature and his House career, noted reputation as an organiser and diligent worker
Main Weaknesses: Representative of a minority faction of the GOP, staunch ideological stance doesn't endear him to moderates, weak on economic policy, has a skeleton or two from his career as a state legislature and his first years in the House
Biography:

Thomas Volker was born on the 22nd of December 1962 in the small town of Leopold, Missouri. The firstborn of Rudolf Volker (1938-Present), a then-Captain serving in the United States Army and Grace Volker (née Dare) (1940-Present), Thomas enjoyed a comfortable upbringing steeped in discipline and a strong emphasis on the family’s Lutheran faith, unusual in the largely Catholic community of Leopold.

Academically, the sole Volker son performed well, albeit not to any extent significant from that of his peers.
Politically, Thomas’ convictions, naturally Conservative due to his upbringing, were firmly consolidated by the influence of his maternal grandfather, a retired attorney who whilst studying at the Washington University in St Louis’ Law School, led the University’s chapter of the America First Committee, and who was currently serving the first of two terms as Prosecuting Attorney for Bollinger County after his election in 1960. This culminated in Thomas joining the Republican Party at the earliest date he could. It was also during his schooling that the young Volker met Torrie Kaiser, who had recently arrived to the state. The two developed a close relationship, culminating in marriage in 1985.

After graduating high school in 1981, Thomas proceeded to study Political Science with a minor in Legal Studies at Washington University in St Louis, where he continued to show a strong academic performance whilst also actively involving himself in the university’s College Republicans, during which he secured an internship with then-White House Communications Director (Not-Pat Buchanan) in the months prior to his graduation in 1985, enabling the Missourian to develop a nascent political network within the conservative movement, as well as a strong relationship with the conservative stalwart. After graduating, Thomas enrolled in the University’s School of Law, studying a joint JD/LLM in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, where he was noted for being particularly skilled in terms of preparation during mock trials, a matter which the law student used to compensate for what was generally an otherwise dull presentation. Having graduated in 1987, Thomas found work at the small law practice which counted amongst its founding partners his late grandfather. Although the work the young attorney took on was for the most part unremarkable, it enabled Thomas to network further within his little corner of southeastern Missouri, something which would prove a substantial benefit within the next year.

Come 1988, the incumbent Republican State Representative for the 145th District announced their retirement from the state legislature, thus leaving the seat open. Seeing his opportunity, Thomas ran for the Republican primary, emphasising his social conservative credentials as well as the commitment to moral standards shown during his time in private practice. After winning the Republican primary with 46% of the vote, Volker easily won the general election. Representative Volker’s tenure in the Missouri State House was one that saw attention drawn to the freshman, largely as a result of the Republicans being in a minority throughout his time in Jefferson City.
Nevertheless, Thomas was able to achieve some legislative success through sponsoring a bill seeking to strengthen community banks by cutting regulation on them at the state level, with the bill being signed by Governor (Not-John Ashcroft) in 1991.

However, the State Representative garnered some controversy in the state after endorsing the insurgent campaign of his mentor (Not-Pat Buchanan). Furthermore, the early 90s also saw Representative Volker representing the interests of the-then growing 'patriot movement' in a number of cases, particularly regarding the scope of the federal government's powers. Although these efforts would cause Thomas to develop a reputation as a firebrand in Missouri, it enabled him to build support amongst staunch conservatives in the region by carving out a unique niche which up to that point had been unrepresented in either state or federal politics, and which would provide the Missourian with an opportunity in the immediate future.

As 1994 approached, and now in his own third term, Thomas Volker announced his campaign for Missouri’s 8th Congressional District after (Not-Bill Emerson) declined to run for another term. Running as a “trade-sceptical” conservative, and emphasising his own credentials on family values, State Representative Volker handily won the primary with 53% of the vote. Despite now being the Representative-Elect in all but name, Thomas continued to run an active campaign during the general election, emphasising his conservative credentials on family values and law and order in traditionally Republican areas whilst at the same time using his “trade-sceptic conservatism” in an attempt win over traditionally Democratic and union voters in the Lead Belt region. And so, Thomas Volker was duly elected to represent the 8th Congressional District of Missouri with 64% of the vote, a narrow gain from that won by his predecessor in the previous cycle.

His freshman term in the House saw Congressman Volker draw little attention initially, with him regularly voting the party line on legislation. However, that changed when the Missourian endorsed (Not-Pat Buchanan)‘s primary campaign in 1996. Thomas’ stumping for the candidate within his district enabled his ally and mentor to win the states delegates. Nevertheless, Volker’s support for the candidate would prove to be troublesome after his endorsee dropped out during the convention, leaving the freshman Congressman to deal with a displeased House leadership.

As a consequence of his support for the insurgent candidate, Thomas was denied a seat on the House Judiciary Committee and was instead placed at what was perhaps the worst place for an ambitious legislator to find themselves, the House Administration Committee. Nevertheless, Congressman took to his committee assignment as well as one could with such a committee, whilst also working his way back into favour with the GOP leadership by doing the rounds of news outlets during the impeachment of (Not-Bill Clinton) in which he defended the impeachment on the grounds of the presidency requiring only those individuals with the “highest moral fortitude and sense of public service, capable of representing the fundamental values and hopes of the American people”.

Moreover, Congressman Volker also improved his working relationship with the leadership by actively throwing himself into the work of the Administration Committee. As the new millennium, and with it a new set of primaries drew in, Volker’s chance finally came.

Initially, the Congressman endorsed his old mentor (Not-Pat Buchanan) out of a sense and loyalty to the elder statesman of the paleoconservative movement. However, the latter's withdrawal from the primaries and, despite the efforts of his protege, campaign for the Reform Party nomination caused Thomas to endorse the campaign of (Not-George W. Bush) based on both the candidates non-interventionist leanings, as well as providing the Missouri with a further opportunity to ingratiate himself within the GOP. Congressman Volker actively stumped for the Governor during both the primary and general elections. Finding himself now in favour, Thomas was moved up from the Administration Committee, where he had served as chairman since 1999, to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. However, his new found favour was overshadowed by the beginning of the War on Terror in response to the attack against the United States on September 11th 2001. Despite his scepticism towards foreign interventions, Thomas was for the most part supportive of US troop deployments in both Afghanistan and, to a lesser extent, Iraq, on the grounds that the United States was the direct victim of an attack by its enemies.

However, this soon proved to be detrimental to the Missourian as the situation in Iraq stagnation as the insurgency developed. Moreover, the uncovering of the extent to which the (Not- George W. Bush) Administration had used 'enhanced interrogation techniques' in gaining information from detainees had provoked a backlash both within Congress and amongst the electorate, backlash which Congressman Volker was acutely aware of due to the remit of his congressional committee. This culminated in the Democrats retaking Congress for the first time in 12 years and with it, the majority on the Oversight Committee. Having lost his Chairmanship of the committee, and still in a minority within the Republican Party, the Congressman finds himself working away on means through which to strengthen his faction's position within the GOP, and with it, establish a more authentic conservative movement.

Other Info:
Thomas Volker has been married to Torrie Volker (née Kaiser) for 21 years. In that time they have had five children: Thomas Jr (Born September 1989), Sarah (Born April 1991), William & John (Born January 1993), and Madeleine (Born November 1999).
I have read and accepted the rules of the roleplay: Greater Arab State
Do Not Remove: ACCEPTED123123

ACCEPTED

[Makko Oko]

Viva Las Vegas! I'll be the Governor Of Nevada. Does that sound good to you all?

Sounds great! Go for it!

Do I need to resubmit my application? If so, does anything need to be changed?

[Prince Kropotkin]

Given there's literally nothing else to do I suppose MC can come.

Do you know how this RP is supposed to work?

I assumed we introduced and debated legislation, like in every other pol-RP.

[Lavan Tiri]

Do you know how this RP is supposed to work?

I assumed we introduced and debated legislation, like in every other pol-RP.

We usually focus more on the Presidential races to drive activity, but you can introduce legislation either here in the OOC or in the IC thread by having your character pitch it to leadership, show it to other characters, et cetera.

[Lavan Tiri]

wow

Thank u Flex town very cool!

[Sarenium]

Dentali, I am officially calling for your resignation if you do not accept my app in a forthright manner.

You should issue a Statement of Concern

[Madrinpoor]

I assumed we introduced and debated legislation, like in every other pol-RP.

We usually focus more on the Presidential races to drive activity, but you can introduce legislation either here in the OOC or in the IC thread by having your character pitch it to leadership, show it to other characters, et cetera.

There will eventually be more congress/backroom political stuff too

[Madrinpoor]

Sounds great! Go for it!

Do I need to resubmit my application? If so, does anything need to be changed?

Yeah, it'd be great if you could rewrite it with your new char. Feel free to ask for help either on here or by Telegram, I love writing apps!

If you want a word of advice, I personally wouldn't pick Marco Rubio. Totally fine if you do, of course, it's just a personal preference on my part for my char models to be politicians that made some news a little while back so there are lots of pictures of them, but aren't currently very important or prominent for the immersion. That way someone looks at your char and goes "oh, governor of Kansas" instead of "Oh, John McCain" and it adds a layer of fun.

That said, it's sometimes hard to find photos of certain politicians. And whoever fits your character is always the best option. Go with your gut.

[Madrinpoor]

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Character Application and Information Sheet

NS Nation Name: Madrinpoor
Character Name: Tommy Sommo
Character Gender: Male
Character Age: 61 (b. 1946)
Character Height: 5'4
Character Weight: 124 lbs
Character Position/Role/Job: Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives (2006—)
Leader of the House Republican Conference (2006—)
Chair of the House Republican Conference (2001-2006—)
Seated on the House Appropriations Committee (1998—2000)
Seated on the House Ethics Committee (1996—1998)
U.S. Representative from NY-1 (1995—)
Republican Nominee for Governor of New York (1990)
Republican Nominee for Lt. Governor of New York (1986)
Senior Advisor for Mario Cuomo (1985—1986)
Majority Leader of the New York State Senate (1984—1985)
N.Y. Representative from District 1 (1976—1985, 1988—1990)
Lewis, Bonner, Morgan, and Roth (1971—1976)
Character Country/State of Birth: Guam, USA
Character State of Residence: New York
Character Party Affiliation: GOP
Faceclaim: Jeff Van Drew
Main Strengths:

• Popular in his district, and he makes sure to spend time there. He's well-liked, even among Democrats there, and he wins reelection by large margins.
• Opportunistic more than ideological, he calculates his decisions to support certain bills well beforehand. His ambition has led him to great heights — but the higher they rise, the farther they fall.
• He wields a surprising amount of power in New York for a Republican. He has name recognition all over the state, pretty much, especially in political corners — and he's buddies with not-Giuliani and not-Bloomberg, calling them "great pro-American leaders". Now that he has such a high profile, he's even more well known — but in every war room of a New York Democratic group, there's a picture of him on the wall with "how do we defeat this guy?" written on it, and probably a dozen ideas for how to do so already spitballed.
• He's also well-liked in Congress, for his friendly demeanor and, for Republicans, devotion to helping them get elected. Tommy is a master of amassing chits to cash in later, who can get people to want to do things for him while at the same time giving them the squeeze if they don't.

Main Weaknesses:

• His district relatively competitive, and a target for Democrats. Although he's very popular there, and has a sizable Republican edge, his national profile means the Democratic Party is willing to pour money into that district to force him out, or try to shift the boundaries in redistricting. He has to be careful to not upset his constituents, and balances time in Washington with Long Island.
• Tommy is still coming into his own as head of the House Republican Party, and his easygoing but soft demeanor doesn't do him any favors wrangling the rowdy HRC. He has enemies still that don't think he deserved the role of Minority Leader, and when the Republicans eventually take back the House, it's unsure whether Tommy can be an effective Speaker.
• Tommy is a Country Club Republican, not necessarily a boon these days, as he can seem out-of-touch with common people. Fortunately for him, his district doesn't include many common people.
• A playboy-ish attitude coupled with power and wealth is a recipe for PR trouble. Tommy is unmarried, and flies through romantic engagements quickly, most of which he tries to keep under the radar. Occasionally though, the news of one or two leak out...
• He has a history of being pro-rich people. His district is mostly rich people (wealthiest Republican-controlled district in the US IRL), so it helps him constituent-wise, but his promotion of tax cuts on the upper class is not a great look. It will be an even worse look once the recession starts and everybody is broke.
• Hard for him to balance socially moderate views with being on the national stage and subject to Republican scrutiny — whether or not he can keep hold of his Speakership is anyone's guess.

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Biography: Thomas Frank Sommo is a navy brat, born in Apra Harbor, Guam, on June 9th, 1946. His father was captain of Sturgeon-class attack submarine USS Sand Tiger, a battle-hardened vessel that saw its first action in Wake Island — followed by engagements in Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Leyte Gulf. After the invasion of Kyushu was canceled, the Sand Tiger was relocated to Naval Base Guam, and the sailors were given shore leave — Huey Sommo promptly married his longtime girlfriend on the island, Ella Berkley, and got her pregnant with their first child.

Huey Sommo left the army after World War II, planning to settle down on Guam and operate a tourist boat. The Sommo family lived on Guam until Thomas was three — he has very few memories of his time there, but gets a sense of deja vu when he's on the beach or smells betel nut. But Guam is a small island, with few jobs and little space for a growing family — Ella Sommo had gotten pregnant again, with what would be Tommy's brother Andrew — so the family relocated thousands of miles to California.

Huey Sommo was hired by a defense contractor, which shuttled his family around the country during Tommy's childhood. He ended up in Las Vegas, Houston, Norfolk, Tampa, and even Boise, Idaho. When Tommy was 16, the family finally settled down in Long Beach, Nassau County, Long Island — Tommy's father was promoted to Vice-president of his company, headquartered there. With his rapid ascension came a lifestyle adjustment for Tommy. The Sommos bought a large house on the beach, and Huey Sommo started commuting to work in a Cadillac. Tommy's family had never been stressed for money, but now they were well-off — he attended private school, the neighborhood was richer and entirely White, and Tommy learned to golf, play tennis, and sail a boat, none of which he could previously do. Tommy also joined his school's speech and debate team, which he captained senior year.

Tommy Sommo went to Boston College, planning to go to law school and become an attorney. During this time is when he became interested in politics — his parents had been early supporters of Nixon, and Tommy followed suit, doing some grassroots volunteer work for the Nixon campaign in 1964. The campaign failed, and Tommy mostly forgot about it — but four years later he still graduated with a double major in law and political science. Tommy came back to New York for his law school at Columbia. The year he started at Columbia was 1968, and Nixon was running for President again. This time, Tommy took more of an interest than in 1964. He started the Columbia "Students for Nixon" club, and became the chair of the Columbia Young Republicans. In coordination with the New York GOP, he led an aggressive pro-Nixon campaign in heavily liberal New York City, alongside some like-minded friends in other nearby colleges that would also get into politics later in life — a student named Nick Blanquais at Cornell; Ronny Heron in Fordham; Elisa Patterson at Barnard College; and John Malcolm Jr. at NYU. Blanquais and Heron would later serve in the New York Assembly, and Elisa Patterson would launch an unsuccessful congressional bid in Massachusetts.

Sommo's campaign caught the eye of Republican Party organizers in New York, who encouraged him to get into politics himself. Tommy turned them down to focus on his law career, and he graduated early in 1971, the year he was admitted to the bar. Tommy ended up moving back to Long Island, this time to the expensive extreme east of the island, to work at high-profile Hamptons-based law firm Lewis, Bonner, Morgan, and Roth as a legal assistant. Tommy's intellect, people skills, and ability to schmooze clients made him a popular candidate for promotion — he became a junior partner in 1973, and when founding member Clyde Morgan retired two years later, Tommy was promoted to partner. Most of the firm's business came from wealthy lawyers, doctors, and businessmen, and Tommy quickly adopted the lifestyle of Merlot, golf, and talking without really saying anything.

Some of Tommy's clients came from a little farther afield than the Hamptons, and Tommy often found himself traveling to Chicago, DC, and New York. A couple of his clients included politicians (the most common source of hush money), some of which knew Tommy from his pro-Nixon activism back in the day. Though the legal life was exciting, Tommy didn't see himself litigating for the rest of his life — and in a decision that pissed off his father to no end, the 30-year-old lawyer abruptly dropped out of the firm, and ran for the New York State Senate's first seat, most of Long Island, in 1976.

The primary was lightly contested, and afterwards Tommy easily won the Republican-leaning seat, and met some old friends from his college years (Blanquais and Heron) in Albany. Tommy spent his first couple years making a scene — he loudly fought against any bill that increased either taxation (which went over well in the Hamptons) or state spending, especially on things he didn't view as necessary, like highway expansions. He railed against hippies and counterculture, saying that they "poisoned" the state's youth. Despite his aggressive stances, he was considered one of the nicest people in the senate, open to bipartisan cooperation (as long as it didn't contradict a stance popular in his constituency) and lengthy policy discussions with anyone. He left his office door open all day, so that anyone, even civilians, could reach him. In 1984, Tommy ran an insurgency campaign for Senate Majority Leader, and somehow won — as Majority Leader and de facto ruler of the State Senate, Tommy had the ability to stop most of not-Mario Cuomo's bills in their tracks, and pushed for tax breaks under the banner of "government austerity". Tommy was very young for his position, only 38, and considered a rising star in the New York Republican Party, if not the national one — in 1985, Governor not-Cuomo offered him a position in his government as a "senior advisor", really a way for not-Cuomo to build bridges with the aggressive, Republican-dominated State Senate and an attempt to remove Tommy from such a powerful position. Tommy accepted, eyeing a future gubernatorial run — but felt he "wasn't listened to" in the not-Cuomo administration, because of course he wasn't, not-Cuomo never intended to take his advice.

Tommy was picked as the running mate of not-Andrew O'Rourke, the Republican challenger to not-Cuomo in 1986. He resigned from his Senate seat — a move he later admitted a mistake — to barnstorm for the election, visiting all 62 counties in his campaign. Many of those stops he visited without O'Rourke, the actual candidate — they lost to not-Cuomo, but Tommy was actually in the national spotlight now. He ran for his Senate seat again in 1988, though he never reclaimed the position of Majority Leader.

In 1990, Tommy Launched what would be his last gubernatorial bid — this time he won the Republican nomination, but found himself floundering from the very beginning. He didn't have a clear message of what he wanted to do as governor, besides just "anti-not-Cuomo", but not-Cuomo was very popular, which made that line of attack ineffective. Tommy still amassed a large campaign chest, and spent it on rallies and flashy ads, but without any sort of message — made worse by spoiler candidate from the Conservative Party, not-Herbert London. Tommy beat not-London by just one percentage point, garnering just over a tragic 21% of the vote.

Tommy stepped back from the political spotlight after this, and friends of his said that he grew very depressed. He moved to Montauk, the easternmost town in New York, where he spent lots of time on the beach sailing and working as a part-time legal consultant for lobbyists, campaigns, and businesses. He adopted a nasty smoking habit to calm his nerves, which didn't help. He likes to say he was "saved" by Nick Blanquais, his New York State Legislature friend, and fellow golf club Republican that now represented parts of Westchester County, who encouraged Tommy to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. Tommy did run, for New York's first district, which contained much of Long Island. He won the primary against a local businessman by power of name recognition (nobody knew who the businessman was), and trounced his general election opponent in the 1994 red wave — Tommy Sommo was off to Washington.

That year saw the first time the GOP took the House in decades. Tommy was a member of the 54-person Freshman class, and was faced with the challenge of making himself stand out among them — on the day after the election, he showed up at outgoing GOP leader Bob Michel's door with a bottle of wine and two glasses, and spent two hours making valuable connections with a powerful figure. Michel got Tommy a meeting with the incoming Speaker, not-Newt Gingrich —which allowed Tommy to set himself apart inside the GOP while not throwing bombs at his own party through the press for name recognition.

Tommy's first committee assignment was on the boring, scandal-plagued Ethics Committee, in 1996 — but not long after that, in 1998, Tommy landed a spot on the powerful Appropriations committee after four years of hauling ass all over the nation to fundraise for Republican candidates, especially in New York where he held particular sway. This gave Tommy much, much more power to flex — the Appropriations Committee earmarks bills — a little bit of which Tommy always made sure to send back home, paying for shiny new highways, a beach reclamation project, and for the small town of Babylon to acquire an anti-terrorist tank.

Tommy stayed on the Appropriations committee for two more years, even though he was among the least experienced there — during which time he made plenty of enemies, both in the DNC and GOP. Tommy's personality wasn't the issue, he's always been calm under pressure and easygoing — but his ambition, kissup-iness, weird luck, entrenched state power, and readiness to fight his opponents tooth and claw, even on his own team, forces people to keep him at arms length.

In 2001, Tommy ran for the position of head of the HRC, against incumbent not-J.C. Watts. During the election of 2000, not-Watts fought with other members of the GOP over how conservative the party would be, a debate that Tommy made sure to stay out of from his desk on the Appropriations table, eyeing the HRC chair spot — that made him some enemies within the party, especially at the leadership level, while Tommy maintained good relationships with them. not-Watts publicly faced familial stress over his political career, and an aggressive campaign wouldn't have helped — Tommy made a backroom deal with not-Watts, promising him his position on the Appropriations committee in exchange for him to drop out of the race, leaving Tommy the frontrunner. A not-Watts reelection wasn't secured, and he decided it was worth it to take Tommy's compromise. He dropped out of the race, and Tommy became number four in the House GOP.

In 2006, after the GOP lost the midterms and became the minority party, Tommy announced a surprise run for Minority Leader. He was popular in the House Republican Conference, both for his accommodating views and friendliness, as well as being first to jump into a fundraising bus for another candidate, and he blamed both outgoing Speaker not-Dennis Hastert, who was retiring, and former Majority Leader not-John Boehner for an "awful" response to Hurricane Katrina, what he privately called a "bungled shitfest" (the Iraq War), and the stagnation of the GOP into the party of "bitter old men". Tommy turns on the meanness when he wants something.

He ended up winning the position, beating out not-Mike Pence and not-John Boehner for the nomination. He's now got his eye on the Speakership, and is willing to work hard for the GOP to win.

Views: A little bit Socially moderate, which is popular in his district — he doesn't support abortion except in the case of rape, incest, or a medical emergency, otherwise he's indifferent and avoids that topic; personally indifferent about gay marriage, but he will shelve a bill making it legal or banning it on the federal level, saying that the issue is better passed to SCOTUS or the states; against censorship of anything, which he finds "unconstitutional and ridiculous", such as books or movies that include violent, sexual, LGBTQ, racial, or mature themes; attacks illegal immigration but supports a legal pathway to immigration, saying "my ancestors were immigrant, and yours were too — we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. America wasn't born, it was built."

Fiscally conservative, he's always in favor of tax cuts, reducing government spending, attacking pork barrel spending ruthlessly despite having used it to make friends in his congress and his district in the past, school vouchers, cutting down government handouts, opposing expensive foreign wars (at least privately), cutting down regulations, cutting down corporate taxes, privatization, and government transparency.

On guns, he has an "A" rating by the NRA.

Other Info: At 5'4", he is the shortest male member of Congress. He hates jokes about that.

Lapsed Episcopalian (my first non-Catholic character)

I have read and accepted the rules of the roleplay: Madrinpoor

Do Not Remove: DRAFT123123

Repost, Yaruqo gave it a thumbs up

[Madrinpoor]

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Character Application and Information Sheet

NS Nation Name: Tehrangeles
Character Name: Charles “Chuck” Bloedel Ward, Jr.
Character Gender: Boy
Character Age: 71
Character Height: 6’1” (Used to be taller, has shrunk)
Character Weight: 190 lbs
Character Position/Role/Job: Democratic Presidential nominee (2004), United States Senator from Washington (1987-Present), Governor of Washington (1981-1987), Secretary of the Army (1977-1979), United States Representative (WA-1) (1975-1977), Staffer to Senator Frank Church (1965-1974), United States Army (Enlisted) (1951-1959)
Character Country/State of Birth: Washington
Character State of Residence: Bloedel Reserve Manor House, Bainbridge Island, Washington / Tacoma, Washington
Character Party Affiliation: Democratic
Faceclaim: -Ward now
Ward in Lebanon during Operation Blue Bat
Main Strengths: Widely respected as an statesman, experienced, strong fundraiser, strong foreign policy credentials
Main Weaknesses: Seen as aloof/elitist, career politician, baggage from 2004 campaign, perceived as having shifting political views
Biography:
Julius Bloedel, born in 1864, moved to Washington in 1890. As a speculator, he engaged in a number of high risk-high reward ventures in the Territory, including railways, timber, and ship-building. Ultimately, the man built a fortune and became an early magnate in the Pacific Northwest. The estate he built, Bloedel Reserve, is now a public park on Bainbridge Island. However, the home (named Bloedel Reserve Manor House) remains in the family. Bloedel had two sons and a daughter. The latter, Grace, married Charles Ward, the heir to another family of old money which had moved into the area from New England. Charles joined Grace’s brothers in managing the Bloedel family’s many holdings. The two gave birth to two sons, Richard and Charles Jr. While it was clear Grace’s brothers would inherit most of the Bloedel wealth, Charles Sr. still groomed his sons to seek prosperous careers in their own right. From a young age, it was clear that Richard, the elder son, would seek a career in investing, much like his speculator grandfather. Charles, the younger son, did not share his brother’s ambition, intelligence, or promise.

Rebelling against his parents, he fled the boarding school to which he was consigned. At the age of 16, he flirted with the burgeoning Beat Generation, reading early Kerouac and Holmes. His parents took notice of this, and promptly enlisted Charles in the Army following his graduation from high school, at the age of 17. Charles Jr. followed in the footsteps of his older brother, who fought in the Second World War, and his father who fought in the First World War years before.

Charles enjoyed his time in the Army, as it was an escape from the pressures of his blue-blooded family. Following the completion of his training, he fought in the last year and a half of the Korean War. He was assigned to the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment. His most noteworthy operation was the 1952 suppression of the prisoner rebellion at the Geoje POW Camp, wherein he sustained a bullet injury to the leg. Following the incident he spent six months in Japan for recovery, after which he rejoined his unit, which remained in Korea until 1955, two years after the effective end of the conflict. During that time, he was commended the Purple Heart for injuries sustained, and a Bronze Star for heroism in combat. After that, his unit was reassigned to Fort Bragg, where they remained until redeployment in 1958 to Lebanon, wherein he participated in Operation Blue Bat to allow for the ascent of the Chehab presidency. Charles became fairly bored on the peacekeeping mission, as his job mostly involved managing a street checkpoint in a village north of Beirut. As boredom overtook him, Chuck was the subject of constant sternly-worded situational reports, as he was frequently caught sneaking a retinue of Lebanese women in and out of the baracks. He redeemed himself during a short roadside exchange of fire with Shi’a rebels, in which he saved the life of his commanding officer to earn a Silver Star. In 1959 he returned to Fort Bragg, and almost immediately began the process of receiving an honorable discharge. Following eight years of service, he retired from duty as a relatively well-decorated Master Sergeant, even with his minor disciplinary incident.

At the direction of his parents, Charles (by then going as “Chuck,” a nickname he received in the Army) enrolled in Williams College, in Massachusetts- a liberal arts school which received funding from both the Boedel and Ward families. After graduating with a degree in history, Chuck wanted to continue his studies in order to become a professor of history. However, during his time in Massachusetts, his brother died in an automobile accident. Therefore, he became heir apparent to his wing of the family. So, he changed track and enrolled in law school at Yale. While his parents fully anticipated he would use the degree to better manage the family trust, Ward’s rebellious streak was rekindled once more as he fell in love with Clarice Goldsmith, the daughter of a wealthy marketing executive and an undergraduate at Barnard College in New York.

Clarice was very socially conscious, and shifted Chuck from the old money Republicanism of his family which he had somewhat absorbed, into a politically-aware liberal Democrat. Instead of moving back to Bloedel Reserve to manage the family estate, Chuck married Clarice in Manhattan after earning his law degree and followed her to Washington, D.C., where she was taking a job with the League of Women Voters. Clarice converted to Lutheranism from Judaism to provide at least some appeasement to his parents.

In the capital, Chuck took a job with Senator Frank Church of Idaho, first as a legislative assistant. He assisted with a number of responsibilities, including the Senator’s work on the Foreign Relations Committee. As time went on, Chuck became increasingly close with the Senator, spending nine years on his staff. By the end of his time, he ascended to legislative director for the Senator’s office. His most proud achievements were helping to draft the the Cooper–Church Amendment of 1970, and the Case–Church Amendment of 1973, both of which sought to curtail the Vietnam War.

In 1974, with Church’s support, Chuck sought his own political office. He and Clarice had started spending time in Tacoma and becoming acquainted with Washington’s first district beginning in the early 1970s, buying their “primary” residence in the city in 1972, and becoming involved in the VFW of Eastern Washington. While Clarice thought it would be wise to begin his own pursuit of elected office in the part of the state closest to Church’s own base of support, Chuck genuinely enjoyed the natural beauty and down-to-earth nature of the city. It was different from the stuffy lifestyle with his cousins at Bainbridge Island, and was far from their tendrils which permeated throughout Seattle. Moreover, his parents began to write him off as a lost cause, becoming somewhat embittered. Ultimately, Chuck was elected in the Watergate wave, flipping a longtime Republican seat.

His success did not last- in 1976 the seat returned to its natural leanings, and Chuck was given the boot. He supported major legislation, but was generally a backbencher with minimal real impact. Though he supported Church in the 1976 primary, he eventually switched his support to Jimmy Carter, who he got along with on a personal level. He supported the Georgia Governor vocally in the 1976 election, even as Ford narrowly carried his state and district, which some say may have contributed to his defeat. As a result of his efforts, Carter appointed Chuck as Secretary of the Army, which he was confirmed to soon after his departure from the House.

As Secretary of the Army, Chuck’s most notable work included completing and improving the shift to the all-volunteer force, stressing programs to enhance professionalism, and emphasizing the award of contracts to minority businesses to fulfill the new federal commitment to encourage diversity. In 1979, following the midterms, he left the position and returned to Tacoma. Political operatives in the state had urged him to seek a comeback to elected office, requiring him to leave the cabinet.

The incumbent governor was increasingly unpopular due to a number of reasons, including management of the Mount St. Helens disaster. Chuck had the opportunity to win the blanket primary from the Governor’s left- which he managed to accomplish. He went on to narrowly win the general election, distancing himself from his former ally, President Carter, in the process. This political comeback seemed like a Trojan horse at first, as Washington was immediately struck by rising unemployment, indications of recession, and subsequently, disapproval for Governor Ward. Ward pushed for new sources of revenue, such as a small sales tax increase. This filled the 2.5 billion dollar budget shortfall. Additionally, Chuck strengthened environmental protections. Against pressure from business groups and many legislators, he vetoed a bill permitting for an environmentally-risky development project by Chicago Bridge & Iron in a sensitive shoreline area of Whatcom County. He also successfully blocked a proposed oil pipeline that would have crossed under the Puget Sound over potential endangerment of the waterway's ecology and refused to back down amidst public support of the project. He also helped develop and implement land-use and growth-management policies that made Washington an early environmental leader. This came to pass with the advice and support of his wife, Clarice.

Ultimately, due to his unpopularity, Ward faced a strong primary challenge from the Democratic State House leader, and a strong field of Republican challengers. However, Chuck pointed to his principled leadership, and refusal to back down from important causes, and promised to establish a program which would provide medical insurance to the working poor. Through this campaign strategy, he narrowly won re-election. In his second term, he oversaw the implementation of his promised policy, and Washington’s economic recovery, With an increasingly collaborative legislature, steered hundreds of millions of dollars of increased spending toward state universities, increased standardized testing in public education, and improved legal protections for LGBTQ people.

In 1986, halfway through his second term, he launched a campaign for United States Senate. While initially unenthusiastic about the prospect, Democratic operatives saw the popular governor as the best means through which to win the competitive Senate seat. After a tough campaign, he won against the incumbent by a narrow margin. Ward quickly became a prominent member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, much like his former mentor. He took a seat on the commission investigating missing service-members in Asia, contributing significantly to the report. He also established a liberal voting record, and became a frequent fixture of cable television. In 1994, Chuck’s father died at the age of 100, with his mother dying weeks later at the age of 86. Chuck inherited the family trust from the somewhat estranged couple, which he turned into a non-profit trust called the Grace and Charles Ward Foundation, which is used to support charitable causes under the direction of Clarice.

In 1996, Chuck began to enter the imagination of the pundit class as a potential presidential contender, after he delivered a forceful DNC address, and published memoirs about his military service, which were credited for being genuine and introspective. These ambitions, though, could not come to fruition in 2000, as the incumbent Vice President opted to run. Though Chuck was on the Vice-Presidential shortlist, he was not selected. This was something for which he has remained grateful. However, Chuck still made yet another forceful and memorable speech at the 2000 DNC, allowing him to remain in the public eye.

In 2004, he all but coasted to the nomination. Running with a fairly liberal platform, President Cush attacked Chuck for being a “Left Coast Liberal,” elitist (despite his own background), and a flip flopper. Additionally, controversy arose when a group called “Geoje Vets for Justice” emerged to falsely challenge the legitimacy of Chuck’s combat experience and commendations. This phenomenon is now referred to as being “Geojed.” Chuck also had a moment which garnered significant negative attention, wherein he saluted at the DNC and said “I’m Sergeant Chuck Ward, and I’m reporting for duty!” These issues came to a head after the RNC, as Cush maintained a near 15-point lead over Chuck. Chuck worked hard to close the gap, however. He decisively crushed the incumbent in the debates, and criticized the President’s own military record when compared to his own.

Despite starting the race as an underdog, Chuck nearly won- with the electoral college coming down to a few thousand votes in Ohio, and a narrow win for the president in the national popular vote. Chuck took the defeat with dignity, and returned to his work in the Senate. In 2006, he won re-election to the Senate, and continues to criticize the ongoing war in Iraq. Pundits have speculated that he could become involved in the ongoing primary, if not outright launch a campaign or his own.

Other Info: Practicing Lutheran, on the Board of Trustees of Williams College, married for 48 years, has three adult children, two of whom are politically involved.

I have read and accepted the rules of the roleplay: Tehrangeles / San

Do Not Remove: DRAFT123123

I give approval

[Yaruqo]

(Image)

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Character Application and Information Sheet

NS Nation Name: Tehrangeles
Character Name: Charles “Chuck” Bloedel Ward, Jr.
Character Gender: Boy
Character Age: 71
Character Height: 6’1” (Used to be taller, has shrunk)
Character Weight: 190 lbs
Character Position/Role/Job: Democratic Presidential nominee (2004), United States Senator from Washington (1987-Present), Governor of Washington (1981-1987), Secretary of the Army (1977-1979), United States Representative (WA-1) (1975-1977), Staffer to Senator Frank Church (1965-1974), United States Army (Enlisted) (1951-1959)
Character Country/State of Birth: Washington
Character State of Residence: Bloedel Reserve Manor House, Bainbridge Island, Washington / Tacoma, Washington
Character Party Affiliation: Democratic
Faceclaim: -Ward now
Ward in Lebanon during Operation Blue Bat
Main Strengths: Widely respected as an statesman, experienced, strong fundraiser, strong foreign policy credentials
Main Weaknesses: Seen as aloof/elitist, career politician, baggage from 2004 campaign, perceived as having shifting political views
Biography:
Julius Bloedel, born in 1864, moved to Washington in 1890. As a speculator, he engaged in a number of high risk-high reward ventures in the Territory, including railways, timber, and ship-building. Ultimately, the man built a fortune and became an early magnate in the Pacific Northwest. The estate he built, Bloedel Reserve, is now a public park on Bainbridge Island. However, the home (named Bloedel Reserve Manor House) remains in the family. Bloedel had two sons and a daughter. The latter, Grace, married Charles Ward, the heir to another family of old money which had moved into the area from New England. Charles joined Grace’s brothers in managing the Bloedel family’s many holdings. The two gave birth to two sons, Richard and Charles Jr. While it was clear Grace’s brothers would inherit most of the Bloedel wealth, Charles Sr. still groomed his sons to seek prosperous careers in their own right. From a young age, it was clear that Richard, the elder son, would seek a career in investing, much like his speculator grandfather. Charles, the younger son, did not share his brother’s ambition, intelligence, or promise.

Rebelling against his parents, he fled the boarding school to which he was consigned. At the age of 16, he flirted with the burgeoning Beat Generation, reading early Kerouac and Holmes. His parents took notice of this, and promptly enlisted Charles in the Army following his graduation from high school, at the age of 17. Charles Jr. followed in the footsteps of his older brother, who fought in the Second World War, and his father who fought in the First World War years before.

Charles enjoyed his time in the Army, as it was an escape from the pressures of his blue-blooded family. Following the completion of his training, he fought in the last year and a half of the Korean War. He was assigned to the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment. His most noteworthy operation was the 1952 suppression of the prisoner rebellion at the Geoje POW Camp, wherein he sustained a bullet injury to the leg. Following the incident he spent six months in Japan for recovery, after which he rejoined his unit, which remained in Korea until 1955, two years after the effective end of the conflict. During that time, he was commended the Purple Heart for injuries sustained, and a Bronze Star for heroism in combat. After that, his unit was reassigned to Fort Bragg, where they remained until redeployment in 1958 to Lebanon, wherein he participated in Operation Blue Bat to allow for the ascent of the Chehab presidency. Charles became fairly bored on the peacekeeping mission, as his job mostly involved managing a street checkpoint in a village north of Beirut. As boredom overtook him, Chuck was the subject of constant sternly-worded situational reports, as he was frequently caught sneaking a retinue of Lebanese women in and out of the baracks. He redeemed himself during a short roadside exchange of fire with Shi’a rebels, in which he saved the life of his commanding officer to earn a Silver Star. In 1959 he returned to Fort Bragg, and almost immediately began the process of receiving an honorable discharge. Following eight years of service, he retired from duty as a relatively well-decorated Master Sergeant, even with his minor disciplinary incident.

At the direction of his parents, Charles (by then going as “Chuck,” a nickname he received in the Army) enrolled in Williams College, in Massachusetts- a liberal arts school which received funding from both the Boedel and Ward families. After graduating with a degree in history, Chuck wanted to continue his studies in order to become a professor of history. However, during his time in Massachusetts, his brother died in an automobile accident. Therefore, he became heir apparent to his wing of the family. So, he changed track and enrolled in law school at Yale. While his parents fully anticipated he would use the degree to better manage the family trust, Ward’s rebellious streak was rekindled once more as he fell in love with Clarice Goldsmith, the daughter of a wealthy marketing executive and an undergraduate at Barnard College in New York.

Clarice was very socially conscious, and shifted Chuck from the old money Republicanism of his family which he had somewhat absorbed, into a politically-aware liberal Democrat. Instead of moving back to Bloedel Reserve to manage the family estate, Chuck married Clarice in Manhattan after earning his law degree and followed her to Washington, D.C., where she was taking a job with the League of Women Voters. Clarice converted to Lutheranism from Judaism to provide at least some appeasement to his parents.

In the capital, Chuck took a job with Senator Frank Church of Idaho, first as a legislative assistant. He assisted with a number of responsibilities, including the Senator’s work on the Foreign Relations Committee. As time went on, Chuck became increasingly close with the Senator, spending nine years on his staff. By the end of his time, he ascended to legislative director for the Senator’s office. His most proud achievements were helping to draft the the Cooper–Church Amendment of 1970, and the Case–Church Amendment of 1973, both of which sought to curtail the Vietnam War.

In 1974, with Church’s support, Chuck sought his own political office. He and Clarice had started spending time in Tacoma and becoming acquainted with Washington’s first district beginning in the early 1970s, buying their “primary” residence in the city in 1972, and becoming involved in the VFW of Eastern Washington. While Clarice thought it would be wise to begin his own pursuit of elected office in the part of the state closest to Church’s own base of support, Chuck genuinely enjoyed the natural beauty and down-to-earth nature of the city. It was different from the stuffy lifestyle with his cousins at Bainbridge Island, and was far from their tendrils which permeated throughout Seattle. Moreover, his parents began to write him off as a lost cause, becoming somewhat embittered. Ultimately, Chuck was elected in the Watergate wave, flipping a longtime Republican seat.

His success did not last- in 1976 the seat returned to its natural leanings, and Chuck was given the boot. He supported major legislation, but was generally a backbencher with minimal real impact. Though he supported Church in the 1976 primary, he eventually switched his support to Jimmy Carter, who he got along with on a personal level. He supported the Georgia Governor vocally in the 1976 election, even as Ford narrowly carried his state and district, which some say may have contributed to his defeat. As a result of his efforts, Carter appointed Chuck as Secretary of the Army, which he was confirmed to soon after his departure from the House.

As Secretary of the Army, Chuck’s most notable work included completing and improving the shift to the all-volunteer force, stressing programs to enhance professionalism, and emphasizing the award of contracts to minority businesses to fulfill the new federal commitment to encourage diversity. In 1979, following the midterms, he left the position and returned to Tacoma. Political operatives in the state had urged him to seek a comeback to elected office, requiring him to leave the cabinet.

The incumbent governor was increasingly unpopular due to a number of reasons, including management of the Mount St. Helens disaster. Chuck had the opportunity to win the blanket primary from the Governor’s left- which he managed to accomplish. He went on to narrowly win the general election, distancing himself from his former ally, President Carter, in the process. This political comeback seemed like a Trojan horse at first, as Washington was immediately struck by rising unemployment, indications of recession, and subsequently, disapproval for Governor Ward. Ward pushed for new sources of revenue, such as a small sales tax increase. This filled the 2.5 billion dollar budget shortfall. Additionally, Chuck strengthened environmental protections. Against pressure from business groups and many legislators, he vetoed a bill permitting for an environmentally-risky development project by Chicago Bridge & Iron in a sensitive shoreline area of Whatcom County. He also successfully blocked a proposed oil pipeline that would have crossed under the Puget Sound over potential endangerment of the waterway's ecology and refused to back down amidst public support of the project. He also helped develop and implement land-use and growth-management policies that made Washington an early environmental leader. This came to pass with the advice and support of his wife, Clarice.

Ultimately, due to his unpopularity, Ward faced a strong primary challenge from the Democratic State House leader, and a strong field of Republican challengers. However, Chuck pointed to his principled leadership, and refusal to back down from important causes, and promised to establish a program which would provide medical insurance to the working poor. Through this campaign strategy, he narrowly won re-election. In his second term, he oversaw the implementation of his promised policy, and Washington’s economic recovery, With an increasingly collaborative legislature, steered hundreds of millions of dollars of increased spending toward state universities, increased standardized testing in public education, and improved legal protections for LGBTQ people.

In 1986, halfway through his second term, he launched a campaign for United States Senate. While initially unenthusiastic about the prospect, Democratic operatives saw the popular governor as the best means through which to win the competitive Senate seat. After a tough campaign, he won against the incumbent by a narrow margin. Ward quickly became a prominent member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, much like his former mentor. He took a seat on the commission investigating missing service-members in Asia, contributing significantly to the report. He also established a liberal voting record, and became a frequent fixture of cable television. In 1994, Chuck’s father died at the age of 100, with his mother dying weeks later at the age of 86. Chuck inherited the family trust from the somewhat estranged couple, which he turned into a non-profit trust called the Grace and Charles Ward Foundation, which is used to support charitable causes under the direction of Clarice.

In 1996, Chuck began to enter the imagination of the pundit class as a potential presidential contender, after he delivered a forceful DNC address, and published memoirs about his military service, which were credited for being genuine and introspective. These ambitions, though, could not come to fruition in 2000, as the incumbent Vice President opted to run. Though Chuck was on the Vice-Presidential shortlist, he was not selected. This was something for which he has remained grateful. However, Chuck still made yet another forceful and memorable speech at the 2000 DNC, allowing him to remain in the public eye.

In 2004, he all but coasted to the nomination. Running with a fairly liberal platform, President Cush attacked Chuck for being a “Left Coast Liberal,” elitist (despite his own background), and a flip flopper. Additionally, controversy arose when a group called “Geoje Vets for Justice” emerged to falsely challenge the legitimacy of Chuck’s combat experience and commendations. This phenomenon is now referred to as being “Geojed.” Chuck also had a moment which garnered significant negative attention, wherein he saluted at the DNC and said “I’m Sergeant Chuck Ward, and I’m reporting for duty!” These issues came to a head after the RNC, as Cush maintained a near 15-point lead over Chuck. Chuck worked hard to close the gap, however. He decisively crushed the incumbent in the debates, and criticized the President’s own military record when compared to his own.

Despite starting the race as an underdog, Chuck nearly won- with the electoral college coming down to a few thousand votes in Ohio, and a narrow win for the president in the national popular vote. Chuck took the defeat with dignity, and returned to his work in the Senate. In 2006, he won re-election to the Senate, and continues to criticize the ongoing war in Iraq. Pundits have speculated that he could become involved in the ongoing primary, if not outright launch a campaign or his own.

Other Info: Practicing Lutheran, on the Board of Trustees of Williams College, married for 48 years, has three adult children, two of whom are politically involved.

I have read and accepted the rules of the roleplay: Tehrangeles / San

Do Not Remove: DRAFT123123

I give approval

ACCEPTED123123

[Melovinta]

Gonna try and get some endorsements.

Greetings Senator Not-Grassley,

I have come to you in America's greatest time of need, in an era with dangerous far leftists such as St. Cierge who could get the nomination due to a desperate Democratic Party. As you can tell, I am the most mainstream, moderate, pragmatic, honest Republican in the race. I have worked tirelessly for the people of Ohio and I will work HARDER for all people in America as President. I am pro-life, pro 2nd amendment, and pro-stronger borders. That's why I am seeking your endorsement in these troubling times.

Sincerely,
Representative Harold Pierce Gunsley.

Greetings Governor Not-Gibbons,

I have come to you in America's greatest time of need, we have seen America consider taking a dangerous choice, that choice would be putting the Democrats in the Oval Office. The Democrats have strayed further and further to the left, with corrupt two-faced candidates such as Tripp Baylor and radical leftists such as St. Cierge, we're gonna need the moderates on our side, but don't take this as that I will spurn regular god-fearing conservative Americans. I am a devout evangelical Christian, I served in our armed forces, I nearly died in the Gulf War, I am pro life, and I am the most ideal candidate who both conservatives and moderates can get behind. That's why I'm seeking your endorsement.

Sincerely,
Representative Harold Pierce Gunsley.

Greetings Senator Not-Enzi,

I have come to you in America's greatest time of need, we have seen the Democrats do all they can to win the White House. They have denounced our Lord Jesus Christ, he who has granted America the role of the defender of freedom. In our fight to maintain the dignity of our streets, I have fought tirelessly for the rights of the unborn, those who are weakest in our society, and I believe you can agree with me on that too. But do not think that we'll lose the election because I won't reach out to moderates, I am the best candidate for moderates behind, we won't have another 1964 on our hands if I am the nominee. That's why I'm seeking your endorsement.

Sincerely,
Representative Harold Pierce Gunsley.

[New Luciannova]

When will we hear back on our pitches?

[The Sarangtus Lands]

(Image)

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(Image)

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Character Application and Information Sheet

NS Nation Name: Madrinpoor
Character Name: Tommy Sommo
Character Gender: Male
Character Age: 61 (b. 1946)
Character Height: 5'4
Character Weight: 124 lbs
Character Position/Role/Job: Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives (2006—)
Leader of the House Republican Conference (2006—)
Chair of the House Republican Conference (2001-2006—)
Seated on the House Appropriations Committee (1998—2000)
Seated on the House Ethics Committee (1996—1998)
U.S. Representative from NY-1 (1995—)
Republican Nominee for Governor of New York (1990)
Republican Nominee for Lt. Governor of New York (1986)
Senior Advisor for Mario Cuomo (1985—1986)
Majority Leader of the New York State Senate (1984—1985)
N.Y. Representative from District 1 (1976—1985, 1988—1990)
Lewis, Bonner, Morgan, and Roth (1971—1976)
Character Country/State of Birth: Guam, USA
Character State of Residence: New York
Character Party Affiliation: GOP
Faceclaim: Jeff Van Drew
Main Strengths:

• Popular in his district, and he makes sure to spend time there. He's well-liked, even among Democrats there, and he wins reelection by large margins.
• Opportunistic more than ideological, he calculates his decisions to support certain bills well beforehand. His ambition has led him to great heights — but the higher they rise, the farther they fall.
• He wields a surprising amount of power in New York for a Republican. He has name recognition all over the state, pretty much, especially in political corners — and he's buddies with not-Giuliani and not-Bloomberg, calling them "great pro-American leaders". Now that he has such a high profile, he's even more well known — but in every war room of a New York Democratic group, there's a picture of him on the wall with "how do we defeat this guy?" written on it, and probably a dozen ideas for how to do so already spitballed.
• He's also well-liked in Congress, for his friendly demeanor and, for Republicans, devotion to helping them get elected. Tommy is a master of amassing chits to cash in later, who can get people to want to do things for him while at the same time giving them the squeeze if they don't.

Main Weaknesses:

• His district relatively competitive, and a target for Democrats. Although he's very popular there, and has a sizable Republican edge, his national profile means the Democratic Party is willing to pour money into that district to force him out, or try to shift the boundaries in redistricting. He has to be careful to not upset his constituents, and balances time in Washington with Long Island.
• Tommy is still coming into his own as head of the House Republican Party, and his easygoing but soft demeanor doesn't do him any favors wrangling the rowdy HRC. He has enemies still that don't think he deserved the role of Minority Leader, and when the Republicans eventually take back the House, it's unsure whether Tommy can be an effective Speaker.
• Tommy is a Country Club Republican, not necessarily a boon these days, as he can seem out-of-touch with common people. Fortunately for him, his district doesn't include many common people.
• A playboy-ish attitude coupled with power and wealth is a recipe for PR trouble. Tommy is unmarried, and flies through romantic engagements quickly, most of which he tries to keep under the radar. Occasionally though, the news of one or two leak out...
• He has a history of being pro-rich people. His district is mostly rich people (wealthiest Republican-controlled district in the US IRL), so it helps him constituent-wise, but his promotion of tax cuts on the upper class is not a great look. It will be an even worse look once the recession starts and everybody is broke.
• Hard for him to balance socially moderate views with being on the national stage and subject to Republican scrutiny — whether or not he can keep hold of his Speakership is anyone's guess.

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Biography: Thomas Frank Sommo is a navy brat, born in Apra Harbor, Guam, on June 9th, 1946. His father was captain of Sturgeon-class attack submarine USS Sand Tiger, a battle-hardened vessel that saw its first action in Wake Island — followed by engagements in Palau, the Marshall Islands, and Leyte Gulf. After the invasion of Kyushu was canceled, the Sand Tiger was relocated to Naval Base Guam, and the sailors were given shore leave — Huey Sommo promptly married his longtime girlfriend on the island, Ella Berkley, and got her pregnant with their first child.

Huey Sommo left the army after World War II, planning to settle down on Guam and operate a tourist boat. The Sommo family lived on Guam until Thomas was three — he has very few memories of his time there, but gets a sense of deja vu when he's on the beach or smells betel nut. But Guam is a small island, with few jobs and little space for a growing family — Ella Sommo had gotten pregnant again, with what would be Tommy's brother Andrew — so the family relocated thousands of miles to California.

Huey Sommo was hired by a defense contractor, which shuttled his family around the country during Tommy's childhood. He ended up in Las Vegas, Houston, Norfolk, Tampa, and even Boise, Idaho. When Tommy was 16, the family finally settled down in Long Beach, Nassau County, Long Island — Tommy's father was promoted to Vice-president of his company, headquartered there. With his rapid ascension came a lifestyle adjustment for Tommy. The Sommos bought a large house on the beach, and Huey Sommo started commuting to work in a Cadillac. Tommy's family had never been stressed for money, but now they were well-off — he attended private school, the neighborhood was richer and entirely White, and Tommy learned to golf, play tennis, and sail a boat, none of which he could previously do. Tommy also joined his school's speech and debate team, which he captained senior year.

Tommy Sommo went to Boston College, planning to go to law school and become an attorney. During this time is when he became interested in politics — his parents had been early supporters of Nixon, and Tommy followed suit, doing some grassroots volunteer work for the Nixon campaign in 1964. The campaign failed, and Tommy mostly forgot about it — but four years later he still graduated with a double major in law and political science. Tommy came back to New York for his law school at Columbia. The year he started at Columbia was 1968, and Nixon was running for President again. This time, Tommy took more of an interest than in 1964. He started the Columbia "Students for Nixon" club, and became the chair of the Columbia Young Republicans. In coordination with the New York GOP, he led an aggressive pro-Nixon campaign in heavily liberal New York City, alongside some like-minded friends in other nearby colleges that would also get into politics later in life — a student named Nick Blanquais at Cornell; Ronny Heron in Fordham; Elisa Patterson at Barnard College; and John Malcolm Jr. at NYU. Blanquais and Heron would later serve in the New York Assembly, and Elisa Patterson would launch an unsuccessful congressional bid in Massachusetts.

Sommo's campaign caught the eye of Republican Party organizers in New York, who encouraged him to get into politics himself. Tommy turned them down to focus on his law career, and he graduated early in 1971, the year he was admitted to the bar. Tommy ended up moving back to Long Island, this time to the expensive extreme east of the island, to work at high-profile Hamptons-based law firm Lewis, Bonner, Morgan, and Roth as a legal assistant. Tommy's intellect, people skills, and ability to schmooze clients made him a popular candidate for promotion — he became a junior partner in 1973, and when founding member Clyde Morgan retired two years later, Tommy was promoted to partner. Most of the firm's business came from wealthy lawyers, doctors, and businessmen, and Tommy quickly adopted the lifestyle of Merlot, golf, and talking without really saying anything.

Some of Tommy's clients came from a little farther afield than the Hamptons, and Tommy often found himself traveling to Chicago, DC, and New York. A couple of his clients included politicians (the most common source of hush money), some of which knew Tommy from his pro-Nixon activism back in the day. Though the legal life was exciting, Tommy didn't see himself litigating for the rest of his life — and in a decision that pissed off his father to no end, the 30-year-old lawyer abruptly dropped out of the firm, and ran for the New York State Senate's first seat, most of Long Island, in 1976.

The primary was lightly contested, and afterwards Tommy easily won the Republican-leaning seat, and met some old friends from his college years (Blanquais and Heron) in Albany. Tommy spent his first couple years making a scene — he loudly fought against any bill that increased either taxation (which went over well in the Hamptons) or state spending, especially on things he didn't view as necessary, like highway expansions. He railed against hippies and counterculture, saying that they "poisoned" the state's youth. Despite his aggressive stances, he was considered one of the nicest people in the senate, open to bipartisan cooperation (as long as it didn't contradict a stance popular in his constituency) and lengthy policy discussions with anyone. He left his office door open all day, so that anyone, even civilians, could reach him. In 1984, Tommy ran an insurgency campaign for Senate Majority Leader, and somehow won — as Majority Leader and de facto ruler of the State Senate, Tommy had the ability to stop most of not-Mario Cuomo's bills in their tracks, and pushed for tax breaks under the banner of "government austerity". Tommy was very young for his position, only 38, and considered a rising star in the New York Republican Party, if not the national one — in 1985, Governor not-Cuomo offered him a position in his government as a "senior advisor", really a way for not-Cuomo to build bridges with the aggressive, Republican-dominated State Senate and an attempt to remove Tommy from such a powerful position. Tommy accepted, eyeing a future gubernatorial run — but felt he "wasn't listened to" in the not-Cuomo administration, because of course he wasn't, not-Cuomo never intended to take his advice.

Tommy was picked as the running mate of not-Andrew O'Rourke, the Republican challenger to not-Cuomo in 1986. He resigned from his Senate seat — a move he later admitted a mistake — to barnstorm for the election, visiting all 62 counties in his campaign. Many of those stops he visited without O'Rourke, the actual candidate — they lost to not-Cuomo, but Tommy was actually in the national spotlight now. He ran for his Senate seat again in 1988, though he never reclaimed the position of Majority Leader.

In 1990, Tommy Launched what would be his last gubernatorial bid — this time he won the Republican nomination, but found himself floundering from the very beginning. He didn't have a clear message of what he wanted to do as governor, besides just "anti-not-Cuomo", but not-Cuomo was very popular, which made that line of attack ineffective. Tommy still amassed a large campaign chest, and spent it on rallies and flashy ads, but without any sort of message — made worse by spoiler candidate from the Conservative Party, not-Herbert London. Tommy beat not-London by just one percentage point, garnering just over a tragic 21% of the vote.

Tommy stepped back from the political spotlight after this, and friends of his said that he grew very depressed. He moved to Montauk, the easternmost town in New York, where he spent lots of time on the beach sailing and working as a part-time legal consultant for lobbyists, campaigns, and businesses. He adopted a nasty smoking habit to calm his nerves, which didn't help. He likes to say he was "saved" by Nick Blanquais, his New York State Legislature friend, and fellow golf club Republican that now represented parts of Westchester County, who encouraged Tommy to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. Tommy did run, for New York's first district, which contained much of Long Island. He won the primary against a local businessman by power of name recognition (nobody knew who the businessman was), and trounced his general election opponent in the 1994 red wave — Tommy Sommo was off to Washington.

That year saw the first time the GOP took the House in decades. Tommy was a member of the 54-person Freshman class, and was faced with the challenge of making himself stand out among them — on the day after the election, he showed up at outgoing GOP leader Bob Michel's door with a bottle of wine and two glasses, and spent two hours making valuable connections with a powerful figure. Michel got Tommy a meeting with the incoming Speaker, not-Newt Gingrich —which allowed Tommy to set himself apart inside the GOP while not throwing bombs at his own party through the press for name recognition.

Tommy's first committee assignment was on the boring, scandal-plagued Ethics Committee, in 1996 — but not long after that, in 1998, Tommy landed a spot on the powerful Appropriations committee after four years of hauling ass all over the nation to fundraise for Republican candidates, especially in New York where he held particular sway. This gave Tommy much, much more power to flex — the Appropriations Committee earmarks bills — a little bit of which Tommy always made sure to send back home, paying for shiny new highways, a beach reclamation project, and for the small town of Babylon to acquire an anti-terrorist tank.

Tommy stayed on the Appropriations committee for two more years, even though he was among the least experienced there — during which time he made plenty of enemies, both in the DNC and GOP. Tommy's personality wasn't the issue, he's always been calm under pressure and easygoing — but his ambition, kissup-iness, weird luck, entrenched state power, and readiness to fight his opponents tooth and claw, even on his own team, forces people to keep him at arms length.

In 2001, Tommy ran for the position of head of the HRC, against incumbent not-J.C. Watts. During the election of 2000, not-Watts fought with other members of the GOP over how conservative the party would be, a debate that Tommy made sure to stay out of from his desk on the Appropriations table, eyeing the HRC chair spot — that made him some enemies within the party, especially at the leadership level, while Tommy maintained good relationships with them. not-Watts publicly faced familial stress over his political career, and an aggressive campaign wouldn't have helped — Tommy made a backroom deal with not-Watts, promising him his position on the Appropriations committee in exchange for him to drop out of the race, leaving Tommy the frontrunner. A not-Watts reelection wasn't secured, and he decided it was worth it to take Tommy's compromise. He dropped out of the race, and Tommy became number four in the House GOP.

In 2006, after the GOP lost the midterms and became the minority party, Tommy announced a surprise run for Minority Leader. He was popular in the House Republican Conference, both for his accommodating views and friendliness, as well as being first to jump into a fundraising bus for another candidate, and he blamed both outgoing Speaker not-Dennis Hastert, who was retiring, and former Majority Leader not-John Boehner for an "awful" response to Hurricane Katrina, what he privately called a "bungled shitfest" (the Iraq War), and the stagnation of the GOP into the party of "bitter old men". Tommy turns on the meanness when he wants something.

He ended up winning the position, beating out not-Mike Pence and not-John Boehner for the nomination. He's now got his eye on the Speakership, and is willing to work hard for the GOP to win.

Views: A little bit Socially moderate, which is popular in his district — he doesn't support abortion except in the case of rape, incest, or a medical emergency, otherwise he's indifferent and avoids that topic; personally indifferent about gay marriage, but he will shelve a bill making it legal or banning it on the federal level, saying that the issue is better passed to SCOTUS or the states; against censorship of anything, which he finds "unconstitutional and ridiculous", such as books or movies that include violent, sexual, LGBTQ, racial, or mature themes; attacks illegal immigration but supports a legal pathway to immigration, saying "my ancestors were immigrant, and yours were too — we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. America wasn't born, it was built."

Fiscally conservative, he's always in favor of tax cuts, reducing government spending, attacking pork barrel spending ruthlessly despite having used it to make friends in his congress and his district in the past, school vouchers, cutting down government handouts, opposing expensive foreign wars (at least privately), cutting down regulations, cutting down corporate taxes, privatization, and government transparency.

On guns, he has an "A" rating by the NRA.

Other Info: At 5'4", he is the shortest male member of Congress. He hates jokes about that.

Lapsed Episcopalian (my first non-Catholic character)

I have read and accepted the rules of the roleplay: Madrinpoor

Do Not Remove: APPROVED123123

Repost, Yaruqo gave it a thumbs up

APPROVED

[Jovuistan]

Shoutout to Thai women.

[Dentali]

Small Announcement

My fever broke 24 hours ago now and i'm back in action here. Please let me know if anything over the past few days needs my attention

[New Luciannova]

Small Announcement

My fever broke 24 hours ago now and i'm back in action here. Please let me know if anything over the past few days needs my attention

Glad to hear you're doing better. It looks like we had a few characters posted and myself and some other players have made pitches for endorsements, I'm not sure what the rules are on those.

[New Luciannova]

[box][align=center] Snip

APPROVED

Rules question, Senate and House Committees, can I just assign myself or should I speak to other Republicans, how do we go about this?

[The Sarangtus Lands]

APPROVED

Rules question, Senate and House Committees, can I just assign myself or should I speak to other Republicans, how do we go about this?

People generally assign themselves in the app, but we allow people to assign themselves within reason (so no freshman as Chairman of Appropriations for example)

[Dentali]

Shoutout to Thai women.

the emphasis on the "thai woman" bit and not "cheating on your wife" is starting to strike me as an odd racial thing.

[The Sarangtus Lands]

I would just like to issue a correction that I meant to say income tax in the recent bill in New Mexico, not property tax. I've amended this in the post but hopefully that should resolve it.

[Mareadmonte]

Shoutout to Thai women.

the emphasis on the "thai woman" bit and not "cheating on your wife" is starting to strike me as an odd racial thing.

Thought it would be realistic for Woolworth to unconsciously do that sometimes.