EBC Interview: Pichtonia Talks Resignation.
By Punchwood
Speaker Pichtonia on Wednesday announced his immediate resignation as both Speaker and Senator. Pichtonia was re-elected to the Senate in the last Senate election and was quickly re-confirmed as Speaker by his colleagues. His resignation came as a surprise to many, but he said that he did not believe he could dedicate enough time or energy to the Senate to remain a part of it. The EBC recently conducted an interview with the former Speaker to allow an opportunity for him to further elaborate on his decision to resign from the Senate.
Punchwood: You said in your resignation speech that you would elaborate at a later time, would you care to do that now?
Pichto: Certainly!
When I ran for Senate and subsequently for the office of Speaker last month, my time was already a little strained. That was no secret - As some know, I work 40 hours a week. I have my own household. And on weekends or even just normal evenings during the week, I often try to be with friends and family. But I always managed to find a few hours every day to read along, to know what's going on and often to take an active role in the Senate and I thought - and had no reason to believe otherwise - that this'd also be how I could manage this new term.
How things then developed took me by surprise. My schedule became a lot more demanding from one day to another: Not for bad reasons, and I remain happy and healthy, but these new demands take so much of my time and energy that when I get home, I simply need my free time to reload batteries. And even though Europeia has been great fun for me and will remain great fun for me, I've come to discover that I can't reload my batteries with Senate work.
So I could either decide to ignore these changing circumstances and occupy the seat until it maybe gets better, or I could resign and hope someone will get a chance at this seat who can actively contribute. In light of my own expectations of candidates and officeholders, it was clear for me that I could only do the latter.
Punchwood: What kind of person do you want to see succeed you? A newcomer an older player or does their length of time in the region not matter to you?
Pichto: I believe I've always made clear that I want to encourage new members to stay and engage in Europeia. If a new member shows interest in the Senate and its duties, that's something I'm extremely excited about.
However, what we ultimately need is a candidate who is committed and legally sound. Considerations such as how long someone has been a citizen are luxuries that I'm not sure we can afford right now. And that goes both ways, by the way. I don't think we should look at either newer or older members with more favour in this election simply because of how long (or short) they've been citizens.
Punchwood: So as long as someone could show legal competency you would be open to supporting them?
Pichto: Well, legal competency would be nice to have in the Senate. I wish we had more of it there and elsewhere. But I'd be a hypocrite if I said I would only vote for a candidate that is a great legal mind. I personally am not a great legal mind, and I was satisfied enough with myself to run for another term. We've had many other Senators in our history who were not shining beacons of legal competency, but still did a great job. And they can do that in several ways: Commitment to the office is something of which I can not stress the significance enough. Creative solutions and visionary ideas are other means by which Senators could excel in their office. At best, candidates show traces of all three of these traits. But if they're more focused on only one or two of them, I still wouldn't want to discourage them from running. Absolutely not.
Punchwood: At the time of this interview no one has stood for your vacant seat, does this concern you?
Pichto: Hmmh. On the one hand, I want to reassure myself by saying that this might have come as a surprise to many. I don't think anyone could be ready for this election. And at least as far as I followed Euro news, it doesn't seem like the by-election is getting much attention.
On the other hand, though, the intention of my resignation was to make room for someone who can fill the office with activity and energy. This scary silence now makes me worry that such a someone is not yet ready or willing to run. I really, really hope we still find someone. And not just someone who runs because they want to be a Senator or want to occupy the seat simply because it's vacant, but someone who runs because this seat enables them to change things for a better in our region.
If we don't find that someone, I wouldn't be sad if the seat remained vacant for a while. If the choice is between "Only five Senators working efficiently" or "five Senators working efficiently and then having to wait for hours or days because the 6th doesn't actually care that much", the former sounds better to me. But again, I really hope we find someone committed. Anything else would be tragic.
Punchwood: What's your proudest moment of your recent time in the Senate?
Pichto: Probably meeting and working with so many (new) colleagues. It has been an honour to serve with all of the recent members and I think it's fair to say that the conduct among Senators was excellent. I already miss working with some Senators from the last term, I'm sure I'll miss working with some from this current term too.
Punchwood: Can we expect to see you returning to the Senate at some point in the future?
Pichto: At least I wouldn't rule it out! Absences occur. Late last year - while still a citizen, I wasn't very active in Europeia then, but more in Olympia - I was also struck by events that forced me to take a break immediately. After some time, I was able to return and found a new balance. That was also about when I returned to full activity in Europeia, after I had barely managed to stay a citizen for about a year before that. This time the situation is far less dire: Nothing forces me to leave the office of Senator, and I remain active in other Europeian offices. Once I've found a new and better balance, I'll be happy to work towards more responsibility again.
Punchwood: And what activity can we expect from you in the meantime?
Pichto: I'm a Deputy Minister of World Assembly Affairs and of Radio. I understand the former role as more behind the scenes, but the latter is definitely where you will (literally) hear from me in the meantime. Kuramia and the staff have many great ideas and shows for this term and I'll be happy to join whenever I can.
To me, the Ministry of Radio differs from other tasks insofar as that it's a task I can do and not feel more drained afterwards. I love our Radio shows, especially when I can use it as an opportunity to blare out whatever comes to mind.
So definitely that, but I'm also trying to look out for other smaller tasks that I can aid with.Punchwood: Thank you for your time.
Pichto: Thank you!
Since this interview was conducted, Associate Justice Vlaska, who choose to not seek re-election in the last Senate election, has since stood for the vacant seat. There are now just three days until polls open and it is unclear who else may decide to stand.
While no one may have expected this by-election, standing did open two days ago and one would assume anyone who wished to run for the open seat would have announced their candidacy by now. It remains to be seen if someone intending to run will still announce their candidacy within the next few days. Possible contenders could include Johnny Costello or former Citizens’ Assembly (CA) Chair Vulturret. However Johnny appears to be preparing himself to run for CA Chair in the upcoming CA Chair election and Vulturret may not have rebuilt the political capital required to win, since his public firing from his previous role as Minister of Culture.
Vlaska came away with fairly mediocre approval ratings from the previous term with the majority of voters saying they had a “neutral” view of his performance and more people saying they disapproved of his term than approved of it. Given this, he is certainly a beatable candidate, however unless someone else chooses to run against him it currently looks likely that he will win the by-election (Re-open elections would be an option on the ballot but it is highly inconceivable to see voters choosing it over a competent candidate even if that candidate suffers from serious issues).
