Official White House Press Release 5/5/09 #10 (Press Secretary)
James S. Brady Press Room
Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the James S. Brady Briefing Room. This is the official press from the United States Executive Branch. Please subscribe to keep up to date on the official statements from President Scrabman and his administration.
Items To Be Covered
1. The Departure of Claire Littleton, White House Press Secretary
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Thank Yous
It is with bittersweet sentiment that I, Claire Littleton, will not continue on as White House Press Secretary upon the likely re-election of President Scrabman. Before I go on to list my reasoning, I would like to thank President Scrabman as well as his Administration for this opportunity. I would especially like to thank the help of former Chief of Staff, Tiacha, for her complete dedication to helping me get "The Briefing Room" up and running. Her support was invaluable to the start of this new venture in keeping the public informed of the happenings within the Executive Branch. I would also like to specifically thank HokieHigh, Secretary of the Treasury, for setting up the James S. Brady Press Room and allocating the funds for "The Briefing Room."
I stated this was bittersweet earlier because I feel as though "The Briefing Room" has been one of my biggest accomplishments in my political career. Starting from scratch, I took this opportunity to connect the public, especially the 2-Clickers and the New Players, to our government in an efficient and groundbreaking way. As I say goodbye today, the paper has reached the #2 Ranked Paper in the eUS with 952 subscribers and has topped the Top 5 with every article including the #1 spot in the International News. Obviously, I would like to thank you, the public, for taking an interest and becoming more active in your government. The comments in each of the articles are always insightful and informative and I will miss your questions the most of all. We are a highly intelligent nation and for that I applaud you, however, for that I also leave you.
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Reasoning
I am leaving because I feel this paper isn't doing you the justice you deserve. As you know, I have stuck on through this Presidential Election and as the Vice President selection of NoneSuch, and I focused on Government Transparency. I almost feel as though I am a hypocrite for preaching transparency when I write for this paper as it is far less than transparent. While I give President Scrabman the due respect and appreciation for taking the steps to keep you informed, I feel he has fallen very short on his intended goal. "The Briefing Room" was in the height of it's potential when Tiacha was still Chief of Staff. She worked closely with me to keep me informed of what was going on behind locked doors in White House. Upon her departure, I slowly fell away from being in the know. If I am not in the know, I can't keep you in the know. Add the excuse of "National Security" to the mix and I know as much as you, the public, know when writing these releases. I feel that I can't do my job if I have no idea what I am writing about. I have been asked to keep the articles vague, but it is against my character, my ethics and my personal integrity to stay on and continue keeping the public in the dark while claiming to keep you informed.
With the above being said, I feel that I can not take this paper to the next step. If President Scrabman can not trust the WHPS enough to keep the public informed, then it is time for me to step aside and let him choose someone who he could place more trust in. However, that possibility also worries me. The people he keeps close also keep their lips sealed. That is why I urge President Scrabman to ask Jewitt to take my place as White House Press Secretary.
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Replacement Suggestion
Jewitt is a well respected political influence in the eUS, one of the top ranked writers in the eUS (editor of "The Jewitt Report", ranked #11 in the eUS) and a very dedicated man. He has been on President Scrabman's Administration once before and is known for his morals and his convictions. I feel Jewitt will be able to take my place to further strengthen "The Briefing Room" and take it to the next step. Jewitt would be an ideal candidate as he speaks the truth and President Scrabman respects him. This would allow Jewitt to maintain a certain amount of freedom in keeping you informed without being pressured to maintain the status quo that I currently contend with.
Alongside the above statement, I also feel as though I am not dedicating enough time to the responsibilities of both Deputy Speaker of the House and the White House Press Secretary. I would rather focus on one position and do all that I can as opposed to two positions that I have to split my time between. I believe I have accomplished more with Deputy Speaker in regards to transparency and will focus all my attention to ensuring the ultimate goal is met. I feel that the door to Congress is being opened wide to the public and I would prefer to ensure that goal is reached than continue both positions and only crack both the doors open.
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Conclusion
I would like to make clear that I am not quitting or resigning from this position as I have served out a full term. I am simply not accepting a renewed term and am stepping aside for someone to come in and continue all the work and all the progress I have made with "The Briefing Room." Once President Scrabman is re-elected (tentitavely after 23:59 tonight) and selects someone to take my place, I will hand the keys to the The James S. Brady Press Room over. I would like to once again thank you for making "The Briefing Room" as successful as it is and placing your trust in me to relay the most pressing news to you, the public. I wish good luck to everyone in the next administration and I would like to remind the public to stay active and to ask the hard questions.
Thank You,
~Claire Littleton
-White House Press Secretary
-Congresswoman from New Jersey
-Deputy Speaker of the House
Comments
Au Revoir Claire, you had nice press releases 🙂
pertamax
dangit no pertamax 🙁
Jewitt's article suck 😛
Classy lady. Much respect.
vote this up- http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/baxter-bugle-186658/1" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/ba[..]658/1
Scrabman values loyalty over what's best for the country! Vote this up!
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/bill-brasky-fired--793051/1/20" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/bill[..]/1/20
Scrab, you defeated the whole purpose of having this newspaper. This paper was meant to inform the public of what's going on, not mislead us every chance you get. You might as well just get rid of this newspaper, it's doing more harm than anything.
It seems to me that President scrabman defeated the purpose of this position by keeping Claire in the dark, as well as using his own paper, therefore bypassing the official Press Releases, even though more people read those. He created this position, in my eyes, to just have another party in his cabinet that wasn't the USWP, so that he appeared polypartisan and everyone could support him.
Unfortunately, it didn't work out. He did it to look good, but ended up making himself look bad by policing the information and keeping the public in the dark. That has been a main complaint that I have heard, that no one knows what is going on, mostly due to the secretive manner with which this administration runs things, and even though he had Claire as the WHPS at his disposal, he still didn't inform people of what was happening.
Scrabman, remember, secrets don't make friends.
I didn't know much about what was going on in the Government, and this is what told me. This is one of the greatest Government to People communication systems! I love it!
But if you have to leave, I want to thank you for the best month of communication between government and the people.
Wow, this is absolutely a surprise. Although I highly value your opinion of me, I would definitely have to talk to Scrab about his views of the WHPS and its entitlement in detail before I could accept anything.
This saddens me to see this, as I believed the WHPR was one of the greatest thing to come from the Presidency since the Economic Council.
first page lol
oh wait, what?! *sigh* I hope whoever gets this next will run it just as well as Claire here has
You did a great job 😃
Well done, Claire. You did an excellent job of keeping us all informed at least a little bit with what was going on in the White House. Not to mention that I eLove you...
pertamaxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You will be missed, but I guess we can always read your newspaper if we need a little clair-ification.
Not cool using the Press Release to voice your sentiments about the Administration. Regardless of what others may or may not have done that is abuse of position, i.e. publishing your own agenda and complaints. You should have reserved that for your own newspaper.
Agree completely with Moishe. Claire you did a good job as Press Secretary, but I would've preferred you publish this in your own newspaper, which already has a lot of subscribers anyway.
i dont blame you claire. good luck in your other roles!
well done claire. if u do choose to run again as VP or prez, you have my vote for standing up against ideals you dont believe in.
@Moishe & ligtre😛 I posed my reason as White House Press Secretary in maybe the most truthful manner possible. The people, in my opinion, have a right to know exactly why I, the editor of this Paper and voice of the Administration (this paper represents the administration, not just Scrab, and I am part of it), am leaving. I understand your points, however, this is completely within my right and doesn't break any ethics.
Wrong. Your job as Press Secretary is to publish what the Administration wants published. It is not to use someone else's property to forward your own agenda. There is a term for using other people's property for personal reasons.
Now I understand your displeasure. But this was not the right venue. It does not help your cause.
@Moishe: "...what the Administration wants published." I am part of the Administraion and for once, I am publishing what I want to publish: the truth.
The org was made with government funds, not Scrabman's Moishe. This org and the newspaper belong to the people, not "the administration".
Jesus, this is like an episode of The West Wing. I don't think the Press Secretary should expect to know every detail of what's going on. But that's just me, and I know that many people feel differently.
In any case, I thought this paper was an awesome idea and was well-executed, particularly from a relatively new player. Thanks for all your hard work, Claire. I have no doubt that you'll continue to make your mark on the eUSA, and I wish you luck.
NoneSuch with the win!
Dia duitt.
Scrabman HASN'T lived up to his promise of transparency.
I'm tempted to unsubscribe. Great work Claire! You did the best anyone could have done with the information given!
good luck to you. you did a great job.
"Not cool using the Press Release to voice your sentiments about the Administration. Regardless of what others may or may not have done that is abuse of position, i.e. publishing your own agenda and complaints. You should have reserved that for your own newspaper." - Moishe
My feelings exactly. Also, there have been a lot of sour grapes recently. It seems everyone quits (or doesn't accept an extension) rather than try and work through their problems. So much "for the greater good" alas.
I'm still a newb and have no idea what kind of power stucture or stability is in place in other countries, but here in the US it seems like we are building on quicksand.
claire, you did a great job at keeping us informed. i will miss reading your press releases.
@Ronin: I stepped aside for the betterment of the paper. I stated why and endorsed who I think could take it further. I've put in just about all I can and am continued to be pushed out. I feel I can probably acomplish more in my Personal Paper in regards to informing the public than I am allowed to do in this paper. I wanted to ensure the people knew exactly why I left as they have a right. Those aren't my opinions as much as the absolute truth.
Jewitt will have a better chance to focus on the paper because he currently has no other obligations. So instead of "working through it" I decided to do the honorable thing for the betterment of the paper and just step aside.
noooo 🙁. This was the paper I looked forward to reading each day...In any case, Claire, you added a special touch to this administration that helped to connect the government to the people; I hope your successor will work as hard as you did. I wish you well in all future endeavors.
mjdiv
Editor of Freedom & Responsibility, and
Global Currency Update
Hey Claire,
Your a class act!
Moishe, Im sorry your such a tool as to think that you and Scrab can control every aspect of the government while crapping on the shoes of the american people. I seem to remember Scrab promising a "transparent" government... Wheres the transparency when even your own press secretary has no clue what in the hell your doing?
Seems about as transparent as a brick wall to me. Hell, we all know the only reason your getting re-elected is your massive zombie voter roll's. Its more typical USWP BS and is yet another nail in the coffin of the eUS. The sooner your all replaced, the better and frankly, an Impeachment or No Confidence vote needs to be congress's first actions to remove you and scrab from office.
Claire, I thank you for trying to keep the eUS citizens enlightened as to what their dictator is doing. You tried your best to shed a little light on the bull that the USWP puppet state was shoveling out and I will forever be grateful.
Now my advice to you, leave the eUS as so many others of us have. Its a cesepool of zombie voters and idiots who just click the current president reguardless of how piss poor hes doing or how many of his own promeses he's broken.
Down with Scrabman/Moshie, Down with the USWP and its Zombie voter league.
boringgg
sub and voted
please sub and vote for me
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2000-friend-sarina--793240/1/all" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2000[..]1/all
Hate to see you going, your writing was very nice and you informed us to the best of your ablility. This will be a loss to everyone who reads "The Briefing Room".
and so the government begins to feel the weight pull down on it. Seriously, don't go down this path again America, it will be difficult to pull out of this downward spiral. Communication is the only way to resolve this issue, and it's not just the President, it also lies on the hands of the people around him.
As a noob, I've found your articles insightful. Now that I hear you feel that you're been marginalized I wonder how much the government is keeping from the everyday citizen. Thank you for the insights, I look forward to reading your work in another media outlet.
When will we realize that in order to move ahead, we need to make sweeping changes in how we conduct our business. As we slowly descend into oligarchy under the auspices of Scrabman's Workers Party, we need to take a stand and give the party a firm NO mandate. Although I respect Scrabman's accomplishments, especially his commitment to war games, this enation will only flourish if we have a diversity of parties balancing each other. I praise Claire for her firm stance! Now we just need to follow her and look for leadership outside of the ruling party!
If you are Press Secretary, you should only publish Official communications in this platform. In my opinion, this was not the proper place from which to publish this content. Obviously, you are free to publish your own opinions-but not from this platform. You overstepped your authority with this article.
"Not cool using the Press Release to voice your sentiments about the Administration. Regardless of what others may or may not have done that is abuse of position, i.e. publishing your own agenda and complaints. You should have reserved that for your own newspaper."
This
I have to wonder what exactly all of you people expect from a president. Fellatio perhaps? Scrabman has been a model of competence during his administration.
As far as accusations of tyranny and dictatorship, you'll have to be more specific because I just have no clue what you could possibly be referring to.
On transparency. Why is this such a big deal? I certainly feel more than adequately informed by the government, and would frankly be disturbed if everything on Scrabman's head was typed out in precise detail for the casual perusal of the public. As long as the government is open and honest about actions taken, general (and by definition, vague) intentions, and honest (if not open) about specific actions planned, then I am perfectly content; I have seen no sign and certainly no evidence of the current administration breaking any of those stipulations, at least not off of the top of my head.
Although I agree with Moishe to a certain extent, some of the content was troubling.
So everyone knows, the new Press Secretary can take this article down, but apparently feels that it was justified as well.
Although I by no means subscribe to some of the more outlandish conspiracy theories about the Scrabman regime, it is clear that his parties dominance of the political landscape has the potential to be extremely dangerous. Furthermore, it seems that there is very little opportunity for those who seek to combat the status quo. Where is the dissenting voice? I hear it... but it needs to become more that just the chatter of well known yet impotent few! Unfortunately, those who seek to unseat the USWP oligarchy cannot do so in such a fractured state. I myself voted a Nonesuch/Claire Littleton ticket, but to no avail. Moreover, it would seem that many are more willing to vote for a "winner" than a candidate that seeks real meaningful reform. These are the things that must change.
I agree that this crossed some lines.
Sorry to see you go, Claire... I know it's not easy to deal with angry citizens and you certainly did your best.
Would have much preferred reading about this in your personal paper rather than in an Official White House press release.
"So everyone knows, the new Press Secretary can take this article down, but apparently feels that it was justified as well."
Come on now. Everyone would cry "censorship" and "muzzling of the press" if this was taken down now, regardless of whether the new press secretary approves of this or not. So that is not a real option.
PS - Sorry if I seemed harsh above, I would just like to see some of the people that I think are doing a good job actually stick with their positions.