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Hello comrades!

I got a chance to sit down and talk to the recently elected SFP Party President, JA Lake as my new role as Spokesperson. We conducted an interview and in it he outlines some of the major goals and changes he would like to make for this term . Without any further disruption here's how it went:



Hanz: Hello Lake, how are you doing?

Lake: I'm doing pretty well, thanks. Yourself?

Hanz: I'm doing good. Trying to fire up the presses.
**



Hanz: Are you excited to kick-off this term?

Lake: I'm approaching this term less with excitement and more with determination. We've set forth an ambitious program, and we're going to have to really put our backs into it if we are going to implement any of it. It's going to be a busy month.

Hanz: I agree it looks like you will have a lot of work to do, based off of your campaign goals.

Lake: Definitely.
**



Hanz: How was the election?

Lake: In a word? Harrowing. I know it's generally impolitic to talk about your vanquished electoral opponents, but the concept of a Phil Harmony-run SFP gave me heartburn. I felt it was a high-stakes election-- I know many did-- and was gratified to wake up on the sixteenth and see myself with a healthy lead. It was quite a relief to see we'd made the choice we did.

Hanz: It looked like a very close race. It was all very interesting... including the controversies.
**



Hanz: Now that all the campaigning is over with what will be your first order of business? Aside from assembling the RC and getting the party congressional primary open.

Lake: I've got a series of proposals to make to the Revolutionary Committee, but I think the first will be to try and get an accounting of the SFP's programs condensed into one spreadsheet. One of my goals is organization- I think that the SFP should have better documentation for what programs do what, what each of those programs are supplied with, and so on. With such a spreadsheet created we'll be able to track our resources and be generally more efficient.


Hanz: Hm... I like the idea of better organization. It seems like it's a good time to be apart of the SFP, there's bound to be lots of debate.
**



Hanz: What are some of the things you will be advocating and working to change?

Lake: Well, there are a few things. In list form: rapprochement with the eRepublik community, organization of the party infrastructure, crafting a new party platform, and getting us back into the game.

Hanz: Will you be working to try to keep our relations with other parties maintained?

Lake: Not only will I be doing maintenance, I intend to improve those relations. As I indicated above, I hope to get us back into the game. That includes, I think, improving our relationship with Top 5 and Sixth parties.

Hanz: That's good. I always like to see inter party relations being taken care of.
**



Hanz: What will you be doing for new players?

Lake: SFP has always been pretty excellent where it comes to new players. I don't think there's much more to do or much to change. That said, I'd love to try and get more new players involved with party government, be it in the RC or by some other means.

Lake: Additionally, now that I think about it, I think the program of reform and reentry into the community might be a stepping stone for SFP younglings. Running and participating in a more organized party with inroads to the e-government can help to propel careers to heights thus far unexplored by SFPers- I hope this means more than Secretary of Media or Citizen Affairs, fine departments though they are. If we can get new players into the government I would consider it a major success for the SFP and our members.
**



Hanz: Any new programs on the horizon?

Lake: I wanted a full accounting of what the party is doing and what our currently-active programs have achieved before plotting out new ones. That said, the majority of programs that I would be implementing would be social in nature with an emphasis on liaising with other entities in the community. I don't want to see the Party grow any more isolated during my tenure as Chairman.
**



Hanz: How much are you willing to compromise on your goals for this term?

Lake: That's the real question. Compromise on some of the goals I've set would essentially negate them. How does one compromise on growing more involved in the game, by only halfheartedly extending a hand to other parties? We may as well not even try if that were to be the case. On other goals we can easily compromise. Programs could have many and varied goals, be implemented many ways, and so on.

Lake: I suppose my answer is itself a compromise. On some items I will not budge, on others I am more than happy to.

Hanz: I think that is a very logical way of looking at it.
**



Hanz: What do you think of your cabinet?

Lake: I picked people I think I can rely on. I think everyone is equal to the tasks set before them, and I'm always willing to lend a hand to help. With this team I hope we will make a lot of progress and fulfill most, if not all, of our goals for September and October.
**

Hanz: Who are your RC nominations?

Lake: My RC nominations are Ilene Dover, Shiloh13, Salty, and yourself.
**



Hanz: Are you planning to work on recruitment? If so can you elaborate on what your plan is?

Lake: When I started out I was recruited into the USTC- eUnited States Training Corps- a constituent part of what used to be the national MU, the eUS Military. I made my way up in the ranks by recruiting, and I stayed on in the eUSTC as a recruiter. Recruitment is the very first thing I did in the game, in other words.


Lake: When I joined SFP I volunteered to organize SFP recruitment during one of Jude Conners' Chairmanships. In essence all it ever is or was is a canned message that a name gets pasted into. Probably one in twenty messages gets a response. I don't believe that recruitment can ever really be expanded on or improved, it's simply inefficient.

Lake: My plan for recruitment is to make this an attractive party for new players. Right now we have tremendous visibility, being the second largest party and being far more active in the media than the other four parties combined. My plan is to use that and to start getting SFP to be attractive to players who join the game wanting to be in Congress or the White House.

Lake: If we build an attractive party, an organized party, and a respected party, they will come.

Hanz: I agree though I do feel as party president you should reach out to those who are new and to greet the latest party colleagues. Maybe even offer them a role in congress or point them toward our programs. Im sure you will meet your expectations though.
**



Hanz: What are you planning on doing with party media and the Freedom Writers Guild?

Lake: I like the program of paying out rewards to well-written articles authored by SFP members. I want to seek funding for that. As for the Writers' Guild, I don't know if it requires changing. It's always run pretty effectively in my opinion.

Hanz: Well that's great! Our goals align in that perspective.
**



Hanz: How do you think this presidency will turn out?

Lake: I hope it will turn out well. I know there's a lot of resistance to change in the party, and a lot of people are hesitant to embrace anything that threatens to change what we've got. Phil ran on a sort of luddite platform, a platform rejecting flat-out a lot of what I wanted to do and what I proposed-- and he almost won, despite all the controversy surrounding him! It demonstrates that my program is itself controversial, and I expect resistance. I think it will be tumultuous, full of debate, and with luck we'll finish out the month on October 15 a much improved party.

Hanz: May Harambe walk with you.
**



Hanz: Got any closing statements?

Lake: The schism between reformist and revolutionary has existed in the SFP for actual years. I've walked both sides of the line, and I believe both have valid points. I don't think I have the capability to bridge the gap- clearly I don't have that kind of universal appeal, judging by the electoral results. It won't stop me from trying, though. Reformist and revolutionary can work together, what's more we must work together. We're the second-largest political party in the eUSA but I would argue that we're the least powerful, that we have the smallest capability to impact the community in any meaningful way. SFP has always stood for social change, and I think isolationism stands at cross-purposes with that ages-old goal. We must return to the game. I want to get us back to the work of changing the community for the better.





As you can tell from the way Lake speaks its inherently obvious that he cares about our party. Overall with the past few days of communication that I had with the candidates of the election I would say that JA Lake was the most qualified for leading the SFP. Furthermore I feel that his confidence in seeing the proposals through makes him a formidable political opponent. Overall I am sure Lake and the incoming RC can come to some agreements.

Thanks for reading!


Max-


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