TSP Election MoR Candidate Interview - Todd McCloud

Candidate Interview - Todd McCloud
Running for the position of Minister of the Region...


To enable complete impartiality, SPOT will provide all of the candidates with the same questions and provide their responses in the order in which they declared their intention to run for office...


SPOT: Please take a moment to introduce yourself to the members of The South Pacific…

I am Todd McCloud, (former) delegate of The East Pacific and NS renaissance man extraordinaire, lol. Basically, I've done a lot of things in the game and always love the opportunity to do more.


SPOT: What are your motivations in running for office?..

I really believe I can make an impact with the Ministry of the Region. To me, it seems like a very proactive position, one that can assist the region better than a judge (which was my prior position in the region). It's a position I would like to remain creative in. Over in The East Pacific, I was known for creativity and bringing people into the region. While I'm not perfect, I believe I do a good job with that. It would be nice to be able to extend that work to The South Pacific as well.

SPOT: What is your opinion on the current and historical performance of the Security and Intelligence Ministry?..

Personally, I believe it did a good job during its tenure, especially during the three years of Fudge's reign. While I only got to see the tail-end of the efforts, as I was elected to a cabinet position, I believe it worked well for the time being. However, as members became inactive, the system began to display noticeable cracks. At one point, we had two nations within 20 spots of the delegacy. Before the booting occurred, I believe one was within five of the delegate's count. This was a much-needed wake up call, and will be a challenge for the new regime: can we mimic the successes of the past, but remain vigilant and alert enough to maintain the security of the region? I trust the people in this region, and fully expect that this new blood in the cabinet will increase our security in full.

SPOT: Are there any new initiatives that differentiate your campaign from your fellow candidates?..

Well, perhaps experience with feeder politics. Also, I love to think different, and take the route that I believe is right, even though it may not be popular.

SPOT: And finally, if you could change anything in The South Pacific/Nationstates world, what would it be and why?..

Honestly, I would like to see a different system in place to change in and out delegates. One of the most difficult moments of my NS career was deciding not to run in TEP's recent delegate elections, step back, gather my thoughts, and see what I did right and what I should have done better. It is a very sobering experience, but the reality of the matter is a region that has a delegate for a very long time, no matter how good he or she is, can be prone to becoming stale. It's a hard reality, but it's true. Delegate elections, new delegates, etc can and do boost activity and make people excited. I personally would like to see more efforts made toward increasing the frequency of delegate changes in the region, but certainly not a reduction in security. Frankly, we are quite secure: Fudgie remains among the most influence-holding nations in the game - any rogue delegates would be easily removed over a short period of time. All we'd have to do is endorse Fudge, in more or less terms. So yeah, that would be what I would change.

Thank you for the opportunity!


SPOT would like to thank Candidate McCloud for taking the time to be interviewed and provide the electorate of The South Pacific with further insight into their campaign...


Stay tuned for further interviews with all of the other declared candidates...