Podria

Podria (founded 20 August 2018) is an Assemblian politician who is currently serving as Secretary and co-founder and previously served as Vice Secretary in 2020 and 2022 and several terms as Member of the General Assembly from 2019 to 2022.

She is a member of the 'fourth generation' of Assemblians who became active in politics following the separation of executive and legislative branches in late 2019. She is one of the only remaining active members of this generation and is as of yet the last to have served as Secretary, serving after Super Awesome Fun Times, a member of the 'sixth generation'.

Podria's first entry to politics was in October 2018, running in a by-election for a vacant seat in the General Assembly wherein they lost to Queerterra. They were then inactive in politics for nearly a year after which they ran in the November 2019 General Assembly by-election and was elected to the 15th General Assembly. They then went on to run in the December 2019 general election for Member of the General Assembly and was elected to the 16th General Assembly and served as the first Deputy Speaker under Speaker Kavagrad. They were also appointed as Minister of World Assembly Affairs in the 1st Llorens Cabinet, but was later dismissed on 30 January 2020 as Secretary Llorens dissolved the position. They went on to be elected as Member and then Speaker of the 17th General Assembly and also briefly served as Minister of Recruitment in the 2nd Llorens Cabinet before resigning due to inability to reliably run the recruitment API.

Podria was appointed as Vice Secretary in the 1st Greylyn Cabinet following the June 2020 general election and was confirmed on 20 June 2020. They were a strong proponent for Secretary Greylyn's Civil Service Initiative and played a large role in organising the pilot of the program, taking a lead role and serving as civil servant in the Ministry of Community Affairs, Ministry of Roleplay, and Ministry of Information.

Podria ran into controversy after requesting a copy of the social Discord's server template from Head Admin Llorens to begin work on the idea of consolidating the social, government, and roleplay servers of The Leftist Assembly into one large server. Following the Discord Admin Team's unilateral rejection of the proposal and refusal to provide the server template to the government, Secretary Greylyn and Vice Secretary Podria appealed to the 18th Supreme Court, arguing that the Discord server is an extension of The Leftist Assembly's community and was thus accountable to the government. The Supreme Court returned a verdict that the government did not have inherent jurisdiction over the administration of the Discord server, but could extend its jurisdiction to the server through legislation.

Following this Supreme Court ruling, Podria began drafting legislation to formally bring the Discord server under the control of the government and also attempted to garner public support for establishing government control over the Discord server. They engaged in heated debates with several members of the Discord Admin Team and other members of the regional community and during these debates accused the Discord Admin Team of capitalist sympathies and being autocratic, likening Admins Llorens, Hecknamistan, and Kavagrad to monarchs. These harsh words were met by severe backlash from the regional community with a joint statement from the Discord Admin Team opposing Podria's statements and a later statement from Secretary Greylyn denouncing Podria's conduct during the debates. A vote of no confidence was triggered on 25 July 2020, with Vice Secretary Podria voluntarily resigning from all government posts that same day.

Podria took a hiatus from government for the following months, returning as Minister of Roleplay in the 1st Kavagrad Cabinet and later being elected as Member of the General Assembly in the December 2020 general election. They continued to serve in government as Minister of Roleplay, Member of the General Assembly, Speaker, Minister of Community Affairs, Interim Backup Founder, and Ambassador. They briefly moved their primary region of residence to The Social Liberal Union following the Great Departure in January of 2021, disapproving of Llorens' dismissal of Hecknamistan and worrying about the future of the region. They returned primary residence to The Leftist Assembly in March of 2021 to contest against incumbent Secretary Dyl in the March 2021 general election. They once again took a brief hiatus from June to August of 2021 during which they held no elected positions. They then ran for Member of the General Assembly in the January 2022 legislative election, serving as Speaker for the first half of the 24th General Assembly before passing off the position to their Deputy Speaker, The Grand Union Kingdom.

Podria was elected Secretary in the June 2022 secretarial election, running on a platform of anti-World Assembly, pro-R/D, and pro-community development policies and formed the 1st Podria Cabinet. Her term as Secretary was largely uneventful, she focused on the Ministry of Community Affairs which delivered an increased number of community events and engaged with the on-site community through the Regional Message Board and poll features. She also oversaw the opening of semi-formal relations with Osiris and fallout in the roleplay server after several members attempted to form a breakaway region. She served again as Minister of Roleplay in the 2nd Kavagrad Cabinet, overseeing the creation of a Joint Roleplay Effort with signatories from several regions including The Communist Bloc. In the 1st New Flamington Cabinet she served as Vice Secretary.

Podria was elected for her second term as Secretary in the March 2023 secretarial election, running on a platform contrary to her first platform, vowing to vote on World Assembly proposals, drastically increase community activity. The 2nd Podria Cabinet was formed being the first cabinet to have three Ministers of the same portfolio.

Fun facts

 * Podria was the first nation to serve as Deputy Speaker, under Speaker Kavagrad.
 * Podria is the nation to have held the most concurrent positions: serving as Member of the General Assembly, Speaker, Minister of Roleplay, and Minister of Community Affairs all at once from 25 January to 15 March, 2021.
 * Podria has served in the governments of three regions outside of The Leftist Assembly: as Ambassador in The Social Liberal Union, Ambassador in The Internationale, and Member of the Legislative Committee in The Communist Bloc.
 * Podria is the only nation to have defeated an incumbent Secretary in an election.
 * Podria has run more joke Secretarial campaigns than serious Secretarial campaigns.

Quotes

 * "It is an absolute honour and privilege to be elected as Secretary of this region that has really and truly become my home. For those who are unaware, I've kinda become an old coot in this region but in my more young and boisterous days I made some serious political blunders that hurt both my own reputation and the unity of the region I hold dear; I hope to be able to put all of that behind us during my term as Secretary."
 * Secretarial victory speech, 13 June, 2022
 * "The 600 or so of us are a motley crew of people united in one thing, our dedication to the working class. I joined The Leftist Assembly back in August of 2018; since then the population has over doubled, we've had 10 Secretaries over 17 elections, all of the Founders have changed at least once, and the entire Constitution has been rewritten; yet this region has one constant: its motto. For longer than this old coot has been in the region, we have always lived by the three words "Unity in Diversity" and have been exemplars of this concept. This amazing community of all races and nationalities, of all genders and sexualities, of all ages and backgrounds, and of all leftist ideologies has thrived, and it is an honour to have been elected to lead this community that has seen me through my own personal struggles over the past 4 years."
 * State of the Assembly address, 13 September 2022
 * "The Leftist Assembly has become a home for so many of us, myself included, and the home is not tied to a nation simulation game made by some Australian author, it's about the people - you the Assemblians. I cannot express in words how thankful I am to have this region, this community to serve."
 * State of the Legislature address, 28 February 2021
 * "These past few days have been a dark period in our regions history, and there are no fingers that can be pointed at anybody but myself. While the purpose of my actions were to help the Assemblians, I now see that I have been woefully misguided, and damaged this Assembly I so love."
 * Resignation as Vice Secretary following backlash to their Discord legislation, 25 July 2020
 * "As Speaker of the General Assembly, it is my duty to ensure that our legislature remains unaffected by ulterior motives and retains its integrity."
 * Response to Secretary Llorens during controversy over the Secretary's private message to a Member of the General Assembly, 24 April 2020