If you wish to sign up as a candidate for the November 2009 Proculian Cabinet election, please do so here by leaving a comment. You can find more information here in the FC city journal. Before signing, you may also like to take a look at the Proculian Consitution here.

For more information, see the associated Franklin County update

Executive Patricius Maximus, in a regular press conference today, was asked by a reporter about the new establishment of a Conservative Party in Franklin. Below is the excerpt from the conference, including the question after the new party:

REPORTER: Mr. Executive, we have recieved a statement from the meeting of Assemblymen and other citizens in the LIH condominiums, saying that a Conservative Party had formed, and also that 3 Assemblymen are now members. What do you think of this development?

EXECUTIVE: I have read their statement... and what do I think of it? I think it is a development that should have been accepted. Franklin has now had 3 years of extensive settlement, and we definently have principles that most of us adhere to, expressed most famously in our Constitution. Since we do have them, it naturally follows that people who would be, likely scared of potential necessitated change in our state structure or our culture, would band together and form a party to advance those aims. I am obviously not a conservative, and take on the label of liberal, so I really don't agree with them. However, I believe the more debate we have, the better. I wouldn't mind debating with communists or fascists, if they had seats in the Assembly, although I am certainly not either. In any event, next June the people of their districts will decide who they want to be as their Assemblyman. Next question.

REPORTER: Uh, yes. I would like to call attention to the Lou Damato case. There have been two headlines -- one, that the recall petition has been certified by the Judiciary, and two, that the grand jury has referred his case to trial. What is your opinion?

EXECUTIVE: Well, the people of his district have decided they don't want him, and I respect his case. I also agree with the grand jury's decision, and await the verdict.

The server for the AFDES site (a CJ alliance which Franklin is a member of) appears to be down at the moment. Our server operator, Simmaster, states that the server downtime, which is intermittent, is a mystery at the moment, but he is working diligently to figure out the cause, and once that is done, to rectify it.

In the meantime, links to the AFDES site and wiki will not work. Sorry for any inconvenience rendered on the fans of Franklin County.

On June 23, the Executive of Franklin held a rather short and to-the-point press conference on the first contact with an unknown alien species, which is apparently hostile. Below is the transcript of the conference:

EXECUTIVE: Good evening. I'm sure that all of you, and for that matter everyone on Earth, knows of and is shocked by these pictures that have come out. I'm sure you have many questions, and I will do my best to answer them.

REPORTER: What will you do with the Agonite mining system now that whole probes are being destroyed?

EXECUTIVE: Well, ideally I would like to put up an automated defense system around Agonus to pevent the ships from intruding there, but that would be foolish at the moment... because with any countermeasure, you need to know first what you are countering.

REPORTER: How are you going to find out about it?

EXECUTIVE: I have asked the New Follomer Syndicate to dispatch the FSS Uniden to the planet to probe the area, and hopefully that will shed some light on the aliens.

REPORTER: Some in Follomer have speculated that it is an experimental Dlorwani ship. Do you believe this is a possibility?

EXECUTIVE: It does not match Dlorwani ships, nor would I think the Dlorwani would have any reason to blow up the Agonus probes. As far as we can tell, it is totally alien, and we are working from that assumption.

REPORTER: Do you believe it is possible that the aliens will extend their attack, and it will develop into a war?

EXECUTIVE: Well, I cannot discount the possibility, but indications now suggest a, uh, pseudo-optimistic outcome of them just wanting Agonus, which is bad enough. However, we will do everything possible to avoid war, short of compromising Franklinite interests at Agonus. Last question.

REPORTER: What about security precautions in Franklin in case of invasion?

EXECUTIVE: As you do, or should I say should, know is that the Franklinite Constitution does not allow for anything like martial law to be declared, but we can and are deploying military aircraft and putting troops on standby alert in case anything turns up. As furthur information becomes avaliable, I will put out statements. Any additional questions? [pause] Alright, this conference is adjourned.

It was the greatest unknown of the Franklinite-Soltrian War: the initial rationale for it. It appeared to be irrational without these documents, but newly released memorandums, documents, and letters from the run-up to the war. For the sake of concisement, we will not publish every letter here, but all of them have been posted at the Executive's Website.

The documents collectively reveal a fascinating story behind the build-up to the war, starting with the Soltrian Coup of March 2009. After the coup, the socialists had a behind-the-scenes debate on how to most effectively fulfill the promise of "spreading the socialist message".

A few advocated domestic development and exhibition as the best way. However, most wished a more aggressive route: war. Eventually the war proponents won the debate, and began plotting on how to win it. They reasoned with military planners that the only way to sustain a conquest of any one state on the island was to conquer all of them and eliminate resistance. A build-up was in order for the military, which started the Allies down a path to war.

Upon the final completed plan, Franklin was determined to have the strongest military, and thus the most potential resistance. It was decided: Soltria would attack Franklin County, and then proceed to complete the conquest of the whole island, and we all know how it went from there.

The present government has explicitly expressed no interest in re-enacting these plans, and states they will focus on domestic improvement. In fact, the present government is composed of the original legislators who opposed the war in the first place.

This story has been transcluded from the Special Reports page on the AFDES Wiki.

If you are a follower of Franklin County, you are aware that the Treaty of Soltris has been signed, officially ending the Franklinite-Soltrian War. In it are provisions for future economic development and aid for the Soltrians, as detailed in Update 170. But what of the post-war future? I would like to announce here that Franklin's foreseeable future will be connected to these points:

• More involvement in AFDES and the future Alliance Defense Network.
• Development of Franklin Estuary into a more planned city than the rest of Franklin
• Expansion of the Patrician Holding Company into Franklin Estuary and around the world
• Implementation of Agonite fusion technologies

Well, the AFDES site is back, this iteration at afdes.byethost12.com, and the Wiki is back at afdes.byethost.com/wiki. The Executive of Franklin wiki page is back here. At the Executive's wiki page, you can see news about Franklin, sneak peaks on updates, and links to important pages. Think of it as a FC portal.

For those who are not aware, AFDES is the Alliance of Fuel Developing and Exporting States, a confederal union of city showcases. Any state can join, so long as a majority of existing members approve. However, no states will probably be admitted now as we are currently undergoing restructuring. You can find out more at the AFDES wiki.

Today, after the announcement by United States President Jonathan Wright, some represenatives in the Assembly were worried about American involvement in the Franklinite-Soltrian War, and expressed concern about future operations.

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