Kalistan

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Chancellor Reginald Hanson Dead in Auto Accident
Police pin accident on icy road conditions
Vrassa City, Duchy of Vrassa
February 4, 5711


The Late Chancellor of the Empire, Lord Reginald Hanson

The Chancellor of the Empire, Lord Reginald Hanson, Count of Jah, has died in an auto accident near Red Pass in the Duchy of Vrassa. Police ruled his death accidental: the accident occurred in near whiteout conditions during a snowstorm that also caused 18 accidents. Hanson, driving from Vrassa City north towards Funkadelphia enroute to Addisjah on V1, when he apparently lost control of his vehicle during the storm and collided with the side railing, collapsing in the driver's side of his vehicle, breaking several of his ribs, and causing one to puncture his left lung. By the time EMTs arrived on the scene, Hanson was listed in critical condition, and died before he could arrive at the hospital.

The loss of the Chancellor hit Kaliburg like a ton of bricks. Her Imperial Majesty, and the Royal Family immediately returned to the Capital from Athosia, where they were in Winter Residence at Playa de Paz and convened an emergency session of the National Assembly. The Nationalist majority handed Her Imperial Majesty a list of their own members who they would accept, and to date no word has been issued regarding who will replace Lord Hanson.

Lord Hanson, who had just turned 45 years old, was the Count of Jah, having served the Duchy in that role since 5694. He was first elected to the National Assembly in 5695, and was tapped by Her Imperial Majesty to replace Lady Ericka Donahue, who was sacked due to her increasingly counterproductive public statements. Hanson was a moderate, was well loved by his constituents, and had a solid working relationship with Her Imperial Majesty, not always agreeing with her, but dutifully performing his responsibilities as head of Her Imperial Majesty's Government.

The Chancellor was also instrumental in actively supporting a more enthusiastic outreach to other nations, overseeing the transition to the Imperial Peso, and unravelling Kalistan from imperial fetters to Gaduridos. "Some would call Hanson's administration a qualified success," said Carl Miter, who writes on public and foreign policy for the specialty periodical National Policy. "He did have a number of legislative successes, certainly. But nobody can forget that it was on his watch that Her Imperial Majesty was forced to dissolve the National Assembly, because Lord Hanson could not keep his own Deputies in line. Among his numerous responsibilities, the Chancellor of the Empire is the whip in chief and head of the Institutional Party--He MUST turn in legislative majorities for Her Imperial Majesty's agenda, and if he can't he has no business being in office. In any other nation they would have called a vote of no confidence against him and brought down the government, so we have to give him qualified marks on his leadership."

When Hanson took over the Chancellorship, national mood was also significantly higher than it is currently. A number of factors seem to be depressing the national mood, including increasing prices and supply shortages in some markets due to the overvaluation of the Peso against the old Ruble which will take some time to work its way out across the economy, Kalistan's middling performance at the Olympics in Valruzia, including not even meddling in men's surfing or beach volleyball, the apparent external irrelevance of Kalistan in the foreign policy sphere considering the shadow of the northern Colossus, and the end of the Anantonese Empire, which dealt the nation a severe existential blow.

"It would seem that, while Lord Hanson cannot be said to be the author of a growing national malaise--the actual causes are generally known to be entirely external to Kalistan and Ananto--Kalistanis are the ones who feel it, and alone in most cases," said Miter. "Hanson had nothing to do with the performance of the Olympic Athletes, for example, and the news from Valruzia wasn't all bad, because we obviously had a number of wonderful successes. He had nothing whatsoever to do with Gaduridos being stripped from Kalistan and the end of the Anantonese Empire, and despite the more than 110 years of good relations, people only want to focus on the tragedy of an unrealized future for our two nations as we realized that Gaduridos never cared for Kalistan even half as much as Kalistan cared for and about Gaduridos. People will always tend to focus on failure more often than success; or put another way, the success is never sweet enough and the failure is always too bitter. And people look for someone to blame: Hanson gets more than his share of the blame fairly or not, and now it is up to history to write his legacy, because he has no more control over how future generations will view his accomplishments."

Moderates especially mourned the passing of the Late Chancellor, seeing him as a good alternative to hard Nationalist Policies which preceded him. "Well, it sucks," said self-identified Moderate faction member Bruce Ingraham said. "Lord Hanson was such a refreshing change from Lady Donahue, in everything: Here at home, abroad, how other countries talked to us and about us. And now we're probably shifting back to Nationalism, because they have the majority in the National Assembly, and they are looking for revenge for the loss of Gaduridos. I worry for our country, it could be very easy to slip into pariah status and then all the progress Lord Hanson made will be reversed."

Her Imperial Majesty is expected to appoint a new Chancellor within the next couple months. The Assembly is not currently in session and Sir Thomas Harney has been appointed as interim Speaker of the National Assembly until a new Chancellor is appointed to take care of any necessary business. Harney has said he has no intention of serving as Permanent Chancellor, nor would he likely be acceptable to the Nationalist Majority even if he was named.

Lord Hanson will be buried this week in Addisjah, and Her Imperial Majesty will attend and will sit with Hanson's widow, Countess Rita Hanson, and the rest of Lord Hanson's fairly sizeable family.

@TheRepublic