UPTON, Damoign -- The recent, controversial fight over re-election rules for governors has deeply divided the state of Damoign.
Nationalists prevailed in ending a decades-old ban on governors running for re-election consecutively.
Voters approved the NAT-backed measure with 56 percent on Saturday.
But while Nationalists won the battle over term limits, a top Nationalist state lawmaker says his party lost the messaging war on the issue.
"We won, we got what we wanted, but in terms of messaging and public relations, the Conservative Party was more effective than we were. They made their case better. They made stronger arguments. And now they have a potent issue to batter the Nationalists with in the next election," said state Sen. Harold Lambe, who represents northwest Grassadellia City in the state Senate.
Lambe, a moderate Nationalist, said he supported changing the constitution to allow governors to seek consecutive terms. But the way the Nationalist Party went about it was "a public relations nightmare."
"Most people support their position. Most people agree with the Nationalists on this issue. But the way they went about it was not optically very good," Lambe told Michael Micardi on GNN's Awakening A Nation Sunday.
"The NAT won, but people are mad about the way they did it. They went around the rules. They used obscure procedural rules to get what they want. Rather than wait a sufficient amount of time before holding another referendum, they rushed it through, because they knew the longer they waited, the less likely voters would be sympathetic to their arguments. Rather than reach a compromise with Conservatives, they just decided to do what they wanted, even if it was not very popular with the voters. This at-all-costs tactic could very well backfire on us in 2020," said Lambe.
But NAT state chairman Tom Parry disputed Lambe's remarks.
"Our side won with 56 percent of the vote. So, I'm confused why Senator Lambe thinks we lost the messaging war. If we had lost the messaging war, we wouldn't have won with 56 percent. You can't lost the messaging war but win an election, that makes absolutely no sense," Parry told reporters Sunday outside a campaign fundraiser for Damoign Governor Jenna Duvan Sunday in east Middleboro.
Regardless of who won the messaging war, the contentious issue and that NAT's circumvention of conventional legislative rules is bound to come up on the 2020 campaign trail.
In fact, it already has. Immediately after Jenna Duvan spoke at the "Yes" campaign's victory rally in Middleboro Saturday night, several prominent Conservatives, many who are rumored to be considering a challenge to Duvan, posted criticism on social media.
"The Nationalists will have to account for this at the next election," Assemblyman Brandon O'Malley, a Conservative from Oscarville, tweeted.
"I'm disappointed tonight, not so much by the result, but more so by the unfair and shady way the Nationalist Party went about doing it," Assemblyman John DeGallio, C-Columbus, told Grassadellia City news channel TV1.
And Kim Camden, who served as Deputy Secretary of The Treasury in the Dan Byelle Administration, posted on her Facebook page, "This kind of maneuvering and side-stepping by Jenna Duvan is exactly when people hate the Nationalist Party in Damoign."
There was one prominent Conservative voice, however, who voiced approval at the results of Saturday's referendum.
Former Governor Sid Hoffa said changing the law is "common sense," and the issue has been needlessly politicized.
"It's unfortunate that the politics in our state have devolved so much in the past few years, to the point where people are so politicized, so bitterly partisan, that they refuse to evaluate issues objectively. They always look at everything through a partisan point of view, and that's adding to the enmity in our political process," Hoffa said. "It's very sad and unfair to the people of Damoign."
Nationalists prevailed in ending a decades-old ban on governors running for re-election consecutively.
Voters approved the NAT-backed measure with 56 percent on Saturday.
But while Nationalists won the battle over term limits, a top Nationalist state lawmaker says his party lost the messaging war on the issue.
"We won, we got what we wanted, but in terms of messaging and public relations, the Conservative Party was more effective than we were. They made their case better. They made stronger arguments. And now they have a potent issue to batter the Nationalists with in the next election," said state Sen. Harold Lambe, who represents northwest Grassadellia City in the state Senate.
Lambe, a moderate Nationalist, said he supported changing the constitution to allow governors to seek consecutive terms. But the way the Nationalist Party went about it was "a public relations nightmare."
"Most people support their position. Most people agree with the Nationalists on this issue. But the way they went about it was not optically very good," Lambe told Michael Micardi on GNN's Awakening A Nation Sunday.
"The NAT won, but people are mad about the way they did it. They went around the rules. They used obscure procedural rules to get what they want. Rather than wait a sufficient amount of time before holding another referendum, they rushed it through, because they knew the longer they waited, the less likely voters would be sympathetic to their arguments. Rather than reach a compromise with Conservatives, they just decided to do what they wanted, even if it was not very popular with the voters. This at-all-costs tactic could very well backfire on us in 2020," said Lambe.
But NAT state chairman Tom Parry disputed Lambe's remarks.
"Our side won with 56 percent of the vote. So, I'm confused why Senator Lambe thinks we lost the messaging war. If we had lost the messaging war, we wouldn't have won with 56 percent. You can't lost the messaging war but win an election, that makes absolutely no sense," Parry told reporters Sunday outside a campaign fundraiser for Damoign Governor Jenna Duvan Sunday in east Middleboro.
Regardless of who won the messaging war, the contentious issue and that NAT's circumvention of conventional legislative rules is bound to come up on the 2020 campaign trail.
In fact, it already has. Immediately after Jenna Duvan spoke at the "Yes" campaign's victory rally in Middleboro Saturday night, several prominent Conservatives, many who are rumored to be considering a challenge to Duvan, posted criticism on social media.
"The Nationalists will have to account for this at the next election," Assemblyman Brandon O'Malley, a Conservative from Oscarville, tweeted.
"I'm disappointed tonight, not so much by the result, but more so by the unfair and shady way the Nationalist Party went about doing it," Assemblyman John DeGallio, C-Columbus, told Grassadellia City news channel TV1.
And Kim Camden, who served as Deputy Secretary of The Treasury in the Dan Byelle Administration, posted on her Facebook page, "This kind of maneuvering and side-stepping by Jenna Duvan is exactly when people hate the Nationalist Party in Damoign."
There was one prominent Conservative voice, however, who voiced approval at the results of Saturday's referendum.
Former Governor Sid Hoffa said changing the law is "common sense," and the issue has been needlessly politicized.
"It's unfortunate that the politics in our state have devolved so much in the past few years, to the point where people are so politicized, so bitterly partisan, that they refuse to evaluate issues objectively. They always look at everything through a partisan point of view, and that's adding to the enmity in our political process," Hoffa said. "It's very sad and unfair to the people of Damoign."
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