Shane Ausmus for

LTG: The Official

Platform
Written by Shane Ausmus and the
Shane for LTG Campaign 2017
Introduction:
Hi! My name is Shane Ausmus, and I am a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of the Ohio River
Valley Junior State of America. Like countless others, JSA has given me a voice when I needed
it most on countless political issues. I applied to become our states Director of Activism to
promote political and social activism, the key factor that makes this organization different from
countless others which call themselves student-run. Aside from activism, our state elections
drive home the point of what it means to be a responsible, informed voter more than any other
aspect of this organization. As the only candidate with any Fair Elections experience (the
primary responsibility of the LTG), I want to improve JSAs democratic system to give its
members a chance to elect candidates who truly represent them. If youre interested in
helping me fulfill this mission, I encourage you to join my campaign team (text me at (614)
446-5695, email me at sausmus@orv.jsa.org, or fill out the campaign interest form at
https://tinyurl.com/shaneforltgcampaigninterest) and read over this platform. Im excited to work
to improve the Ohio River Valleys legislative and electoral systems with your cooperation.
My JSA Experience:
Activism Specialist and Muckraker Copy Editor (2015-2016)
Member of the administrative Cabinet as an assisting with running Activism
initiatives such as legislative tables with state officials additionally worked to
edit, format, and design the Muckraker, our news publication
Fair Election Committee Agent (2016)
Worked with Isaac Brett Mitchell (2015-2016 LTG) to moderate Tommy Pollacks
campaign for Lieutenant Governor and Esam Hammoudis campaign for NCD
mayor
Collaborated to set up mini-conventions and activism initiatives at Dublin Coffman during
the 2015-2017 school years, such as our current Fight Apathy campaign
Montezuma Leadership Summit Attendee 2016
Talked about chapter and state matters with representatives from each of ten
JSA states and became closer to the principles of this organization through group
activities and discussion
Director of Activism (2016-2017)
wrote and created guides for annual voter registration drive push and Fight
Apathy, organizing 8+ events at three state conventions for 300-700+ people
(TEDxORV, book drives, Fight Apathy presence, blanket drives - and thats just
so far) promoting nonpartisan civic engagement and teen involvement in
government and community
Ohio River Valley had one of the largest levels of participation in Fight Apathy
nationally during the 2016-2017 school year
Cabinet Member of the Month September 2016
MidSoHio Super Cabinet Director of Activism (2017)
One of four Ohio River Valley Cabinet members chosen to help plan Winter
Congress - organized book drive, activism fair, coordinated volunteers, and
worked with co-director Shirley Wu to ensure that Winter Congress was
successful
PLATFORM*:

Fair Elections Committee (FEC) Changes:

- Adjust budgeting for Mayor, LTG, and Governor races (Mayor: $200, LTG: $250,
Governor: $300)

- Have all candidates for all positions share their platform with me a week before
Winter Congress. This will ensure the integrity and originality of all ideas presented in
each platform to increase the reliability of each candidate. There have been a couple of
incidents during this campaign season regarding the intellectual property of ideas, and
this piece of my platform is a safeguard to prevent this.

- Preserve 3-2-1 plan and track campaign team membership with private (prior to
WC - will be public afterwards) rosters of members in each campaign team

- Create system to allow for merchandise to be produced for campaign teams

separate from campaign budget ($100 separate allotted for candidates and campaign
members to spend on merchandise)

- Firmer pricing restrictions - each expense will be tracked through a spreadsheet

by FEC agents with different sections for each candidate - failure to send an FEC
candidate invoices/pricing information/proof of purchase will result in a strike

- All previously mentioned spreadsheets (regarding costs, campaign members, and

strikes per candidate) will be public domain and accessible on the ORV Facebook
page as well as in campaign email updates to Cabinet members and CPs to increase
transparency in the campaign process

- Implement an absentee ballot system such as that used in the Midwest and the
Northern California State by using a locked Google form restricted to email accounts
registered under MyJSA, with communication with chapter presidents to confirm
hrough a TA-administered
attendance of delegates a week prior to Spring State. T
process, students who cannot attend our final convention but who have paid their
dues to this organization will finally be heard in our states elections.

- Establish and actually follow through with common knowledge three strikes
system - similar to NES, each campaign violation earns a strike that will be publicly
announced for each candidate directly prior to voting (in addition to the circumstances of
trikes per candidate will be tracked
the violation) to discourage rule-breaking - s
through separate spreadsheet - three strikes will lead to immediate disqualification
 from running for an elected office and, depending on severity, potential expulsion of
candidate from JSA

- Set FEC positions as a volunteer position with applications coinciding with

Cabinet. FEC members will be considered Cabinet members and will serve as general
volunteers throughout Cabinets departments and during conventions allowing them to
continuously have responsibilities and to be well-involved throughout the state,
preventing an FEC position from giving their JSA career a disadvantage

- As Director of the FEC, run campaigning workshops and webinars for prospective
candidates on how to campaign effectively and tips and tricks to encourage success.
These webinars (approximately three over the year - pre-Winter Congress,
post-Winter Congress, and pre-Spring State) will be available to ALL members of
the ORV Junior State.

Council of Chapter Presidents (CCP) and General Responsibility Changes:

- My goals summarized for the CCP and the responsibilities as a new LTG will be to
solidify the position in an effort to promote accountability. The position of
Lieutenant Governor has been seen less favorably in recent years because of a general
lack of action. Under my administration, I will prevent this apathetic stance on the ORVs
welfare by making sure that the LTG is as involved in the state cabinet and council of
chapter presidents as possible, setting a precedent for future ORV JSAers to make the
Lieutenant Governor a participating position in our democratic process. This will also be
done to both increase efficiency and assist departments with which I have experience on
Cabinet.

- To maintain contact and to increase the efficiency of the CCP/ensure that

communication is streamlined with minimal mass emails, CCP calls will be held
monthly with Cabinet updates, discussion of future bills and amendments, how
elected officials can improve their chapter-level performance, and other issues
that are relevant to the state.

- Implementing new amendment (or, if not passed at SS 2016-2017 CCP meeting, to

attempt to pass and gather support for the amendment at CLC 2017-2018 CCP meeting)
to redistribute responsibilities between the governor and the lieutenant governor:

- The Balanced Administration Act: s plits responsibilities between the LTG and
the Governor, such as cabinet departments ( Governor: Debate, Convention, and
Communications; LTG: Fundraising, Activism, Expansion with both standard and
retention specialists); intention to ensure the involvement of EOs and to hold
them accountable for their jobs through a redistribution of responsibilities
 - Will heavily advocate for an Anti-Favoritism Act d uring campaign and time in
office: would constitutionally prevent elected officials from attempting to influence
the results of a JSA election, whether through marketing candidates to other
members, attempts to establish leadership of a campaign for the specific benefit
of the candidate, an endorsement by the EO for the candidate, or any other form
of expressly stated support - the ability to submit evidence of an EO doing so will
be open to the general public and could result in grounds for impeachment after
FEC investigation - L ikelihood of being passed comparatively low, but more
concerned with backing principle for future EOs to consider

- Preserve the lack of a Speaker of the CCP but create a set and specific agenda
that will be posted on the JSApp by the Technology Department for CPs and JSA
members to peruse - additionally, collect bills and amendments to ORV
constitution to be presented at the CCP meeting two weeks in advance and send
agenda out with bill information at least one week in advance for CPs to consider
prior to the meeting, allowing for faster communication and better time
management

- It is important to remove the authority of governor from this body and to

further ensure separation of powers between the two, preventing the
executive from having dominance over the LTGs primary responsibility. A s
such, the open forum format will continue, but without the monopoly of the
governor - aside from the governors State of the State CCP briefing, this
legislative body will remain under the guidance of the LTG with the previously
mentioned due dates for bills and amendments as a way to fit more into each
meeting.

Goals (prior to election season):

- If not passed at the WC 2016-2017 CCP meeting, gather support for first major
amendment at first Council of Chapter Presidents meeting at the annual Chapter
Leadership Conference and attempt to pass. Regardless of whether the amendments
pass, I want to make sure that I, as an elected official, continue to stay involved with
these issues and work with the governor to promote changes upon which we mutually
agree.

- Establish FEC as a part of Cabinet that can contribute to any department and a
reserve volunteer force at conventions. Cabinet Directors will contact the LTG for any
help that they may need to be able to utilize the FEC. This should allow those interested
for applying to serve on the FEC from being disadvantaged if running for a leadership
position in the future, while creating a safeguard against Cabinet instability (the quitting
of a director or prominent member, a drastic increase in workload, etc.).
- Release completely re-written FEC handbook approximately three months prior to
the 2017-2018 Winter Congress (mid- to late December) containing all updated
FEC information. FEC members will each be assigned to a campaign team and will
have training calls prior to election season concerning primarily spreadsheet and
tracking responsibilities. The roles of each spreadsheet (in addition to all changes to the
FEC system) will be outlined after the introduction letter but before the campaigning
rules of the FEC handbook.

- The Lieutenant Governor typically has only a small state role in appointing
Cabinet positions and working with Cabinet. While the LTG has a constitutional
role to preside over both the FEC and the CCP, I would like to change the
precedent set by past Lieutenant Governors by volunteering my time in various
departments with the restructured FEC to increase the efficiency of our state.
Even in circumstances under which the Balanced Administration Act is not
passed, the following are suggestions to policy in important departments which I
will advocate for and work with the Governor-elect to fulfill.

- IN FUNDRAISING, work to decrease focus on merchandising at Fall State and

continue push to raise money for the state as a whole through StayClassy. Make
major publicity efforts for events such as Date with a Director, Miracle Minute,
and other initiatives to go to the ORV scholarship fund, and create reserve
funding that prevents money from Fall State fundraising push from all being
spent. Creating a combined chapter activism and fundraising guide is also a
major goal, giving chapter presidents the resources to make their chapters
civically engaged and able to attend conventions. The Winter Congress
fundraising emergency that occurred this year is unprecedented, and events
such as this do not need to occur again through conservative scholarship
distribution.

- IN ACTIVISM, the creation of chapter activism committees as a way to foster a

sense of community and commitment to the organization will be a major priority.
Not promoting that more from the beginning of the year is one of my biggest
regrets as DoA, and I want to ensure that this mistake is fixed by the end of my
term under the guidance of the next DoA. Additionally, I will ensure that most
communication now occurs through elected officials as opposed to directors. The
constant sending of emails has, as I have been told, bothered chapter presidents,
officers, teacher advisors, and students attending our conventions, and, under
my administration, all information relating to initiatives such as Fight Apathy and
voter registration drives will be streamlines through the mayors.

- IN EXPANSION, alongside current tactics, encourage a shift to get directly in

touch with students (primarily through talking to mutual friends in schools that do
 not have a chapter) and create set of student testimonials and an Ohio River
Valley introduction guide to JSA to send to prospective expansion contacts to
give new schools a better sense of what our organization is about. Communicate
with fundraising to raise enough make setting urban rates for conventions a
continued possibility to allow chapters from disadvantaged areas the same ability
to acquire a civic education as anybody from one of the more suburban chapters.
Additionally, create system of retention specialists alongside the more typical
expansion specialists to keep membership up by working in unison with the
expansion director and the mayors to devise ways to keep chapters engaged
with attendance up. This will be especially important for expansion chapters and
contacts to guarantee a swift transition into being an involved chapter.

*Note: The platform will continue to expand as I hear new ideas from other members of our
state and my campaign team, or as I notice more issues with the current governance of this
state. Even post-Spring State, if elected, my goals as a Lieutenant Governor will continue to
expand and develop. If you ever have any suggestions for me as a candidate, feel free to call or
text me at (614) 446-5695. Id love to talk with you to improve our state :)