Bail and Mothma SENIOR Senators?

yeah in New Rebellion it says that all the new senetors sat at the back while all the older/more experienced senetors were at the front and when a older one leaves someone takes their place up the front.

 

Intersting theories, all. I concur with the honarable representative from... er, oOo? Anyway, it would make sense that the senior senator would be the primary speaker since he would be more seasoned.

Perhaps Bail was a senior senator and while he was training Leia to replace him as a mere secretorial senator and then, when she did replace him, he became the viceroy.

Now, the real question is, what's the position of a viceroy? Here on Earth, I think it's the highest rank of a representative from a nation on foreign soil, like a colony or something. I can see how this may apply to Nute Gunray, since he seemed to be representing the Trade Fedration's interests to foreign planets but I think in the case of Bail Organa, Viceroy was something more like an elected king like on Naboo.

Also, the practice of having a senior senator may clean up some continuity. That is, maybe Mon Mothma was the youngest to ever become a lower senator at 16, while Leia was the youngest to become a senior senator at 18? Could some one please site a source that says Mothma became a senator at 16?

~PAd

 

Scratch that, after re-reading Knight 1192's post, the above theory does not fit at all with what we know a Senior Senator to be:

The Essential Guide to Characters, entry: Mon Mothma:


Those same principles helped Mon Mothma gain senatorship when she was barely an adult. Although the Old Republic was already being eroded, Mothma fought hard for the things she believed important, even when she was challenged by the ambitious Senator Palpatine, whom she didn't trust. Despite Palpatine's opposition, Mothma was elected to the post of senior Senator of the Republic--and was the last to hold that title.


So this suggest that being senior senator was not determined by the number of years one served, but by being elected. So this would suggest that the position may be closer to Speaker of the House, or President of the Senate. Using the US Senate example, this could suggest that Senior Senator would be the equivalent of the Vice President, but probably with more duties. The US VP is suppose to serve as President of the Senate, though seems to have little authority except in the case of a tie vote.

No this is real confusing, because if Mothma is conducting the senate, where the heck is Palpatine? We see clearly in TPM and AOTC that it is the Supreme Chancellor that presides over the assembly, so why would Palpatine abandon that role once he declared himself Emporer?

~PAd

 

I concur with the honarable representative from... er, oOo?

My friends call me *injektilo.

We see clearly in TPM and AOTC that it is the Supreme Chancellor that presides over the assembly, so why would Palpatine abandon that role once he declared himself Emporer?

You have a point there. Makes no sense. Take a look:

Old Republic: Chancellor Valorum in charge of senate

Clone Wars: Chancellor Palpatine in charge of senate

Empire: Palpatine is Emporer, yet Mothma, presides over the senate

New Republic: Mothma is Chief of State and presides over senate

New Republic: Ponc Gavrisom is the President of the Republic and also presides in senate

and so on...

So why is the Imperial era sticking out like a sore thumb? However, this was the time when The Emporer was said to have removed himself from the public eye so maybe that had something to do with it?

 

maybe its like Vice President...

 

maybe its like Vice President

Perhaps, but if it's anything like our system, the VP is the one who actually conducts the senate, as I understand it, the president has no part in the assembly. And where does this fit into the GFFA? From the glimpses we've had in TPM, the prez (or Supreme Chancellor)presides over the whole thing and is flanked on either side by a couple of aides. Surely Mothma was not Palpatine's aide! That would just be... freaky!

However, this was the time when The Emporer was said to have removed himself from the public eye so maybe that had something to do with it?

Yeah, but to put Mon Mothma in his stead? The very same Mothma that he apparently tried to prevent becoming a senator at all (as featured in the Essential Characters guide) Makes no sense!

~PAd