Francesco Mandarini

The Honourable Francesco Mandarini President of State
President of Vespasia
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Carla Cioccarelli
Mayor of Accadia
In office 5 May 2005 – 4 January 2010
Preceded by	Franco Restivo
Succeeded by	Mario D'Acquisto
CEO of the Etrurian State Shipbuilding Corporation
In office 13 November 1998 – 1 January 2005
Preceded by	Angelo Bonfiglio
Succeeded by	Giuseppe Alessi
Personal details
Born	8 February 1951 (age 64) Accadia, Etruria
Nationality	Eturian
Political party	Independent (2005-2010) Etrurian Way (2009-present)
Residence	Poveglia
Alma mater	B.A., Business, University of San Cipirello M.A., University of San Michele, Ph.D., University of San Michele
Profession	Politician, Lecturer

Dr. Francesco Mandarini (born 8 February 1951), is a Eturian politician and the current President of Vespasia. He previously served as the CEO of the Etrurian State Shipbuilding Corporation for seven years before being elected Mayor of Accadia in 2005, a post he held for nine years before resigning to in January 2010 to run for the Vespasian state legislature as leader of the Vespasian branch of Etrurian Way his party won by a landslide and he became head of the Vespasian state government.

Since being elected as president, Mandarini has focused the state government's efforts on improving transportation, air quality and economic development. In November 2011, almost a year after becoming president, Mandarini was accused by a freelance journalist of using his ties to the ESSC to secure kickbacks after signing two planning permission reports on the expansion of the ESSC's shipyards in Accadia and Urbisalia, he denied the charges. However the journalist submitted evidence to the Etrurian National Police Service and Mandarini was subsequently brought in for questioning, after providing an alibi for each time he supposedly met with ESSC officials he was released without charge and the journalist was later arrested for providing false information and criminal slander.

Political career

Political positions

Mandarini has been described as a founding father of the Etrurian Way. He is known to accuse many individuals in the public arena of supporting the status-quo of being "pigs" or "establishment crooks". Mandarini is also considered by the Vespasian and national press as a "cultural ultranationalist".

Economically speaking, he is a supporter of state capitalism, but has argued the necessity of reforming the nation's economy towards a market-orientated model by 2030. Mandarini is vocal supporter of assisting information based businesses and during his time as Mayor of Accadia set up a city-wide tech start-up support program. On fiscal issues, he is supportive of fiscal conservatism, but veers left on inequality, arguing that wealth can be distributed equally through proper economic management and very basic social welfare, and has expressed support for redistribution of wealth through taxation.

President of Vespasia

On 14 November 2009, Mandarini along with several other key figures founded the Etrurian Way party and he secured his position as leader of the Vespasian state branch of the party and announced his intent to run for the state legislature, resigning as mayor of Accadia on January 4 2010 to campaign. Defying polls, he led the Etrurian Way to victory, securing the state government with a slim majority, becoming president of Vespasia on May 6 2010.

He announced a plan to re-balance growth in the region. Under Mandarini's predecessor Carla Cioccarelli, Vespasia saw improved GDP growth that was the result of developing natural resources. The state's GDP growth ranked among the highest of the three state entities in the country for eight consecutive years. However, the growth opened a large wealth gap, with endemic profiteering from local officials, and a divide between the resource-rich central-coastal part of the state and the stagnant seasonal service-based northern part, whilst the agricultural south saw strong growth through modernisation and improved farming techniques.

In response, the Mandarini administration launched the 'Lento è Migliore' (Slower is Better) program and Mandarini remarked that Vespasia would no longer aspire to be ranked first in GDP growth, but rather focus on sustaining the "quality" and "fairness" of growth. Mandarini believed that dogmatically pursuing a mere increase in economic output did not benefit everyone in the state, particularly hospitality and temporary laborers, pointing out that the large mining projects had brought significant wealth which did not trickle down to the grassroots. He stressed that one of the priorities of his administration would be assuring equitable policies in the relocation, employment and social welfare of people living close to new mining operations. Mandarini also sought to reform tax policy within his first year in office, to give more bargaining power to local government and local interests in assessing potential mining projects by large state-owned natural resource companies within the state. These companies were known for running roughshod over local officials that were desperate to attract investment to boost their own GDP numbers. In urban development, Mandarini has stressed the importance of subsidised housing and meeting demand of new housing annually on time, with more federal funding if required.

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In November 2015, Mandarini accused every non-Etrurian Way sitting member of the Vespasian senate of being a "corrupt and corrupting abomination".

During 2012, Mandarini earned a reputation for being a media savvy and action-oriented leader who is not fond of bureaucracy or formalities. Almost immediately after his assuming the reins in Vespasia, Mandarini's government began a sweeping crackdown on so-called pidocchi (literally, lice); officials who work in Etruria but whose spouses and children live abroad. Since the beginning of Mandarini's term, over 800 pidocchi have been disciplined, demoted, or otherwise removed from office. Mandarini's government also cracked down on drug trafficking and the sex industry in the Urbisalia area, dispatching police to conduct massive raids of the city's prostitution venues, and removing the city's vice mayor and police chief from office, after investigations into corruption found them negligent.

On December 18, Mandarini announced the formation of the State Anti-Corruption Task Force, headed by the state commander of the Etrurian National Police Service with informational assistance from the Civil Security Service. The same day, during the provincial assembly session before Christmas recess, Mandarini gave an impassioned speech about fighting corruption and accused every sitting member of being "corrupt and corrupting abominations" and that he would be proved wrong with their fervent support in clearing out corrupt individuals from every corner of Vespasia.