I come before you now, to speak of our economic footing, and to speak of my critiquer on the Council, Wyric Crowshire. I have proposed a return to the policy of times past, free trade with everyone; we have secured the Canal; our Watch and Spellguard defenders have seized the area from the hands of corruption and anarchy, and we are poised to reap the rewards. Yet, where are the rewards if we have no-one to trade with? Why did we free the Canal, if not to make use of it?

Trade is the bedrock of this town. We will not survive without it. Our treasury is in a sorry state, and the cause is clear: The policies enacted by previous Councils, Councils that Wyric Crowshire has been a part of, policies he supported. He has overseen the banning of most trade from our city, leaving us without the goods that our merchants require. We have recieved letters asking whom traders are supposed to trade with, all ignored by Crowshire.

Traditionally, we have always traded. We came out of the metal-shortage crisis through trade with the Shadow Tribe. A crisis that Crowshire allowed happen, and then did nothing about! At the start of this term, our infrastructure was failing, our administration was slowly coming to a halt, and Wyric Crowshire refused to divert the funds to bolster maintainance without a courtier hand-delivering a rose-scented letter to his office, begging him for the funds.

Traditions! This is a value Wyric Crowshire claims to stand for. He claims to stand for stability, yet during his time on the Council this city has been shattered and fragmented, and woefully put together again multiple times. When Demetrius Bhast took the title "First Citizen", Crowshire did nothing but feel sorry for himself. When Bhast was assassinated, he tried to seize power for himself, creating a period of instability that would have destroyed Santuary, if Sheriff Azrus Azzam had not stepped in.

What he stands for is inaction. Inaction when the economy is failing. Inaction when we are invaded. Inaction when we recieve reports of Orog and Drow invasions in the Canal, and goblins taking it over. Inaction when our city was and is divided into districts. He claims to stand for stability, but there was no stability during any of his terms. Most grievously, he has claimed to stand against slavers and tyrants, yet a few terms ago gave all of the city's gold to Etorix, to protect this city. Protection which has not come time and time again; protection which never materialized when the Formians assaulted our very gates! Instead, an underfunded Watch and Spellguard valiantly defended us, as they have always done. Yet time and time again, Crowshire has tried to cut funding from the Spellguard, and from the Watch, for not obeying his petty whims.

Citizens! I introduced legislation preventing the Councillors of Sanctuary from furnishing their offices with gold from our treasury, preventing the wasteful trend of mini-estates, that our previous councillors lived in. Being a councillor is a duty to the city, not something to be done for a lavish office. Yet when Wyric's office was renovated, he kicked and screamed, demanding his throne be untouched. His throne, the last reminants of the power he once had. The Sheriff has seen how unstable Wyric Crowshire can be, having stripped him of the title of mayor in the past. Now he has failed as chairman, has failed to deliver justice unto our foes, and the position of chairman has been stripped from him aswell. You, the people of Sanctuary have seen how unstable he is, as he came in fourth place, down from the lofty position of Mayor which he once seized. Still he demands his throne back! Still he demands all his expensive furnishings be returned in his office, furnishings bought at the expense of the people of Sanctuary, instead of sold to bolster the treasury.

Instead of working on the budget for this term, Wyric Crowshire went to a wedding. Instead of doing his DUTY, he has contributed nothing to the budget this term, contributed no opinions or facts to aid me and my fellow Council members in our decisions, and ultimately was left out of the process entirely due to his inaction.

I stand for this city's trade and economy. I urge all merchants to continue their trade with foreign settlements, and to always bring in more trade to this city. This city has always traded with Fort Mur, with the Shadow Tribe, and with others. We will not give up our people to them as slaves, but we will, and we must, reap the benefits of trading with them if we hope to survive. Stand strong Sanctuary, I will not allow men like Wyric Crowshire to lead us to doom. I, Andrew Deepingdale, will always seek out economic opportunities. I will never let Sanctuary slip towards the precipice through inaction. The economy of this city is not something we can allow a man like Crowshire to drown, it is intrinsically important to our city, a treasure that all the peoples of Sanctuary share in. We must not yield to the inaction of men like Wyric Crowshire, WE WILL NOT YIELD!

A marginal crowd showed up for Deepingdale's rebuttal, and the speech received a poor reaction overall, with most seeing it as an attempt to save face in light of Crowshire's speech.