He does want to hear Narikopolus' arguments, but the ones he brought up so far were not very convincing. Especially not when the alternative is hearing about a new loophole in the existing law tomorrow, and another ten next week. "In favor."

"...Against." It's well written and he doesn't mind being consulted toward that end but it will be abysmal for business.

Six votes in favor is still a majority, but he was hoping for a stronger majority before they take this to the floor. Hopefully they can nudge a couple of the other sortitionates they considered for the committee spot to speak out in favor of it.

"In favor. With six in favor, the vote passes. I declare this committee adjourned until afternoon. ...May the righteous gods watch over our work and bless us with wisdom, that if our course is in error we shall come to realize it." He really doesn't think this is a mistake, but it doesn't cost him much to say.

He catches the Duke of Fraga as the committee is filtering out of the room.

"Your Grace. I was wondering if you would be willing to do me the honor of presenting this bill on the floor; I expect the debate will be closer than we anticipated, and I suspect you will be more persuasive than I, considering your firsthand experience with fighting the lich."

He's walking slowly, and they keep heading towards the general hall as he considers. "I am, of course, willing to stand by my committee vote on the general floor. But in my experience, the primary benefit of presenting the bill is being able to respond to comments as they occur. I voted for the last censorship bill, and will vote for this one, but I am not sure I could adequately parry all arguments against this one. We may be humbled by the demands of this bill as the Archduke de Sirmium was humbled by the laxity of his bill, or considering the Duchess de Chelam's arguments from yesterday, the downsides of this bill may be hidden from us and afflict Cheliax all the same. I would be more confident in giving you the right of reply, and simply being first in line for the podium to support the bill.

Both Archduke de Sirmium, who proposed the law we seek to repeal, and Archduke Narikopolus, who voted against this version in committee, were part of the expedition against the lich, and it was led by our missing member. This experience evidently has not changed Menador's mind on the law, and I do not know the Lord Marshal's. If you wish for credibility, you could do no better than him, and I would feel we had done him a grave disservice if the committee had an extraordinary meeting without him and put forward a bill he did not approve of or had to speak out against on the floor. If he is at the convention today, let us give him a draft of the bill to review and I can coordinate us via Message."

"I am not sure I am any better-suited than you are to assuaging concerns about this bill, but I would of course be happy to do so if you'd prefer me to. As for the Lord-Marshal, I certainly agree that we should seek out his opinion." He Scrivened a couple of spare copies while the committee was concluding; he hands one to the Duke.

They arrive to the main hall midway through a debate on magic-related proposals, which seem to be identical to the proposals remanded to the Committee on Magic yesterday.