Student Association presidential candidates Roger Kapoor and Daniel Loren have enough complaints against them to disqualify their candidacies, but they will not learn their fate until the Joint Elections Committee meets Friday.
SA Executive Vice President Cathy Resler filed a complaint that has JEC officials struggling to interpret their charter. She claims the referendum for a new SA constitution that Loren and executive vice presidential candidate Mike Pellegrino pushed onto the ballot qualifies as a candidate and is subject to JEC campaigning rules.
Resler submitted complaints about posters, fliers, Hatchet ads and other campaign materials Change for Students used to advertise its new constitution.
Alycia Piontkowski, general counsel for the JEC, said JEC rules are vague about referenda.
“There isn’t a lot said about referenda in the (JEC) charter,” she said. “Dan and Mike’s referendum is not something that happens a lot.”
Resler filed ten complaints againts Change for Students, which Loren and Pellegrino head. Pointkowski said Loren and Pellegrino can receive violations filed against Students for Change because they head the organization.
Loren, who also faces complaints for campaigning at a beer party at the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house Saturday night, needs only four more violations to end his candidacy. Pellegrino has three violations, five short of termination.
While the SA Student Court will decide Thursday whether two violations Kapoor received are warranted, the JEC will also get a chance to determine his fate Friday when it hears three more complaints made against him this week.
Sophomore Josh Bhatti, a Bob Simon campaigner, filed complaints Tuesday that community facilitators ripped down Simon’s posters and mailed campaign material unapproved by the JEC to Law School students. JEC member Amanda Deegan said 20 SA candidates, including Kapoor, should receive violations for getting publicity in two GW College Democrats endorsement ads in The Hatchet. JEC rules permit only one endorsement ad per organization.
Kapoor has received enough violations to end his presidential run, but was granted a stay of execution by appealing the JEC decision on the two counts the Student Court will hear.
The other presidential candidate, Bob Simon, could also receive violations for the Saturday party hosted by the fraternity he heads. But with no other complaints filed against him and no violations so far, he is the only candidate with a secure place on the ballot.
JEC Chairman Josh Hiscock said the complaints about the Delta Tau Delta fraternity party may violate bribery rules and the committee could hand down more than the normal one violation considering the nature of the event. The JEC will meet Friday to rule on complaints against all three presidential candidates.
