The Student Association Leadership Committee clashed with President John Richardson over his nominees for the election-oversight body in a rare display of discord at Monday’s SA Senate meeting.
Senators rejected one of Richardson’s three appointees for the Joint Elections Commission, which will enforce the body’s charter in next spring’s campaign.
Senate Pro Tempore and chair of the leadership committee, Bradley Dlatt, CCAS-G, called out Richardson during the meeting for his solo selection of “three of the most coveted slots in student government.”
Dlatt said in the past, the rules committee, restructured into the leadership committee last fall, was able to weigh in on the candidates two or three weeks before the president announced his nominees to the full senate. The graduate student, who served as the senate’s chief of staff last year, said he found out the candidates only minutes before the meeting.
“In past, JEC has made large election decisions, including removing presidential candidates. I would suggest the people in this room seriously,” Dlatt said.
Richardson shot back, “This is something I probably should have spoken to you about, unfortunately we haven’t had a meeting in three weeks.”
Sophomores Shiah Shahmohammadi and Gordon Pera were confirmed by wide margins as the SA’s representatives to the JEC. Freshman Alexandra Puig was voted down in a 9-8 Senate vote, after senators expressed concerns she did not understand the election process.
Sen. John Bennett, U-At Large, asked Puig if she had read the JEC charter and Dlatt asked what she thought the JEC did. Puig said she understood that the JEC enforced the charter, but had not read the document.
Other senators argued an appointee did not need to be familiar with past years’ elections.
“I would prefer that someone not see what a crazy, bureaucratic, toolish process looks like,” Sen. Eric Arpert, CCAS-U, said. “We need someone with common sense to come in and say ‘that is ridiculous.'”
Shahmohammadi, communications director for College Democrats, said she would be able to attract more voters by promoting the election. She denied her involvement in the organization, which endorses a candidate, would influence her as a JEC member.
Pera, who ran for a CCAS senator position last spring, served as a leadership committee aide and was familiar with the “minutia” of the charter. He said as a JEC member, he would uphold “the spirit of the election and the spirit of the SA” by keeping the elections fair and honest.
The senate passed a new JEC charter for the spring 2012 elections. Dlatt said the most significant difference is that potential candidates need to reach a signature quota – presidential candidates must collect 250 signatures and executive vice presidential candidates must collect 125 – rather than a percentage of the student body they would be representing.
The SA Senate also unanimously approved a resolution of support for vending machines in Gelman Library. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Kennedy, ESIA-U, who described the efforts as “a very basic thing” that could help out students when they’re studying. SA resolutions are non-binding.
