| Show I Elections launch explosive controversy dC candidates embark on can rocky campaign trail trail trail-gr JR Christa McKinnon and Blaine Anderson Staff Writers HIS years year's elections were off to a THIS T booming start on Monday Apr 9 at 7 am a.m. But the boom exploded right into some candidates candidate's faces when they were informed one day after their campaigns began that they would not be allowed to run Robin Hepting running for Communications Com- Com Communications Communications VP V.P. and Stacy running for Financial VP V.P. both from the Focus party and David Larson running for Activities VP V.P. and Jennifer Johnson for executive executive executive tive VP V.P. both from the Qualified party were declared ineligible by the Student Activities Executive Council and its advisors in its Apr 9 meeting According to Gordon Wilson director of student activities the constitution constitution constitution con con- states that in order to run for a student body position a 25 is required and at least nine credit hours must be carried during the preceding quarter All candidates had to file with the Elections committee by March 28 and according to Wilson all candidates candidates candidates can can- were informed by March 30 if Primary elections cancelled Spur of the moment decision by election committee cancels Primary General elections to be held April 23 and 24 More information on page 3 3 there was a problem with either their or their previous quarters quarter's credit hours II As As an Executive Council we are all sworn in to uphold the constitution constitution constitution tion and that's what it c came me down downto to said Thomas Sharpe a ee Exec Executive e VP V.P. and chairman of the th Elections committee noting that even he himself himself himself him him- self did not meet this criteria for winter quarter causing him to threaten to resign his position Tempers flared during these two days since these candidates had gone through all the right channels including including including in in- petitioning the election committee committee committee com com- and were told that they could run They each had their reasons why they the candidates felt they should be able to run said Wilson The election committee then voted by a majority to allow all four students to run One of the reasons these people were originally allowed to run is partly partly partly part part- ly due to the fact that the decisions were given to the Executive Council while their two advisors Gordon Wilson Wilson Wil- Wil ison son and Curtis Smout were out of town I III feel that the Executive Council was put in a position they never should have been in and that if Curtis Cur Cur- Curtis Curtis and Gordon would have done their job correctly this humiliating mess would have never taken place said Hepting who carries a and averages 14 credit hours per quarter I III was disqualified not because of but because I had only eight credit hours last quarter The reason I had only eight hours last quarter is because I had surgery said Hepting After all the preparations including including including ing worth of posters and brochures the candidates were told that they could no longer run This will wiIl be back to the money given parties parties parties par par- ties by the Executive Council The money will wiIl be taken out of the gift fund which is money that is extra from what we the Executive Coun Coun- cil cit budget f for r all year and is normally normal normal- ly used to buy the college a gift at the end of the school year said Ann Hurst Financial VP V.P. After telling them they were not qualified to run the Election Committee Committee Committee Com Com- gave all four candidates the option to petition for 1100 student signatures and be placed back on the ballot The only candidate that chose this option was Jennifer Johnson who gathered 1262 signatures in a 24 hour period The Executive Co Council then approved Johnson to run once again noting that 1200 signatures was too significant to ignore However by the time Johnson had collected her signatures the Qualified party had restructured and Johnson was forced to run as an inde inde- pendent I III do feel really bad that my party didn't support me Johnson said She also noted that if she wouldn't have been kicked out of her position Cheryl Hammond running on the same ticket would have had to petition petition petition peti peti- tion to run Hammond didn't have havethe havethe havethe the required accounting class needed to run for Financial VP V.P. Because Johnson couldn't run Hammond See Elections on page 2 i Elections Continued from page 1 moved into the VP V.P. slot and newcomer Katherine Faber took the position of Financial Financial Finan Finan- cial dal VP V.P. One of the candidates found to be ineligible ineligible ineligible in- in eligible was Larson who was disqualified because because because be be- cause of not carrying enough credit hours last quarter Larson had to drop a class because of ofa a leg injury Also disqualified was running with the Focus party who did not have either ither the grades or the credit hours to be be eligible but was approved by the Election committee still to run I was a little offended that those who were not qualified passed the election committee so easily and that was the final word said Shawn Mehr presidential candidate candidate candidate can can- for the Focus party We want to uphold the constitution no matter matter what so sowe we asked Robin and Stacy to drop out on Monday night when we realized that hat they did not meet the standards stated in the tion We still feel that they are great people for the offices offices' they were running for but this a is not a personal issue but a business issue Mehr stated to r n. n According to Mark Hewitt student body president candidate with the Qualified party The liThe parties were assured by the administration tion senate and the Election committee that those candidates were approved We had no real inclination tion of the gravity of the situation i According to Hewitt both parties were under the impression by the Election committee committee committee com com- that there were provisions in the r bylaws of the constitution that would waive the requirements for those particular individuals individuals individuals in in- not meeting the set criteria II We didn't realize there were such rigorous qualifications for candidates to run explained explained explained ex ex- f Hewitt According to Smout director of College Center and Auxiliary Services The liThe constitution constitution constitution tion spells out specifically the requirements o for office Those four I people didn't meet the requirements r Smout added that he feels badly about this j problem Its personally agonizing to see people plan so hard and then have the wind Y taken out of their sails h he tle a said I hope hoe people will learn you have to have qualifications qualifications qualifications before you can do things in the real world Why even apply if you dont don't have the I ar q qualifications Y The new candidates in the Focus party are Brian Owens for Communications VP V.P. P. P and Nancy Gee for Financial VP V.P. P. P In the Qualified party Cheryl Hammond will move from i Financial V. V VP V.P. P candidate to Executive VP V.P. candidate candidate can can- Katherine Faber will run for Financial VP V.P. and Jennifer Potter will run for Activities VP V.P. P. P Jennifer Johnson will be u running running as an r Independent candidate for Executive VP V.P. N |
