The Elections Board has put out their opinion on one of the grievances, filed by Students United against Ben & Katie for launching their website prior to the start date of elections. The ruling states that Ben & Katie must refrain from campaigning from 12:00pm today until 3:00pm today.

Ben & Katie Campaign Manager Ben Bowman replied with this email to the Constitution Court at 10:49am:

Constitutional Court,

As we will submit shortly in an appeal, the Election Board lacks the authority to enforce the sanction discussed in the their decision, and therefore, this decision should be immediately overturned.

However, given the time-sensitive nature of this ruling (as the election ends today), we ask for an immediate stay of the decision as we submit our arguments. Given the exigent circumstances, we request that the Court stay the Elections Board ruling until it can review our appeal and deliver a decision.

Thank you,

Ben Bowman

Students United Communications Director Ben Ordonez replied to the Constitution Court at 11:56am:

Honorable Justices of the ASUO Constitution Court,

I have been notified by Ben Bowman, acting in his official capacity as a representative of the Ben & Katie 2011 ASUO Elections campaign, that he will be appealing the ASUO Elections Board Decision (1E.B).

As per 2011 ASUO Elections rules, the Court has already reviewed the content of the original grievance, which was filed by Ben Ordonez on March 27, 2011. The court declined rule and promptly referred said grievance back to the ASUO Elections board for decision.

As Ben Bowman has acknowledged “the time-sensitive nature of this ruling (as the election ends today)” in his message to the Court that was delivered by e-mail at 10:49am on Thursday, March 31, 2011.

I recognize the right, as enumerated in the 2011 ASUO Elections Packet, of any official ASUO campaign entity to appeal a decision issued by the ASUO Elections Board to the Constitution Court. I do not question the right to a proper appeals process that is in accordance with 2011 ASUO Elections Packet and the GTN.

However, I urge the Court to act in a timely manner. Mr. Bowman has already explicitly stated that he, and therefore also the Ben & Katie campaign, does not recognize the right of the Elections board to enforce any official ruling it may issue. This is clearly stated in his message to the Court that was delivered by e-mail at 10:49am on Thursday, March 31, 2011 in which he states the following: “the Election Board lacks the authority to enforce the sanction discussed in the their decision, and therefore, this decision should be immediately overturned.”

The ASUO Election board ruled that the Ben & Katie campaign shall be prohibited from campaigning from 12pm-3pm on Thursday, March 31, 2011. If the Court chooses not to act, Mr. Bowman has indicated that he will disregard the ASUO Elections Board decision. If the Court chooses to act, but not by 12pm on Thursday, March 31, 2011, Mr. Bowman has successfully negated the punitive action taken by the ASUO Elections Board.

Again, I urge to court to consider the appeal filed Mr. Bowman in a manner that is both timely and appropriate. As the election will be ending today, Mr. Bowman and the Ben & Katie campaign will have escaped an official punishment for rules violations that was legitimately ruled upon by the ASUO Elections board, demonstrated that the ASUO Elections board is powerless to enforce its own rules, and set a dangerous precedent that allows delay tactics in order to render official regulatory ASUO bodies impotent if the Court does not act in a timely manner.

I thank the Court for its time in reading this message.

With Sincerity and Respect,

Benjamin Ordonez

Constitution Court Associate Justice Megan Benevento replied to all at 12:30pm:

Mr. Bowman and who it may concern,

Until the Constitutional Court receives a formal appeal, the ruling of the Elections Board stands. We are adamant that if the ruling of the Elections Board is disregarded then there will be consequences which will be imposed in your appeal.

We recognize that elections are time-sensitive and thus encourage you to submit your appeal expediently.

Thank you,

Megan Benevento
Associate Justice
ASUO Constitutional Court

Basically, Ben and Katie are saying that the Elections Board has no right to enforce its own rules. This also came up during the 2009 ASUO Election, when the Elections Board tried to kick the Oregon Action Team off the ballot and Vice President of Student Affairs Robin Holmes intervened to force them back on the ballot. I’m curious to see what happens with the appeal here.

In other grievance news, Ben Bowman on behalf of the Ben & Katie campaign has filed a grievance against Students United for handing out free campaign paraphernalia in housing. Apparently they were also offering a raffle for a $25 iTunes gift card. That grievance can be found here.

Finally, the Ben & Katie campaign is allegedly out spamming again. The deptcomp people are not pleased and are referring emails to abuse[at]uoregon[dot]edu. According to an email from one of the Information Services people on the listserv, “Action is being taken to address this issue.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 31st, 2011 at 13:33 by Lyzi Diamond and is filed under 2011 ASUO Elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.