ASUO ELECTIONS ’12: Ain’t That Peculiar ? Not Really.
Today I was solicited by the Ben & Lamar Campaign. Before I was able to unleash the hard, blunt Commentator brush-off, I was handed their new campaign handout listing their new campaign slate.
I scanned the list of names and realized that many members of the extinguished Katie & Alex slate have curiously assumed positions on the Ben & Lamar slate. I was agape.
Well, no I wasn’t really agape. This is the ASUO fucking elections. If I’ve learned anything at all these past few weeks, it’s that there are no surprises with these people.
Honestly, though. You’d think that Ben & Lamar would want to, I don’t know, disassociate with every Katie & Alex slate member—considering the fact that their campaign was infiltrated by them and all. But like I said. ASUO Elections 2012, ain’t no surprises. Ain’t no surprises..
But absorbing the enemy’s tagline too? C’mon, Ben & Lamar. Where’s your pride?
I do realize that this red rover, red rover, send so-and-so right over kind of thing is not that big of a deal—in the sense that 1) some of those poor, former Katie & Alex slate members probably had no idea that Mr. & Mrs. Charles Denson were going to ruin everything—like they do— and 2) the Ben & Lamar campaign and the Katie & Alex campaign share(d) many of the same, lofty platform promises.
Maybe I’m just not seeing it. Maybe this comes naturally. Maybe it’s comin’ free and easy. Maybe this whole thing is just very progressive and inclusive! Maybe this is the obvious next step after undergoing political sabotage by a rival campaign.
Ah yes! You’re the ones who hacked into my Gmail account, tampered with my campaign materials, cost me an immeasurable loss in votes, and contributed to my initial loss in the primary election? Please, join my team.
Or maybe it’s just what I think it is: weird, absurd, contradictory, alarming, ironic, paradoxical, inconsistent..
Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. We’ve said it before and we’ll keep sayin’ it—we’re the only ones who care about it anyway.
It’s true! We’re basically a team of election transparency-seeking angels over here at the OC. In fact, we’ve literally created a table that maps this shit out just for you, so you can see the peculiarities yourself.
And if you’re lookin’ for a good laugh, you can read today’s Ol’ Dirty article where Ben Bowman literally says shit like “There is a unified progressive campaign now,” and “We are coming together to create one big party so we can defeat the conservatives,” right here.
Finally, for your reference and voting pleasure this week, here’s that table.
| Position | PREVIOUS Ben & Lamar Slate | Katie & Alex Slate | NEW Ben & Lamar Slate |
| PFC | Eric Lee | Erica Alexia Ledesma | Erica Alexia Ledesma |
| PFC | Samantha Harmon | Elizabeth Luh | Elizabeth Luh |
| ACFC | Kevin Sullivan | Naduah Wheeler | Kevin Sullivan |
| ACFC | Kelsey Green | Taylor Simon | Taylor Simon |
| DFC | Colin Bourdin | Kelsey West | Kelsey West |
| EMU Board | Clara Broderick | Holly Hopkins | Clara Broderick |
| EMU Board | Chris Torgeson | Michael Reeves | Chris Torgeson |
| ASPAC | Alex Worth | Carli Barnum | Alex Worth |
| SRC Board | Katherine Casey, Jan Raether | Andrew Stove | Katherine Casey |
| SRC Board | Cody Koenig | Michael Schmidt, Marina Claveria | Marina Claveria |
| Senate Seat 1 | Nina Nolen | Jesse K. Fukawa | Nina Nolen |
| Senate Seat 2 | Andre Lubash | Hussein Abu-Hamden | Hussein Abu-Hamden |
| Senate Seat 4 | Jeff Mullen | Alexandra Flores-Quilty | Alexandra Flores-Quilty |
| Senate Seat 5 | Greg McAteer | Caienna Bierwirth | Caienna Bierwirth |
| Senate Seat 7 | Christina Hardesty | Lindsay Damiano | Christina Hardesty |
| Senate Seat 9 | Azia Calderhead | Luis Armenta | Azia Calderhead |
| Senate Seat 12 | Alex Burns | Casey Drobnick | Casey Drobnick |
| Senate Seat 14 | Harlan Mechling | Michael King | Michael King |
| Senate Seat 15 | Estella Taylor | Eric Koechlin | Eric Koechlin |
| Senate Seat 16 | Megan Gleason | Nicholas Schulze | Megan Gleason |
| Senate Seat 20 | Austin Palacios | Allie Sasek | Austin Palacios |
| SPCC | Taylor Johnson | Manny Garcia | MANNY GARCIA????? |
For note, Manny Garcia is now officially off the ballot.
Good riddance, I say. He was a total toolshed, and deserving of being torn down.
Let me get this straight: Ben Bowman is welcoming the support of the
candidate responsible for the most egregious campaign violation in
ASUO history, and supporting one of the people who helped commit it,
and wants us to believe he’s “running to make sure these things don’t
happen.” On top of that, lying with the terms “progressive” and
“conservatives” as if they’re applicable to ASUO. They’re not. All
proof We Are Oregon is the ONLY ethical option this election.
It’s good to see the OC listening to the transparency-seeking angels as well as the 4Loco-seeking devils.
Machine politics need transparency, and tackling the ASUO will be good experience for almost any career down the road. If nothing else, after spending just one year paying close attention to the ASUO you’ll never be surprised by anything ever again. That’s actually a hell of an advantage in this day and age…