With all the attention Southworth has received lately, you’d think that the plebes in student government would start paying attention to the law. You know, all those rules and strictures that aren’t delineated in the oft-vaunted-yet-completely-overrated Greentape Notebook – the ones that actually matter. Obviously, this is not the case.

At tonight’s meeting, Stephanie Erickson, whom you may remember from her role in the Great Senate Walkout of 5/24 (we must note that the minutes for that meeting are still not online), oversaw the election of the summer session Senate President and Vice-President. For those of you unfamiliar with this process, allow me to throw some knowledge your way: This process is a complete joke.

Two candidates – or, as is often the case, one candidate – stand before the Senate body and deliver short speeches. After the candidates finish, they leave the room; this makes it easier for the rest of the Senators to make paranoid comments like, to paraphrase, “Dude, I’m not gonna name names or anything, ‘cause that’s just not how we roll at Sigma Nu, but that chick totally has an agenda.” Then they cast their ballots, which are tallied by the acting Senate President – in this case Erickson.

This seems simple enough, right? Wrong. What happens when a journalist throws a monkey wrench into the proceedings, by, like, asking questions and stuff? Well, this is when student government resorts to making shit up, because they apparently expect everyone to be as clueless as they are. And this is exactly what happened tonight, when, following the election of Jennifer Lleras, ODE reporter Nick Wilbur asked for the vote tally. This exchange followed:

Wilbur: So, what’s the tally?
Erickson: I can tell you that after, off the record, if you like. Okay?
Wilbur: Why isn’t it on the record?
Erickson: I can just tell you that she [Lleras] overwhelmingly won.
Wilbur: Why can’t you tell me the actual balloting?
Erickson: It’s a matter of privacy … with people not wanting to make their vote in public.

Whether senators want their votes made public is not up for debate; legally they must make their votes public. The simple question that Wilbur asked, which was for the sake of journalistic completeness, was not unreasonable. Erickson – in fact, the entire Student Senate – violated Oregon State Meeting Laws (ORS 192.650):

All minutes or recordings shall be available to the public within a reasonable time after the meeting, and shall include at least the following information: […] (c) The results of all votes and, except for public bodies consisting of more than 25 members unless requested by a member of that body, the vote of each member by name.

And, from the 2004 Attorney General’s Public Records and Meeting Laws booklet:

6. Voting

All official actions by governing bodies must be taken by public vote.

Not only must a governing body tally the votes publicly, it must also divulge the names of those voting. Oregon prohibits the use of secret ballots at public meetings. Thus, Erickson is mistaken on two counts.

So one may ask, what is student government all about? Is it about governing, as its name suggests? Of course not. It’s about friendship. It’s about knowing the secret handshake. It’s about posturing, building a resume, playing telephone, and making a name for oneself – despite the inability to lead, form complete sentences, add numbers correctly, or know basic legal principles. It’s about togetherness. Damn facts, laws, and other sundry details of the outside world. We’ve got our clubhouse in Suite 4.

Don’t believe me? Where do you think Erickson is heading after the school year, when she eventually graduates? She will be joining the “non-partisan” part of former ASUO President Adam Petkun’s progressive political circle jerk, the Bus Project. Good riddance.

Student Senate ended with a bang. Expect the ODE’s Nick Wilbur – who’s willing to scour the Trashcan of Truth for the voting records he needs – to have the full story on Thursday.

Expect the OC to file a grievance on Friday. It’s the principle, you know?

UPDATE: The Emerald‘s story can be found here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 7th, 2006 at 22:57 by Tyler and is filed under ASUO, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.