Snatching defeat from the bowels of victory.

The 2012 ASUO elections are currently underway, but Sam Dotters-Katz is still riled up (and rightfully so) about 2011. In an email sent to the Con Court in the late hours of Tuesday night, Dotters-Katz petitioned for the removal of Ben Eckstein and Katie Taylor, on grounds that are perhaps less traditional than normal: “This is not an impeachment petition. This is an elections grevience [sic]. The Court has the power to remove candidates from the election. Further, the Court has the power to remove elected officials from office after elections occur, if evidence comes to light regarding egregius [sic] violations.”

The grievance refers specifically to the dirty financial dealings of the Ben and Katie campaign reported by the ODE. On that matter, Dotters-Katz isn’t pulling any punches: “The election rules differentiate between different levels of violations, based on severity of the action, ‘Egregious Violations’ being the most extreme, followed by ‘Serious Violations’. Turning in incomplete contribution forms is listed as a serious violation…However, I also argue that the violations outlined as ‘egregious’ are also applicable and more correctly describe the misconduct Ben and Katie.”

And what is the plan? It’s something of an odd-ball, and yet refreshingly frank approach:

“I understand why some might have the initial inclination to simply let [Ben and Katie] finish our their term and move beyond the issue. I believe that it would be a great miscarriage of justice to set a precedent that no matter how egregious your misconduct may be, if you are good enough at hiding it you won’t be punished. There is no statute of limitations on this claim, and the rules clearly state that the Court has the power to remove elected officers post-elections…Sinjin and Kaitlyn should be named interim President and Vice President until May 24th at 11:59PM. Both are members of the ASUO and full-time students currently and will be through the end of this term. In the alternative; Currently the student body is voting for new Executive Officers, and whoever is elected fairly and without fraud should be immediately instated as interim President & Vice President.”

So, as of yesterday, we have another major scandal coming out of the ASUO executive, one that may involve an impeachable offense, and at least one person is taking up the charge to make it happen.

Excellent.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 at 01:47 by Ashley and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.