Just one day into the 2010-11 Student Association election, the ONE Party has come under fire for allegedly violating rules and procedures surrounding election protocol.
Amanda Jonas, current SUNY delegate who is seeking re-election, has been accused of bribery. The party has also been reprimanded for allegedly leaving out necessary information from its preliminary expenditure report and utilizing SA resources by using images of SA materials in campaign material.
Amanda Jonas, current SUNY delegate who is seeking re-election, has been accused of bribery. The party has also been reprimanded for allegedly leaving out necessary information from its preliminary expenditure report and utilizing SA resources by using images of SA materials in campaign material.
The penalties resulted in removal of the ONE Party campaigning in the Student Union for a total of eight hours over Wednesday and Thursday. The rules, according to members of the ONE Party, are much stricter than previous elections and "unfair."
"[Chairman of the Elections and Credentials Committee, Josh Boston] never gave us rules. He never said ‘you do this, you get that [as a punishment]," Jonas said. "He refused to, now it's a free-for-all."
According to Boston, this is not true.
According to Boston, this is not true.
"Every candidate in attendance at that meeting received a copy of the rules and agreed to the rules, not only by choosing to run in the election, but also by affixing signatures to yellow sheets," Boston said in an e-mail. "Candidates signed the sheets in two spaces. In the first area, the sheet read: "I [your name] attended the mandatory meeting for all candidates where the rules and regulations were thoroughly reviewed. I had the opportunity to ask questions, and will question the Election and Credentials regarding any action I am unsure of before I commit it. If I was excused from any portion of the meeting, I am responsible for all the material as if I was in attendance." In the second area that was signed, the sheet read: "Declaring my candidacy is deemed consent to abide by all Elections and Credentials rules. I am a DUE student in good academic standing at the University and I consent to have this verified and consent to fulfill all penalties I may incur in violation of these rules."
Samuel Vulcano, Chief Justice of the Student-Wide Judiciary, says new rules were needed to further deter candidates from breaking campaign rules.
"Based on my experience – I've been on SWJ for four years, three as chief – it gives me an idea of what's fair and what's not. We used experience to do it, and we worked very closely with E&C to get their perspective on things and see what they deem as gross infractions. There's no guidelines on if person does X, we do this, considering this is the first year we're doing this," Vulcano said. "So we're enforcing this now so in the future it can cut down in the dishonesty that happens in campaigns and immediately eliminates any unfairness that happens in elections."
Jonas allegedly bribed Juan Pereyra, Vice President of LGBTA, by offering to help him earn the title of SISH Council coordinator and receive a proposed stipend increase.
In addition, Jordan Fried, current SA treasurer and candidate for SA president, and the party were punished for allegedly leaving out information in the initial expenditure report.
"We were told [the preliminary report] didn't have much weight, they never made us aware of what the ramifications would be," Fried said.
In a video online, the ONE party used a photograph taken by a SA photographer, which is against election rules and resulted in an infraction.
The final expenditure report, due Wednesday at 6 p.m., will include everything that the ONE Party has purchased for the campaign, according to Fried.
Boston said that the Student Alliance party has also come under recent scrutiny after claims were submitted Tuesday night over alleged violations to the campaign rules, which are currently under review.
Stay with The Spectrum for more information on this story.
E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
More
Comments
