President and Vice President
Solving a problem takes knowledge, leadership, and a plan to follow.
As a package, Judy Mai and running mate Darwinson Valdez of the United Party are the best choice for President and Vice President. Both candidates are well qualified for the position, have a good knowledge of internal workings of SA, and have smart ideas to combat some of the biggest problems that face students at UB.
Unfortunately, this isn't exactly our optimal choice. While we are certainly impressed with many of the candidates, the presidential candidate that had the most fire and intensity about his ideas had to be ruled out. Ted DiRienzo, presidential candidate for the MVP party, was more excited and enthusiastic than anyone else, but was hampered by the fact that every other member of his party did not come to our meeting.
When you go to win a baseball game, you really should bring all your players.
If we could endorse President separately, we may have decided to mix and match, but because they must be voted on simultaneously, we had to evaluate tickets as a whole and not based completely on one candidate.
Some members of our Editorial board were very impressed by Travis Nemmer and his ideas for SA. Specifically, we were all happy to hear a candidate promise to eliminate some of the wasteful spending that the SA government has become notorious for, like cell phone use. We felt, however, that as a group the team of Nemmer and Adam Zimnicki fell short. It seemed obvious to us that this was Nemmer's show.
None of this is saying that Mai or Valdez are weak candidates - quite the contrary. Valdez is well spoken, assertive, and has an air of leadership that doesn't occur in everybody. In fact, we sincerely wish he was running for President and Mai was running for Vice President. In our meeting it seemed as if she was looking to him more often than not to help her with questions.
Mai certainly was somewhat timid in front of our editorial board, but she certainly has many strengths. Formerly as Vice President and currently as President of LBGTA, she has earned a reputation for getting the job done. She was crucial to this year's LGBTA fashion show, and has been instrumental as a member of UB Glee.
Valdez's r?(c)sum?(c) is impressive as well. Not only does he have knowledge of what it takes to organize and maintain a large club, he also has experience with the SA Senate. He's been a senator since 2010, and became the Senate Chair last year. Everything SA does goes through the Senate, and knowing the inner workings will certainly assist in getting plans implemented.
Among the ideas that the United ticket gave us was a solution to one of the biggest problems with previous SA governments, and that's communication. Many times in the past, SA candidates have touted their plans to communicate with the student body, but once in office they've fallen into the same old rut and told students to come to them to get information.
To combat this, Mai and Valdez plan to implement an innovative mobile SA information booth that will bring the student government out of the confines of the Union and reach out to the people that pay $95 a year. This includes south campus, which is often ignored by SA for various reasons.
Plans to continue the improvements to transparency that have been implemented by the current administration are also important. Valdez already has a good track record of responding to our requests for information, and both he and Mai plan to let students see Fall Fest and Spring Fest survey results as soon as they are tallied.
What we all want is what is the very best for the students, and given the choices on the table, the United ticket for President and Vice President is the best total package for UB students. We can't help thinking, however, that there may be something even better.
The rules should be changed so that we can vote for President and Vice President separately. On the national level, the Vice President might be essentially a figurehead that just supports the president, but in SA he or she does have distinct jobs that could be better served by people on separate tickets.
For now, we will have to think in terms of a group of two, and United is the best in that respect.
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TREASURER
Benjamin Franklin once said that the use of money is all the advantage in having it. Of course, it follows that using that money more wisely puts you in an even better position than before.
No candidate for SA Treasurer uses the advantage better than Ayyaz Tufail.
His credentials show what can be done with a keen eye on finances. As Events Coordinator for the Muslim Student Association, he hosted over 50 events over his two years in the club. During his Presidency of the same club, he's done a great job of fundraising for the MSA, one of the biggest clubs in SA.
On top of that work, he was an integral part of raising over $80,000 for Pakistani refugees from that nation's 2010 floods. He's proven himself worthy of handling the massive amount of money that SA has control of.
During his meeting with us, his knowledge of SA monies greatly impressed, and his ideas were fairly clear. He has a good plan for continuing Sikander Khan's great leaps forward in transparency by making sure that the students not only can see the general ledger, but also can understand it.
This can be cross utilized with the United party's plan to implement a mobile SA booth to better get the word out on where our money is going.
Ayyaz has the ability and the vision to ensure that not only our money is being used well, but also that we know that it is used properly.
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Peter Grassi - Reason Party
Being a SUNY Delegate almost requires the ability to speak effectively to intimidating people. In that respect, Grassi has the unique talent that is necessary to push the students' agenda at the state level. As a head delegate of UNSA, his job was to train club members in forcefully articulate their opinions and convince others. This puts him in a unique position to be an advocate for students against tuition hikes and budget cuts.
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Mira Pandya - Reason Party
Pandya is a leader with a proven track record. Her hard work, leadership skill, and intellect have propelled her to the Presidency of Indian SA. She has a strong and attainable goal of being an advocate for the often forgotten international students, and wants to make housing more fair to them by giving them an option to stay over breaks for free to avoid the exorbitant cost of staying over break or going home.
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Liz Quinn - United Party
Quinn's inside knowledge of SA puts her a step ahead of the other candidates, and her ability to engage people with her public speaking and effectively articulate her ideas make her a great choice for SUNY Delegate. Along with her credentials, she is focused on improving the quality of food on all SUNY campuses and making it easier for people who have special nutritional needs. Her awareness of the varying needs of every student should make her an effective advocate.
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Kaitesi Munroe - United Party
Currently the Publicity Coordinator for the Black Student Union, Munroe has the knowledge of what it takes to get the word out for a big organization. As Community Service Chair the Helping Youths Progress in Education program, she has a passion for helping students afford and make the best of higher education, which she will take to Albany and advocate for the protection of federally funded programs that support college students.
