The double ruling issued in a University Trial Court case Tuesday afternoon could lead to the disqualification of Student Government President-Elect Colorado Robertson and Vice President-Elect Shannon Bates. Jeffrey Noel, mass communication freshman, instigated the case after SG Elections Commissioner Jacob Gower dismissed the seven complaints he filed Monday afternoon. Noel’s complaints contest Robertson and Bates’ eligibility to serve as SG top leaders, claiming they spent $61.37 more than their $866.50-allowed runoff budget. He claimed the ticket had $101.49 in total unaccounted expenditures. Noel also filed a complaint regarding the illegal use of computers during campaigning. Gower, SG Election Board chair, initially said he did not have the authority to hear the complaints because of a two-day deadline stipulated in an SG Election Code article. But Noel argued the article contradicts another SG Election Code article. He said clauses in Article III and Article VIII make it unclear whether the complaints must be filed two class days after the election day or two class days after the election results are announced. Gower told Rob Dowie, University Trial Court judge, he would hear the cases, but he wanted a definitive ruling about whether Noel filed the complaints in a timely manner because of the contradictory election code. “I am the Student Government commissioner of elections, and I can’t even discern which rule to follow. When I can’t discern which rule to follow, then we have a problem,” Gower said. During deliberations, Dowie not only annulled part of the SG Election Code, but delivered a ruling that surprised all involved parties. “It seems to me we have been doing things wrong in Student Government for a very long time,” Dowie said. “And in all reality, this kind of throws a huge wrench into the system.” Dowie said the SG Election Code violates the SG Constitution, which supersedes all other judicial documents. According to the SG Constitution, the power to determine all election cases and controversies rests with the University Trial Court – not the SG Election Board. Dowie said the SG Election Board has no jurisdiction to hear election complaints, as both Gower and Noel initially thought. “No complaints regarding elections from this point out will go before the Student Government Election Board,” Dowie ruled. After giving Gower the answer he was seeking through his first ruling, Dowie issued a second ruling annulling Article VIII, Section 2, clause B of the SG Election Code. Because this article contradicts another article in the election code, Dowie said Noel submitted his complaints in time. Dowie also said he felt it was in the best interest of the students to dissolve the Article VIII clause because it fails to specify whether complaints must be election-related. But both articles had two things in common that stirred debate earlier in the court case before any rulings were issued. They say all complaints must be filed with the University clerk of court. Yet no such person existed before the end of Tuesday’s court case, and the position had been vacant since the middle of this past semester. Dowie filled the available University clerk of court position after the swearing in of Sean Horridge who served as a judicial aide for the SG judicial branch. Before the ruling, the SG Election Board had no authority to hear the complaints. Dowie affirmed Noel’s interpretation of the code was correct to file his complaint through Gower. “It cannot be assumed that the average LSU student could discern another avenue to contact the proper party as no other avenue is expressed in the SG Election Code, and this code is designed to give every student the opportunity to hold LSU SG officials accountable for actions which said officials have taken,” Noel asserted. Dowie’s first ruling made the absence of a clerk of court no longer an issue specific to this case. Noel filed the seven complaints with Dowie immediately following the hearing. Dowie will hear the case this afternoon, if no injunctions are granted by the University Court. Sen. Brett Jackson, College of Arts and Sciences, filed an injunction opposing the University Trial Court from hearing the case. It was still undetermined Tuesday evening whether the University Court will grant the injunction. Dowie said he has not reviewed the complaints and does not know what his ruling will be until he hears the complaints. “I don’t know if the court would explore that option until the court has heard the full facts of the case, whether or not violations did occur or not and the severity of the incident if they did occur,” Dowie said. In an interview with The Daily Reveille on Monday, Gower said though he is not the ultimate authority, a possible penalty for overspending in an election is disqualification. Though Noel campaigned for former SG presidential candidate Dixon McMakin – the candidate said he has not read the complaints and would prefer not to get involved. “I sent him an e-mail saying I didn’t want to see any complaints, but at the same time I am in no position to tell him he cannot,” McMakin said. “We will have to see what the court’s decision is. My opinion is let the system work itself out, and we’ll see what happens.”
—-Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]