Campaign for Change candidates breathed a sigh of relief Friday after Student Government Trial Court Judge Mark Hill ruled that “nobody will be disqualified.”
The Election Board heard the complaint late Thursday night and ruled Change candidates were disqualified from the March 20 election. But an appeal was made to the Trial Court.
Eric St. Pierre, Election Board commissioner, said the Change campaign is receiving the benefits of being a political ticket without having officially registered as one. Donald Hodge said the Election Board decided to disqualify Change members after misinterpreting outdated Election Code provisions.
Paul Dietzel, Change presidential candidate, said the current Election Code is “shutting people out of the system.”
But St. Pierre said it was the Election Board’s job to follow the code until it is changed.
The debate centered on the amount of money Change has spent in its campaign. According to the Election Code, independent candidates can spend more on campaigns than candidates who are part of tickets. Jesse Cohen, graduate school senator who filed the complaint against Change, argued the campaign did not register as a ticket in order to circumvent these spending limits.
The Change campaign registered $5,086.92 of expenses, less than the $8,500 limit placed on registered tickets. Divided among the campaign’s 28 members, the amount averaged to about $182 per candidate. This is less than $300, the lowest spending cap for independent candidates.
“Instead of being disqualified… I’m moving for public censure,” Hill said.
Hill ruled that the Election Board write a letter to The Daily Reveille, subject to his review, which reprimands the Change campaign and explicitly states the organization is “not a ticket.” Hill also called for reformation of the Election Code.
Donald Hodge, former graduate school senator, brought forth another complaint that said members of the Union Board did not properly list expenses from their campaign to support Union Theater renovations. He also complained that the Election Board did not adequately address his initial complaint.
“I can’t help the ineptitude of the Election Board,” Hodge said.
Hodge said Union Board members failed to budget expenses for Web site advertisements and did not account for solicitations of presidential candidates. Union Board members met with 2007 SG presidential candidates and requested their endorsement of the Union Theater renovations.
After hearing testimony from the Election Board members and SG presidential candidates, Hill ruled Union Board members were not in violation of campaign rules. He said the Web site advertisements could be accounted for in a future expense report and the endorsement solicitations were acceptable in-kind contributions.
St. Pierre also brought complaint against the Union Board members, accusing them of soliciting votes for the LSU Union and Theater Referendum during a class presentation. The Election Code says candidates may not campaign in academic settings.
Heath Hattaway and Ryan Berni, both members of the Union Board, denied their presentation actively solicited votes. They said their presentation’s purpose was only to detail their involvement in a campus issue.
But St. Pierre disagreed.
“It doesn’t matter what the point of the project was,” St. Pierre said. “If you actively campaign… it still violated the Election Codes.”
Hill agreed with the Election Board’s ruling, saying the class presentation was active campaigning.
The final appeal concerned the use of SG contingency budgets to fund the public body’s annual “End of the Year Banquet.”
The contingency funds are four separate, discretionary accounts allocated to the SG president, vice-president, student senate speaker and senate-at-large. Hodge argued that use of presidential and speaker contingency funds to pay for the banquet was a misappropriation of money.
SG President Chris Odinet and Senate Speaker Ashley Martin both argued their funds were being used appropriately. They said the expenditure was within University rules and regulations.
Odinet said the event will be open to the public and advertised as such. He said all SG rules concerning the contingency funds were followed.
Hill ruled the use of funds appropriate, allowing the end-of-year banquet to continue as planned. The banquet, open to the student body, will be held Tuesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. in the Lod Cook Conference Center.
—–Contact Daniel McBride at [email protected]