If you want Student Government’s executive branch to continue as an exclusive country club, vote for Zack Faircloth in the March 7 election.
Faircloth is campaigning in the tried and true SG tradition of running as a white male with Greek backing and choosing a white sorority sister as his running mate.
In his recap of last year’s SG debate, The Daily Reveille columnist James Richards aptly described this dynamic as “the frat guy presidential candidate does all the talking while the lady VP tries not to get in his way.” The boy’s club is alive and well, folks — and not just in the state legislature.
Faircloth serves as Chief Advisor to current SG President Andrew Mahtook — the only executive branch staff position curiously unlisted on the 2015-2016 executive branch staff application.
His position consists of acting “as the chief student representative of the three branches of student government. In this capacity, the Chief Advisor will be able to serve in place of any officer as deemed fit by that person and to provide policy and strategy assistance when necessary,” according to the Spring 2016 Student Government Procedure Handbook.
The handbook also says, when it comes to filling a position vacancy within SG, all positions “filled through appointment by a SG member shall require advertisement.” It also says that “proper advertisement shall include a posting on the SG website.”
When reached for comment as to why Faircloth’s position was unlisted and why the discrepancy seemed less than transparent, Mahtook said, “Yeah, trust me. I know exactly what you mean. I have no idea why it wouldn’t be there.”
Mahtook said he sent out applications for the executive branch staff immediately after his election. Yet for such an important position, it’s bizarre that the executive branch didn’t list chief advisor in the online application to the general public, like it did for every other position.
Almost a year after Mahtook’s election, chief advisor still is not listed as part of the 2015-2016 executive branch staff application on the SG website.
In a profile of the Forward campaign for The Daily Reveille, vice presidential candidate Lindsey Landry said Faircloth “approached her last spring about potentially running together. The two have been planning their campaign, titled ‘Forward,’ ever since.”
The Spring election season had just ended, and these two were already planning their run for the next year? What better way to show you are qualified for the office than to work in the executive branch, Zack must have thought.
Faircloth also has a hand in the Student Advocacy Commission, which, according to its application, seeks to “represent the students of Louisiana State University as advocates for higher education.”
His father, Jimmy Faircloth, served as Gov. Bobby Jindal’s top lawyer and his mother serves as a Jindal appointee on the University of Louisiana System board, according to The Advocate.
During his tenure in the Jindal administration, Jimmy defended the governor’s big ticket items, including Jindal’s decision to withhold the names of every applicant for the LSU President job search except F. King Alexander, according to The Advocate.
Jimmy Faircloth and Jindal argued the public had no right to know who the candidates were for the largest public university system in the state.
After leaving the Jindal administration, Jimmy Faircloth raked in more than $4.7 million through his law firm over almost five years, according to Alexandria’s The Town Talk. According to The Associated Press, no other law firms bid for many of the contracts Jimmy received, and, astonishingly, he doesn’t believe his previous loyal service to Jindal had anything to do with him receiving these lucrative state deals.
Just like Zack’s friendship with Mahtook had nothing to do with him receiving the position of chief advisor.
It’s an insider’s game for the favorite Faircloth boys.
Zack is running for SG president at a time when the organization has taken a more active role in Louisiana politics and the University is threatened with closure. Last year, SG released a scorecard grading legislators on their votes to fund the University.
Not surprisingly, with Zack playing a major role, the scorecard grossly misrepresented the University’s allies in the legislature, inflating the scores of legislators who served as Jindal’s devoted confidantes rather than legislators who fought budget cuts tooth and nail for seven years.
If a legislator voted against Jindal’s priorities, including his budget and the SAVE Act, his or her score would be significantly lower than those of legislators who supported the governor’s agenda. The SAVE Act, a misleading budget measure that Jindal claimed would offset tax increases, was merely intended to salvage Jindal’s then-presidential ambitions and to honor a pledge not to raise taxes he signed for D.C. lobbyist Grover Norquist.
At the time, The New York Times reported state Republican lawmakers called the SAVE Act “everything from ‘money laundering’ to ‘stupid.’” The Louisiana House of Representatives, widely considered the more conservative of the two chambers this session, moved quickly to repeal the SAVE Act by a vote of 95-0 on Feb. 18, 2016.
The report card was an insulting, brazen political act. But protecting those who wreck LSU is all in the family for the Faircloths.
Faircloth also runs in a long tradition of Republican fraternity types who use the SG office to kickstart their careers in Louisiana politics.
According to their LinkedIn accounts, John Woodard, the 2013-2014 SG president, now works as a staff assistant for Majority Whip Steve Scalise, and Clay Tufts, Woodard’s successor, now works as a staff assistant for Rep. John Fleming.
Faircloth has already served as an intern for Rep. Garret Graves, who previously worked in the Jindal administration as the head of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. I’m holding my breath to find out which University-hating legislators Faircloth starts working for upon graduation.
These SG presidents pal around with the same legislators and state Republican officials who stood idly by while the University’s funding was stripped to the bone.
Maybe that’s why the panic hasn’t consumed the University student body over budget cuts. Its leaders can’t criticize the lawmakers who threaten LSU and simultaneously kickstart their careers in GOP politics.
They must protect their future careers — University students be damned.
While SG leaders rub elbows with their future employers, the students they don’t see are struggling, working two jobs to pay tuition and drowning in loan debt. Were you thinking of those students when you had hors d’oeuvres and wine with Jindal at his Christmas party in 2015, Zack?
In the parts of campus Zack fails to see, the art building nears total collapse, student debt soars and many campus buildings remain neglected. The most vulnerable students are out of reach in his world, where titles and who-you-know are what matter. It’s a world where patronage positions are given to friends.
No matter how genuine Zack Faircloth’s advocacy on behalf of higher education is, SG wasn’t always at the Capitol speaking out for University students. I am happy to finally see SG advocating for the University’s financial security.
Nonetheless, the University’s student leaders must fight for the futures of the most vulnerable students, even if doing so jeopardizes their future jobs. The University deserves leaders fighting for every part of campus so we can all share in a prosperous future together.
If the student body wants to truly move Forward, we should leave the Faircloth club behind us.
Michael Beyer is a 22-year-old political science senior from New Orleans, Louisiana.