Student Sen. Ryan O’Malley filed a complaint Monday against Student Government presidential contender Colorado Robertson’s “The Foundation” ticket, claiming $1.43 in expenditure report inaccuracies. The complaint was withdrawn later that day. O’Malley, member of SG presidential candidate Dixon McMakin’s ticket, claimed “The Foundation” violated the SG Election Code by failing to include a sales tax of 90 cents for tablecloths and a second calculation error resulting in another expenditure increase of 53 cents. The two calculation errors increase “The Foundation” ticket’s total expenditures from $4,784.26 to $4,785.69. McMakin said he was not aware of O’Malley’s complaint until after its filing. The second part of the complaint said Robertson and his running mate, mass communication junior Shannon Bates, violated the Election Code because they did not provide receipts for tents and non-monetary donations including a helmet and sheets. Robertson said he owned the hard-hat helmet, cloth sheets and tents before his campaign officially kicked off. O’Malley’s complaint requested Robertson, Bates and all people affiliated with “The Foundation” ticket be prohibited from all forms of campaigning April 8 and April 9 as penalty for violating the election code. O’Malley, chair of the Finance Committee, said he filed the complaint Monday morning with SG Commissioner of Elections Jacob Gower, but decided to withdraw it after discussion with McMakin and his running mate Kristen Oaks, College of Agriculture senator. “I spoke with Dixon and Kristen and they said they wanted to run a clean campaign,” O’Malley said. Robertson said he is drafting an amended expenditure report to give Gower. McMakin said it is important for the student body to be aware of problems within “The Foundation” campaign. “If you can’t keep up with campaign finances, how would you expect someone to keep up with SG finances and the fees that students pay?” McMakin said. The $1.43 accounting error brings the combined general election spending for the three registered tickets to $9,923.83. The “Do Nothing” ticket received the least number of votes in the general election, but got the biggest bang for its buck. History sophomores Taylor Craft and running mate Wesleigh McLeod, of the “Do Nothing” ticket, spent $200 in the general election The political hopefuls received 374 votes bringing their cost to 53 cents per vote. Their expenses included $3 for a cheese sandwich, $24.49 for a celebratory meal at Chili’s and about $140 for “Do Nothing” T-shirts. Craft said all the money came from his own pocket. Craft and McLeod’s expenditures made up 2 percent of the combined spending by all three tickets in the general election. Robertson was not the only one to spend almost $5,000, the maximum allowed expenditures according to the SG Election Code. A vote for “Vision 2008” cost about $1.55. McMakin’s ticket spent $4,938.14 and received 3,180 votes in the general election. The expenses included more than $2,000 for push cards and labels, and $855 for banners. Other significant receipts show payments to LSU Student Media for a newspaper advertisement, Team Jedi Marketing for campaign buttons and Political Solutions for campaign signs. McMakin said they pooled the money from members of the ticket, friends, family and contributing LSU alumni. “The Foundation” spent $4,785.69. Robertson and Bates received 3,371 votes in the general election bringing their cost to $1.42 per vote. The ticket spent almost $3,000 for printing services and more than $900 for newspaper advertisements. Other significant expenses incurred include campaign buttons, stickers and caution tape. Robertson and Bates funded their campaign through ticket-member donations and family contributions.
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