Friday, April 21, 2006
Elections Forum Report/Endorsements
Well, it looks like I barely needed my form. Student Action did not show up. Apparently, Student Action sued because the Elections Council, which was co-sponsoring, was too partisan or something. The Elections Council withdrew from sponsorship, then, to settle the suit, but Student Action already wasn't showing up. Approximately. I didn't quite understand all the details from Adeel Iqbal (Daily Cal EIC). But, as SAO candidate Simon Gunz said: "What a bunch of pussies."
Still, the consequence is that we had all third parties, since CalSERVE isn't running a slate. Andy Ratto isn't campaigning, so he wasn't there, either. I saw Alex scribbling notes like mad, so I'm sure he'll be saying something about the more substantive stuff. I'll attest that it's somewhat fun, because of the SQUELCH!ers. The jokes can't really be described, so I guess you just missed out on them if you weren't there. Or, if you were there, but just left after your speech, as many people did, you also missed out. Note, however, that Ben Narodick and Lauren Karasek, candidates for Executive Vice President and President, are serious candidates, despite being part of SQUELCH! Anyway, on to the office-by-office review:
Student Advocate:
The only serious candidate here is Andrew Garvin, who didn't show up, and instead sent a placeholder, whose name I didn't catch. Not that it matters, of course, since he's running unopposed. Sure, vote for him, what do I care?
Academic Affairs VP:
SQUELCH!er John O'Conner was the only speaker. He wants us to cash in on tobacco money like we did with Coke. He was joking, I guess, but I actually think it's a good idea. Still, since he's not really a serious candidate, the winner here is going to be Joyce Liou. In protest, however, I will still endorse John O'Conner for the position.
External Affairs VP:
Alejandra Cruz was represented by Yvette Felarca. One of the questions asked was "How many City Council/Regents meetings have you gone to," and Felarca started bragging about all the ones she had attended. Then a thought struck her. "Oh, Ali!" She suddenly realized she was a delegate, and quickly mentioned something about Cruz going to some meetings. I guess old habits die hard.
Igor had a lot of goals. I don't know how successful he could be. Still, since SA chickened out, and Igor actually has real goals, Igor Tregub has my endorsement.
Executive VP:
Ben Narodick may be a SQUELCH!er, but as he says, two years of the ASUC has sucked the funny right out of him, so he is a serious candidate. He is undeniably the best candidate for the position. He is very clear that he wants the executive offices to stop putting on programming, and instead providing that money to student groups to do the programming instead. This is an actual goal, which blows Vishal Gupta out of the water. There is no doubt that Ben Narodick is the best candidate.
President:
Lauren Karasek is running SQUELCH! because, as she puts it, her party will never slate a woman for president. Still, she's a serious candidate, and shares many of the same goals as Ben, particularly reducing executive programming and instead increasing funds for student groups. Who knows what Oren Gabriel thinks. So, again, the endorsement goes to Lauren Karasek.
SQUELCH! is running serious candidates for President and Executive Vice President this year, and they have a serious goal: To reduce executive programming, where executives put on programs so that their party can take credit for them. This will free up more money for student groups by limiting executive budgets. This is a real goal, which has concrete and feasible implementation. Please, vote for Ben Narodick and Lauren Karasek for Executive Vice President and President.
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