Yay, Senate

Updated and bumped: I'm told they're reconsidering. Last I heard they were meeting as a committee of the whole, though that was a while ago.

So I just got back from part of the ASUC Senate meeting. Ross Lingenfelder was appointed Solicitor General illegally. I watched carefully and noticed no "ayes" from CalSERVE, and two senators were absent, and I believe there were other folks who didn't approve, so there was no way he got the 14 votes he needed. Let's review some facts about the Attorney General/Solicitor General Search:

There was no acknowledgment of receiving applications.

There were no interviews.

There was no official notice from the selection committee to the nominees. Ross was nominated last week, but only heard about it this Monday because I told him, after I just happened to hear it from Chad Kunert. It wouldn't have been hugely surprising if they had nominated someone and that person just never heard about it, and missed her own appointment hearing.

The Solicitor General was nominated at the last possible time, meaning the Senate had no choice but to approve him or else they'd have to stop all business. Since Taylor Allbright just noted his approval through the voice vote, CalSERVE got to get away with not voting for him without having to suffer the consequences, which is simply not the way the Senate should work. A number of Senators were also aware of the issue, and said nothing. Bravo.

As far as actual action is concerned, I'm not sure there's a basis for it, as the chair can rule on voice votes, and if the Senate is complicit, there's no requirement for those rulings to be accurate. Still, I think it really calls into question the validity of every single 2/3 voice vote the Senate makes, if the EVP only is comparing "ayes" and "nays," rather than "ayes" and anything else (including silence), which is her job.

posted by Beetle Aurora Drake 10/10/2007 11:30:00 PM #
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