Emerald
Vol. 82, No. 57
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Friday, November 21, 1980
Photo by Steve Dykes
Thursday's mild weather provided ample opportunity for local basketball players to get in a few more shots
on the outdoor courts before winter weather arrives.
ASUO court
punishes two
IFC members
By PAUL TELLES
Of the Emerald
Although the ASUO Election Court agreed with the
plaintiffs that the Election Board was "seriously remiss
in providing adequate notice of the hearing to the
complainants,” the court found only two of the eight
defendants guilty of elections violations.
In written rulings released Thursday, the court said
plaintiff Bruce Mills was correct in complaining he
wasn’t given enough time to prepare his case. "The
Election Board shall, before the next election, promul
gate procedures to ensure timely Election Court hear
ings and adequate notice to litigants," the court ruled.
Mills and other plaintiffs also argued that too much
time had elapsed between the election and the hear
ings. They said the court would be unable to take
meaningful action because the Incidental Fee Commit
tee already had begun work when the hearing was
convened. The election was held Oct. 29 and 30.
The three law students who acted as judges in
Sunday night’s hearings ruled that Kathy Stebner and
Ann Alexander, recently elected members of the IFC,
violated an election rule that says candidates are
responsible for all activities on their behalf.
Former IFC member Del Seitzinger charged
Stebner and Alexander with hanging campaign posters
on light poles near Gilbert Hall. Election rules forbid
candidates from putting campaign materials on some
public property.
Seitzinger also charged that Stebner and Alex
ander violated an election rule forbidding campaigning
"within eyeshot or earshot of the polling places” when
their posters were hung on a light pole facing the Gilbert
Hall poll.
As a penalty for the violation, the court ordered
Stebner and Alexander to spend three hours removing
campaign posters from all areas of the campus.
However, in finding the defendants not guilty on
this charge, the court agreed with their argument that
the posters were distributed before the polling places
were arranged. Consequently, the court ruled that it is
the responsibility of the Election Board to remove all
campaign material from the vicinity of the polling
places.
The court found the other five IFC members not
guilty of charges of “campaigning within eyeshot or
earshot of the polling place.”
In two separate cases, Mills, a senior majoring in
rhetoric communication, and Donovan Guy, who fin
ished 11th out of the 12 candidates in the election,
charged that IFC chairer Jon Neiderbach and four other
committee members attempted to influence voters by
having workers distribute campaign literature at the law
school polling place.
Besides Neiderbach, the defendants were Richard
Sontag, Jim Edmunson, Julie Bell and Susan Harris.
Only Harris isn’t a law student.
The court ruled Mills had failed to produce
evidence that the defendants were aware of the alleged
violations.
Guy’s case was dismissed for “failure to state a
cause for action.” Although the court said there is a
precedent for hearing poorly argued complaints, it
ruled that Guy had "tested the court beyond reasonable
limits” when he failed to keep to the merits of the case
while presenting his argument.
Guy defaulted his case against Stebner when he
left the courtroom before the arguments were heard.
The court also found that closing the 13th Avenue
and University Street poll did not influence the outcome
of the race for the Architecture and Allied Arts seat on
the Student University Affairs Board.
Steve Keller, who lost the election to Michael
Prothe, charged the polling place ran out of ballots
before it was scheduled to close and consequently
some students were unable to vote.
The Election Court judges were Harry Grant, Ca
rolyn Graff and Steve Kaiser