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Recycle • Recycle • Recycle * Recycle
ASUO senators under fire
for possible misconduct
■ The Constitution Court must decide whether summer
senators abused office hours and misused finances
By Jeremy Lang
Oregon Daily Emerald
The ASUO Constitution Court
held a rare public hearing Friday
to finally settle a three-month-old
grievance against four of the
ASUO’s most prominent student
senators.
Senate President Jessica Tim
pany and Sens. Spencer Hamlin,
Jereme Grzybowski and C.J.
Gabbe went before the court to
answer charges that they did not
hold office hours and misappro
priated funds as members of last
year’s summer senate.
According to a grievance filed
by senior political science major
Scott Austin, the senators never
held posted office hours and at
tempted to allocate $400 to Fami
ly Housing, a non-ASUO recog
nized group and therefore are not
eligible to receive incidental fee
money.
Austin is asking the senators
be forced to return their $75
stipends and be removed from
the senate for nonfulfillment of
duties.
Austin also accused former
senator Andrew Schneider in his
grievance, but Schneider did not
attend the hearing. He resigned
from senate at the end of fall
term.
Austin’s case centered around
a myriad of ASUO Constitution
and Student Senate rules. Many
times, justices had to ask Austin
to slow down and cite page num
bers as he referenced rules that
applied to other rules or even
their court cases.
Austin argued his case mainly
on two ASUO rules: Senators
need to hold office hours to re
ceive their stipends, and one un
fulfilled duty is grounds for a
nonfulfillment of duties charge.
To prove his case, Austin
called on many current and for
mer members of student govern
ment. Former ombudsman — the
enforcer and interpreter of senate
rule — Eric Pfeiffer testified that
Gabbe said office hours were not
important.
Current ombudswoman Jen
nifer Greenough testified that
Gabbe told her the same thing.
“He said he was aware of the
rule but that it was OK to let it
slide,” Greenough said.
The senators called fewer wit
nesses, pleading their case in
stead by describing their person
al opinion of the case. In his
statement to the court, Hamlin
openly admitted he didn’t hold
posted office hours, but he spent
time in the ASUO executive of
fice and the EMU.
“We all openly admit we did
n’t post. [But] we did our job. We
were accessible to students,”
Hamlin said.
The other senators made simi
lar claims that they felt they
could do their jobs better if they
were in a more visible area than
the senate’s third-floor office.
In regards to the $400 for Uni
versity housing, Timpany said
the court should disregard the
claim because the senate handled
the problem on its own and the
money was never actually allo
cated.
A decision is expected today
and many different rulings could
occur. The senators could be re
moved from senate, pay back
their stipends, or both. The court
could also rule in their favor, and
they would receive no repri
mand.
C.J. & Peter
continued from page 1
happen if the court rules to re
move Gabbe and Larson from the
ballot and if the election results
are in favor of them.
Only three of the five justices
heard the case. Chief Justice Jere
my Gibons removed himself from
the ruling because he is a close
friend of executive candidate Au
tumn DePoe. Justice Elliot Dale
was also removed from the case
because he lives in the same frater
nity house as Gabbe. Justice
Daniel Vergamini acted as chief
justice for the case.
While several technicalities
within the election rules were dis
cussed, two were highlighted
through the course of the hearing.
The first was determining what
was a “thing of value” as stated in
election rule 2.4. The second issue
concentrated on whether the
ASUO Elections Board followed
proper procedure when conduct
ing an investigation and arranging
a hearing for the grievance.
In reference to election rule 2.4.,
the discrepancies arose when de
ciding which part of the rule to fo
cus on. Greenough claimed that
the imperative phrase was offering
“a thing of value” with the intent
of promoting their campaign. At
the coffee hour, the refreshments
were placed on a table close to an
other table holding campaign
paraphernalia for Gabbe and Lar
son. This proximity created a con
nection between the food and
Gabbe and Larson, which could
mean that they were offering the
electors something to promote
their campaign.
“Money purchases things of val
ue,” Greenough said. “I really do
not see how it could be argued not
a thing of value.”
For the most part, Larson provid
ed his and Gabbe’s case to the court.
He claimed that the election board
misinterpreted rule 2.4. They shift
ed the emphasis to a later part of the
rule, and he pointed out that the
“thing of value” was illegal only if it
was offered “in return for compli
ance.” In order to hold themselves
accountable for violating this rule,
Gabbe and Larson said, the election
board must prove that someone
voted for them because of the food
they provided.
As they have asserted through
out, Gabbe and Larson said their
intent at the coffee hour was to en
courage students to vote but not
specifically to vote for them. They
presented their platform and then
encouraged people to look at the
other candidates. The students
were at no point told to vote for
Gabbe and Larson.
“In no way were we forcing com
pliance in any of the electors by pro
viding coffee,” Larson said. “The
Elections Board and Ms. Gree
nough did not show any elector vot
ed for us because they ate a choco
late chip cookie at coffee hour.”
But Gabbe and Larson also ac
cused the elections board of mis
handling the case. ASUO rules
state a hearing must be held within
72 hours after a grievance has been
filed. According to Gabbe and Lar
son, the elections board hearing
was held 73 hours after Greenough
filed her grievance. As a result, the
two claimed that public perception
had a chance to affect the outcome
of the case.
“That delay, in fact, opened up
the process of being tainted by out
side sources, such as public opin
ion,” Larson said.
Greenough saw the difference of
an hour as inconsequential, and
she asserted that if Gabbe and Lar
son had a problem with the day
and time, they should have
brought it up earlier.
She added that the Elections
Board chose a hearing date that
would accommodate everyone’s
schedules, but neither Gabbe nor
Larson actually attended the Elec
tions Board hearing. Their cam
paign manager, Melissa Unger,
spoke instead.
The court didn’t question Elec
tions Coordinator Ken Best or any
other member of the ASUO Elec
tions Board.
Defining her position in filing
the grievance in the first place,
Greenough said that she was act
ing as a concerned student and not
as a senator with some type of po
litical bias.
“I believe the elections program
needs to be held to a high level of
integrity on this campus,” she
said. “I would think [that in] offer
ing electors something of value ...
[Gabbe and Larson] had an unfair
advantage over other candidates.”
Defending their action, Gabbe
and Larson said that they did not
even see the situation as an issue
when they initially decided to do it.
“Our intent was to let people
know what our issues were and to
tell them to vote for a candidate,”
Larson said.
“We saw it as a creative fo
rum,” Gabbe concluded.
1
PO. Box 3159, Eugene OR 97403
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