weanesaay
Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas
Newsroom: (541)346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
March 1,2000
Volume 101, Issue 108
Emerald
Students in the. .
crossfire
A nother botched ASUO
election.
/-% If you haven’t heard the bad
JL jkjiews by now, the AStJO Con
stitution Court ruled that ASUO Execu
tive candidates C.J. Gabbe and Peter
Larson could stay on the ballot, after a
grievance was filed alleging that they
broke elections rules and after the
ASUO Elections Board kicked them off
the ballot.
The reasoning was that the Gabbe
and Larson ticket may have been at
fault by attempting to influence the
elections at the International Student
Association’s coffee hour. But the Elec
tions Board violated due process and
^ its own set of rules when it held a
V hearing 73 hours after the griev
W ance was filed. The hearing was re
quired to be held within 72 hours af
■ ter the grievance was filed.
With that one hour mistake,
the Elections Board violated its
own rules and misshd its oppor
tunitv to punish Gabbe and Lar
son
f The problem is that Gabbe and
t Larson did break the rules. We rec
ognize that Gabbe and Larson got
^ away with their infraction on a
technicality. And to remedy that,
we ask Gabbe and Larson to
take themselves off the ballot.
But the Elections Board broke
p rules also. And the Emerald recog
nizes the logical and well-founded
decision by the court.
^ Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Because what’s atrocious is that
there are no consequences to the
- guilty, but there are to the innocent.
That’s us, the students, who have to
put up with this garbage.
It’s not like we’re trying to say
that the 834 of you who voted
~~ for Gabbe and Larson are wrong,
we just understand that they
were the noisiest and most vocal candi
dates. Having their names in the head
lines so often — even if the attention
was negative — made Gabbe and Lar
son almost household names. And
name recognition helps win ASUO
elections.
So instead of asking you the students
to really read up on the issues and vote
your consciences — which of course,
we think, would set you against Gabbe
and Larson — we just ask that the can
didates themselves clear up this non
sense.
By dropping off the ballot. And they
won’t, of course. They’ll laugh at the
very notion that they should or would.
But should candidates who “show
questionable integrity,” as the Constitu
tion Court says, be leaders of the
ASUO? No. The court goes almost so far
as to call Gabbe and Larson liars, and if
you don’t care about the Emerald’s
opinion, then care about an unbiased
court’s findings.
They essentially found them guilty
but couldn’t do anything about it.
You can.
Vote against Gabbe and Larson today
and Thursday during general elections
if they don’t do the honorable thing by
taking themselves out of the race.
And think to yourselves about how
close they came to being taken off by
ASUO’s own rules.
Off on a technicality.
It’s the ASUO equivalent of catching
a rapist with full-proof DNA evidence
after the statute of limitations are up. Or
the equivalent of a botched prosecu
tion, where you know the perpetrator is
guilty but the prosecutor mishandles
the guilty’s rights.
Actually, it’s not just like getting
away with a crime. It is getting away
with a crime. And despite the ruling,
the Constitution Court saw it almost the
same way. Worded in the same para
graph describing how they would not
uphold the Elections Board decision to
drop Gabbe and Larson from the ballot,
the court so judiciously stated:
“Mr. Gabbe and Mr. Larson have
dodged a bullet. They should not ex
pect to be so lucky next time.”
What about students? Have they
dodged a bullet? Or are they in the path
of one?
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses may be sent
to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Quoted
"it is dear to the
court that Mr,
Gabbe and Mr Lar
son did m ^charac
terized [sic] the
facts and their
action on February
4 to the court in
their brief. ”
—ASUO Constitu
tion Court ruling,
Feb. 28.
“In a very real
sense, every time
Mr. Gabbe and Mr.
Larson see a copy
of the constitu
tion; they should
be very thankful
that we live under
a fair system of
government that
requires that rules
should be followed
not only by its citi
zens, but by itself. ”
—ASUO Constitu
tion Court ruling,
Feb 28.
“Their [Gabbe and
Larson’s] actions in
this case simply
show questionable
integrity.”
—ASUO Constitu
tion Court ruling,
Feb. 28.
“Hike the decision
because, in a way,
it upheld our rul
ing. In a sense it
means,‘Yes, they
should’ve been re
moved from the
ballot.”’
—ASUO Elections
Coordinator Ken
Best. ODE, Feb 28.
“It’s ridiculous
that they can get
off on a technicali
ty.”
—ASUO Executive
candidate Jay Bres
low. ODE, Feb 28.
ASUO should not tolerate unethical campaign
Commentary
Jay Breslow
a lot has been said recently about cam
IW paigns for president and vice presi
AM dent of the ASUO. Ambiguous terms
JL JL and-definitions have abounded, and
issues have fallen by the wayside. The is
sue of ethics, however, cannot be over
looked in any campaign at any level.
The C.J. Gabbe and Peter Larson ticket
bought food for the International Students
Association coffee hour. Their arguments
of justification were insulting to any reader
who understands politics. “The food did
not actively campaign.... We didn’t direct
ly say ‘vote for us.’... We were only trying
to outreach to voters,” they said.
The Jay Breslow and Holly Magner cam
paign reached out to voters without break
ing the rules. We talked to student groups
and tired to get our platforms out to as
many people as possible. We didn’t feel at
any point that it would be appropriate to
provide food or any other thing of value to
possible electors while we were campaign
ing. Any time you are running for office,
your goal first and foremost is to get elect
ed. This should be done with principle and
honesty and not at the expense of the in
tegrity of the election.
Ethics play a major role in any public of
fice. The Gabbe/Larson ticket has shown
repeatedly that ethics are not important to
them. They simply will do anything to
win.
We entered into this race believing that it
would be a fair campaign. We have tried as
hard as humanly possible to maintain ci
vility and not stoop to the levels of our op
ponents. Petty grievances and internal
bickering in the past have plagued the
ASUO. We had hoped that a clean cam
paign would be run by all of the candidates
and that we could get past all of that.
It is up to you now; the students of the
University need to step up and say
“ENOUGH!” Enough unethical campaign
ing. Enough political bickering. Just be
cause we are political doesn’t mean we
have to play politics. What Gabbe and Lar
son did was wrong. You can’t buy votes or
influence an election-by giving away things
of value. They were not held accountable
by the ASUO Constitution Court, but the
voters have the power and ability to do so
during the general elections. Please get out
and vote today. Let’s ensure that unethical
politicians will have no place in your stu
dent government.
Jay Breslowand Holly Magner are ASUO Executive
candidates running in the genera! elections. Their
views do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald.
CORRECTION
The story “Gabbe/Larson, Breslow/Magner go
to generals” (ODE Feb. 29) should have read:
The court said that Greenough, Gabbe and Lar
son agreed three days meant 72 hours. The
Emerald regrets this error.