The campaign for Students’ Association President and Vice President has been plagued with problems that have detracted from the importance of the campaigns and taken away from the message the candidates are trying to spread. While there have been many regrettable issues with this campaign that show a strong need for procedural improvement, the most regrettable problem is the nasty tone the campaign has taken as a result of some candidates’ behavior.
It is no doubt a brave step to bring a formal complaint before the Elections Committee as the two tickets opposing the Pearlman-Harrison ticket did. The complaint filed by Bozzela-Geswein and Adan-Fisher was supported by the Elections Committee and sanctions were levied against Pearlman-Harrison as a result of their violation of campaign rules. This should have been the end of the story. While it is understandable for the Pearlman-Harrison camp to file an appeal to get their privileges back, things took an unnecessarily vicious tone when the two other camps appealed the committee’s decision and pleaded before ACJC for a harsher sanction, essentially suggesting the removal of Pearlman-Harrison from the ballot.
Bozzela-Geswein and Adan-Fisher’s appeal is an obvious step by the plaintiffs to remove who they perceive as the biggest threat from the ballot by using what is essentially a minute campaign rule violation for their own gain. If this was not their intention, it was a poor political maneuver to appeal to ACJC because it certainly comes across as a dirty approach by the two opposing campaigns to bring down who is believed to be the leading candidates. The violation, which was not made with bad intentions and which the Pearlman-Harrison camp attempted to ameliorate swiftly and positively was not worth the appeal by the opposition.
All candidates have great ideas and solid qualifications. But political bickering detracts from the campaign, and in the end, the student body will lose. During these important few campaign days, candidates should be delivering platforms to students, not testifying before the Elections Committee and ACJC.
