Editor,
The letter from the Connection that was printed on Nov. 16 was nearly as transparent as my dorm room window. It disappoints me, as a current ASUNM senator, to read a letter riddled with false claims of ignorance, and written with the pen of fellow Senators Evan Kist and Nicole Griego.
The senators should have known better by virtue of their position, furthermore the matter was addressed during the mandatory Candidates' Meeting on Nov. 5. At the end of the meeting, Debbie Morris, director of Student Activities, was asked to fill in anything that the Election Commission might have missed during their presentation.
There were two things addressed specifically that the Connection chose to ignore - dorm storming and stuffing the Daily Lobo.
The Connection chose to break laws that its elected members - Kist and Griego - have taken an oath to uphold. These laws were obviously very important in the case of Julianita Maestas, who was denied her position on the Election Commission by the Presidential Appointments Committee. Are the same laws any less important now, after one week has passed? Should the consequences be reduced because informed senators are claiming ignorance?
During the Full Senate Meeting on Nov. 14, many issues were addressed concerning Maestas' letter to the editor regarding her dismissal by the Presidential Appointments Committee. One of my points during the meeting was that she should have known better because, by virtue of her position, she should have been more familiar with the Election Code.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The same holds true here. Senators Kist and Griego should have known better than to stuff the Daily Lobo with their flyers. We, as senators, deal with ASUNM law on a daily basis. It is our duty to know the law, and to ask for interpretations of laws that might be unclear. There is a cost associated with Daily Lobo inserts, so I believe this would fall under Article XI, Section 2, Subsection B of the Election Code. It states, "All items used in a campaign effort will be assessed a fair market value..., and this value will be be included as part of the expenditures of a candidate."
I suppose this was one law that must have been overlooked during the preparation of their expenditure forms, as well.
The claim that there is nothing printed in the Daily Lobo saying that the practice is illegal is another appalling one. The Daily Lobo does have a policy regarding the prices of advertisements: if you want an insert placed in the publication, you pay for it. I think that is very clear.
It is equally disturbing that the Connection feels that UNM students are so gullible that they would believe these claims rooted in nonsense and cowardice.
I also find it appalling that the Connection members think that their actions caused a mere "inconvenience" to students and the Daily Lobo. The newspaper not only lost money on the advertisement dollars that should have been paid, but legitimate advertisers were also cheated. They paid for their advertisements to be included in the publication, but the Connection chose to negate those costs.
The only real inconvenience is that they were actually elected, and now the student body has to pay with time and effort for the poor choices made under the guise of ignorance.
One claim that the Connection made is very true: candidates have done the same thing in the past with little to no consequence. This also relates to one of Julianita Maestas' claims regarding the "corrupt politics" of the past.
During last semester's election, I ran as a candidate for ASUNM President, and our slate brought concerns to the Election Commission that were never investigated. At one point, the chairperson of the Commission even stated that he was unsure whether a claim was worth investigating because he did not trust the person who brought the claim forward. That person was also one of our slate's biggest supporters. Our slate did not bother contesting the election, not because we did not have just cause, but because we felt that the Election Commission was "in bed" with the Connection.
It is time for members of the Connection to stop hiding behind their false ignorance and transparent innocence and take responsibility for their actions. They claimed that they wanted to represent the students. If that is truly their mission, they should stand tall and lead by example, instead of degrading themselves and the UNM community with their pseudo-heart-wrenching apologies.
Tim Serna
Campus Unity slate member
