Connection slate candidates from the Nov. 14 ASUNM election told the Student Court Friday that they violated no rules when they allegedly stuffed 2,000 copies of the Daily Lobo with fliers on election day.
During the four-hour hearing, Sen. Evan Kist, Senator-elect Paul Campbell and Sen. Grant Nichols represented the nine slate candidates, eight of whom won Associated Students of UNM Senate seats in the election.
The Elections Commission fined the members of the slate $84.50 each for various campaign infractions, and the winners were stripped of a $250 stipend paid to senators. The slate appealed the sanctions Nov. 21.
The violations included passing out fliers in the dorms - known as "dorm storming" - and removing bound copies of the Daily Lobo awaiting delivery outside newspaper offices, stuffing them with Connection flyers and distributing them to newspaper boxes.
The commission found that the slate violated campus posting rules and exceeded the campaign expenditure limits by failing to include the market value of purchasing advertising in the Daily Lobo on its expense report.
The slate challenged the sanctions on the grounds that by stuffing the Lobo copies, members were not violating the UNM Student Code of Conduct's Mall Use/Time, Place and Manner of Public Expression Clause. The Connection candidates say that the Elections Commission cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that slate members knew they would have been charged a market value for stuffing fliers in the Lobo.
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"Had any of the candidates been aware of the charges, they wouldn't have considered it," Kist said during the slate's opening statement to the court. He added that the Commission's assertion that the flyer-stuffing was "disorderly conduct" was unfounded. "They have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt - they failed to do so."
Sen. David Padilla, representing the Elections Commission, called the slate's appeal "null and void."
"What is orderly conduct?" he asked. "Do they feel removal of property that isn't theirs is orderly?"
After a lengthy explanation to the court of the complex sanctions levied by the commission, representatives for both sides questioned witnesses including several Commissioners and Lobo advertising coordinator Daven Quelle.
The Connection has argued that because the Lobo is a free publication, the group broke no laws when it removed and stuffed copies - thus keeping within the orderly conduct guidelines of the Code of Conduct. Quelle said during questioning that each student was entitled to one copy of the paper.
"When the Lobos are on the loading dock or in boxes, they belong to the Lobo," she said. "When a student takes one copy, it becomes their property."
Kist repeated the slate's assertion that neither the Code of Conduct, nor any other publication available to candidates, contains guidelines regarding the Daily Lobo.
Sen. Tim Serna, who ran on the Campus Unity slate during the election, said on the stand that Student Activities Director Debbie Morris mentioned that slates should not stuff the Daily Lobo or "dorm-storm" during a candidate meeting before the election.
Elections Commissioner Danny Milo said the Elections Code refers to the Code of Conduct, which lays out guidelines for appropriate University conduct.
"Taking Lobos didn't prevent students from voting, but it presented a clear violation of University property," he said. "The Daily Lobo office is part of the University."
Milo referred to an apology sent to the Commission and the Daily Lobo after the election to show stuffing the Lobo was deliberate.
"It was intentional, clearly their apology letter states that they admitted doing it," he said.
Kist asked Milo whether anyone had outlined potential punishments for stuffing the Daily Lobo during the candidate meeting.
"Yes - I went over campaign regulations word for word - in the Elections Code it refers to the Pathfinder," Milo said. "By stuffing Lobos, this was in violation of the Code of Conduct rules."
The Code of Conduct is published annually in the Pathfinder, a handbook for students.
After being called by the court to the witness stand, Kist said the Elections Code doesn't outline Lobo advertising policy; therefore, the Commission didn't have the jurisdiction to rule on that issue.
"We admit, stuffing the papers was an inconvenience, but we did it not knowing it was a violation," he said.
He cited language in the Commission's Nov. 19 ruling that referred to stuffing the papers as "clearly used for transmittance of propaganda" - which necessitated an assessment of fair market value to be applied to the slate's campaign expenditures.
"If I place a flier on a chair, will that chair be assessed to me as transportation of propaganda?" he asked.
Responding to Student Court Chief Justice John Probasco's question about where the idea came from, Kist said slate members from the Spring election suggested it.
The court has until Friday to issue a ruling on the matter.
