The Election Advisory Committee today will deliberate on complaints brought against all three Student Assembly presidential candidates for allegedly campaigning early.
Assembly presidential candidates Brandon Del Pozo '96, Phil Ferrera '96 and Jim Rich '96 have each been charged with campaigning before April 4, the official date that the campaign opens.
On Friday, Director of Student Activities Tim Moore received a complaint alleging that del Pozo and Rich violated election guidelines by speaking to a meeting of the Conservative Union At Dartmouth at the end of Winter term.
On Thursday, Bill Bleier '98 lodged a complaint against Phil Ferrera '96 for allegedly seeking endorsements of his candidacy from two sorority presidents last term, which may also violate election guidelines.
In interviews with The Dartmouth yesterday, all three candidates denied campaigning early.
Election procedures state, "Campaigning shall be defined but not limited to ... seeking an endorsement from a student or group of students; and similar activities ... Students can organize their campaigns in advance, but actual campaigning may begin no earlier than seven days prior to the election date."
The election will be held April 11. Candidates may not legally begin their campaigns until tomorrow.
The EAC is a body of students and administrators that oversees Assembly elections.
Moore, who chairs the EAC, said he has already begun collecting information regarding the complaints. The committee should come to a consensus regarding the complaints today, he said.
Moore said he would not reveal who filed the complaint against del Pozo and Rich.
CUAD Meeting
Bill Hall '96, president of CUAD and senior editor of The Beacon, said he sent out BlitzMail messages to all vice presidential and presidential candidates, except Ferrera, last term.
Hall said he invited the candidates to speak to CUAD's executive committee about their platforms so CUAD could select a candidate to endorse.
Presidential candidates del Pozo, Rich and Jim Brennan '96, and vice presidential candidates Kelii Opulauoho '96 and Bill Tovell '96 spoke to CUAD's executive committee, Hall said.
Brennan has subsequently dropped out of the race.
Vice presidential candidate Aleph Henestrosa '96 said he chose not to attend the meeting.
Assembly vice presidential candidate Scott Rowekamp '97 was unable to attend the meeting last term because he was in Spain on a foreign study program.
Although CUAD will wait until the election commences to formally announce whom they have endorsed, Hall said CUAD already contacted the candidates and informed them of the organization's decision.
Del Pozo told The Dartmouth that CUAD had endorsed him.
"I didn't run around looking for endorsements," del Pozo said. "I had been asked to speak, so I took [CUAD] up on it. If that's how [CUAD] is deciding who gets its endorsement, you have to show up if you want it."
Ferrera's absence
Hall said Ferrera's absence from the invitation was due to a spelling mistake. Rather than typing in "Ferrera," Hall said he typed "Ferrara" in the recipient field on BlitzMail.
Hall maintains he accidentally sent the invitation to Damon Ferrara '98, although Ferrara said he was unsure if he ever received the invitation from Hall.
"I don't remember," said Ferrara. "But I can't say that I didn't get it. If I got something that didn't look like it was for me, I would have thrown it out."
Hall said CUAD meant to invite Ferrera to the meeting, and the omission of Ferrera was a complete accident.
"It was fully my intention and the intention of the Conservative Union Executive Committee to invite every presidential and vice presidential candidate to our session, including Phil Ferrera," Hall said. "Anyone who alleges otherwise is calling me personally and professionally a liar."
Ferrera said he learned about the CUAD meeting only after it occurred, because Hall did not send an electronic message to Ferrera about the session.
Ferrera did not attend the meeting, which Ferrera said he would have wanted to attend.
Ferrera said he did not believe that Hall made a mistake when typing the names in the BlitzMail recipient field.
"I think that's ludicrous," Ferrera said. "It's CUAD's responsibility to get that type of thing right."
Hall accepted responsibility for the error, but down played its significance.
"Of course, it is CUAD's responsibility," Hall said. "However just because I made an error does not mean candidates should be penalized."
Ferrera said he thinks he was not invited to the CUAD meeting because he is perceived as a liberal candidate.
"I'm perceived as the liberal candidate and CUAD doesn't have much of an opinion of [Rukmini Sichitiu]," Ferrera said.
"That might have had something to do with it," he said.
Student Assembly President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 is Ferrera's campaign manager.
EAC Complaints
Del Pozo said he was troubled that complaints were filed against the presidential candidates but not against the vice presidential candidates.
"Vice presidential candidates spoke at CUAD, but none had complaints filed against them," del Pozo said.
"I hope the [EAC] can see CUAD made a silly mistake," del Pozo added. "Everyone tried to follow the rules."
Ferrera said he did not know who filed the complaints against de Pozo and Rich.
"I have nothing to do with the complaints filed," Ferrera said.
Ferrera also maintained he was innocent of any campaign violations.
"I don't think I was doing anything wrong," Ferrera said. "I haven't done anything that hasn't been done before."
Rich also denied any wrongdoing.
"I didn't do anything wrong," Rich said. "I followed the campaign rules to the tee."
Matt McGill '96, who is managing Rich's campaign, said Rich was not involved at all in Ferrera's absence from the meeting.
"It's a spurious argument it's Jim's fault that Phil wasn't invited," McGill said.
"We pretty much know where the complaint came from. Whoever did it is just trying to get under our skin."
Hall said he found no reason for anyone to file a complaint against a candidate for speaking to CUAD.
Hall referred to the election guidelines, which stipulate, "News stories done by campus media including interviews will not be considered campaigning."
Hall said CUAD is a form of campus media organization because the organization publishes a weekly newsletter, The Sentinel, and supports a Hypercard stack on the Public fileserver.
Also last term, The Beacon also held a meeting during which presidential and vice presidential candidates addressed the executive staffof the newspaper in order to receive the publication's endorsement, Hall said.
All of the candidates except Rowekamp attended this meeting.
Members of the EAC include: Senior Class President Alyse Kornfeld, Senior Class Vice President Hosea Harvey, former President of the Green Key Society Kaja Schuppert '95, Election Chair of the Green Key Society Omar Lari '96, Class of 1995 Dean Lisa Thum, Class of 1996 Dean Kate Burke and Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia.
Sichitiu stepped down from her seat on the EAC because she manages Ferrera's campaign.
Sichitiu said she wanted to avoid a conflict of interests.
Usually, the committee also has two seniors from the Student Assembly at-large membership. However, the Assembly never selected them, so the EAC will do without them, Moore added.
