The public debates, platforms, posters and mass BlitzMail messages were only part of campaigning for this year's Student Assembly presidency. In the closing days of the campaign, closed-door deal-making was on at least one candidates' mind in a last-ditch attempt to pull off a victory.
Tom Leatherbee '01, considered by most to be a long shot and trailing heavily in The Dartmouth's pre-election poll, placed a phone call to eventual second place finisher Drew Pluhar '00 offering to actively support Pluhar's appointment to the social and residential life initiative steering committee if Pluhar would drop out of the presidential race and throw his support to Leatherbee.
Leatherbee placed the phone call to Pluhar, a write-in candidate, just days before voting was to begin and made the proposal -- that Pluhar remove himself from the race, endorse Leatherbee -- and as a reward, get Leatherbee's support for a coveted spot on the steering committee which will decide what social and residential life reforms are recommended to the Board of Trustees.
When questioned by The Dartmouth last night, Leatherbee did not deny that the offer of appointment to the influential steering committee was directly linked to Pluhar's removal from the race and endorsement of Leatherbee.
"Drew and I had a little conversation at one point that was very short about getting together," Leatherbee said. "He would become a candidate ... for the Trustees' steering committee and I would support that."
Leatherbee said while he "felt it was important to have someone on the committee like Drew," he and Pluhar both said it was fair to characterize the steering committee support as a linked reward for Pluhar's endorsement.
"He suggested it would be in both of our best interests if I dropped out and supported him and helped him get elected," Pluhar said. "He said he definitely thought there should be a Greek representative on the committee and he said he thought I would be a good choice."
Leatherbee said he had perceived that Pluhar "was not concerned with the day-to-day running of the Assembly" and felt he would be more interested in a role on the steering committee.
The Assembly elected last week will decide the selection process for the two students who will serve on that committee. No decisions have been formally announced on how the selection process will take place.
While the proposal was rejected by Pluhar, the idea of tying campaign endorsements so directly to appointed positions is something that is rarely made public after Assembly elections.
Current Assembly President Josh Green '00, who has not spoken with either Leatherbee or Pluhar about the attempted deal, said he felt the events were ethically borderline and something he would not have felt appropriate doing.
"If he had won, the campus would have had to decide if it was comfortable knowing that this had been done," Green told The Dartmouth. "But since he lost it's just another story of what another candidate did and believe me there are lots of stories out there. Each candidate needs to decide for him or herself where to draw the line."
Pluhar said he rejected the proposal "immediately."
"We talked about it and he decided he wanted to affect the direction of the College in more ways than just the residential and social life initiative and I respected that a lot," Leatherbee said.
In addition to the Pluhar expedition, Leatherbee also contacted third-place finisher Casey Sixkiller '00 in the days preceding the election to see if one of the two could transfer his support to the other.
"The only other candidate who I thought could represent the campus was Casey and we talked a lot about getting together but we both thought it couldn't happen because our support wasn't transferable," Leatherbee said.
Unlike the Pluhar proposal, Leatherbee said he and Sixkiller discussed the prospect of Leatherbee himself dropping out and said there were not similar ties to political rewards.
