2008 Woodie Awards
Think before you vote
CHRISTOPHER HONDROS
Guest Opinion
Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Can somebody tell me what’s going on here? Before we, the students vote, stop and think about dedication to the positions, first and foremost about the president and vice-president job.
As far as I know there are five senators or former senators running for either president or VP.
The reason I point out senators is because, they have done the government thing for at least a year and would know the game of politics, so obviously they would be the most qualified group of people. Think again!
The minutes of the senate meetings are available to the public, so anyone interested in how out student body government is run, should be able to find out.
What I am the most peeved about from looking at these minutes, is how many absences there are from the meetings, particularly from the potential president and vice-president candidates. Senator Cooper, who is running for president is, through his absences, already eligible to be impeached.
For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, here it is: a senator is allowed at most three unexcused absences and four excused absences. Senator Cooper has two excused absences and five, count them five unexcused absences.
Senator Mirkasimov has the maximum allowed four excused absences and two unexcused absences, one unexcused absence away from being eligible to be impeached.
Senator Ortmann has three excused and one unexcused absence. Senator Stolley has two excused absences.
Former Senator Holdaway entered the position of senator and resigned after just five meetings. In those five meetings he managed to have an unexcused absence.
This, my fellow students, is an issue of dedication.
Excused absences, I can forgive however to not show up to meetings and not even have an excuse for why you miss, about this, I am irked.
These people are flat not showing up for the work students are paying them to do.
I am the RHA Vice President and I meet with the executive board once a week, show up a half an hour before the general meetings to review what we will talk about, I attend hall council meetings as part of my job and vote on budget proposals.
I do it as a volunteer position and still manage to show up to the meetings. These senators get paid to do their job, and I find that money is being thrown away every time they miss.
I myself refuse to vote for people who have not done the political thing for a year.
But with all these absences, who can I trust to lead the student body government on the right path?
It’s a question of dedication, and it seems as though very few people have the answer.
For those senators who play sports, at least they have an excuse, but don’t run if you know you are not going to be there.
Christopher Hondros
RHA Vice President
As far as I know there are five senators or former senators running for either president or VP.
The reason I point out senators is because, they have done the government thing for at least a year and would know the game of politics, so obviously they would be the most qualified group of people. Think again!
The minutes of the senate meetings are available to the public, so anyone interested in how out student body government is run, should be able to find out.
What I am the most peeved about from looking at these minutes, is how many absences there are from the meetings, particularly from the potential president and vice-president candidates. Senator Cooper, who is running for president is, through his absences, already eligible to be impeached.
For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, here it is: a senator is allowed at most three unexcused absences and four excused absences. Senator Cooper has two excused absences and five, count them five unexcused absences.
Senator Mirkasimov has the maximum allowed four excused absences and two unexcused absences, one unexcused absence away from being eligible to be impeached.
Senator Ortmann has three excused and one unexcused absence. Senator Stolley has two excused absences.
Former Senator Holdaway entered the position of senator and resigned after just five meetings. In those five meetings he managed to have an unexcused absence.
This, my fellow students, is an issue of dedication.
Excused absences, I can forgive however to not show up to meetings and not even have an excuse for why you miss, about this, I am irked.
These people are flat not showing up for the work students are paying them to do.
I am the RHA Vice President and I meet with the executive board once a week, show up a half an hour before the general meetings to review what we will talk about, I attend hall council meetings as part of my job and vote on budget proposals.
I do it as a volunteer position and still manage to show up to the meetings. These senators get paid to do their job, and I find that money is being thrown away every time they miss.
I myself refuse to vote for people who have not done the political thing for a year.
But with all these absences, who can I trust to lead the student body government on the right path?
It’s a question of dedication, and it seems as though very few people have the answer.
For those senators who play sports, at least they have an excuse, but don’t run if you know you are not going to be there.
Christopher Hondros
RHA Vice President
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Britton J. Holdaway
posted 3/05/07 @ 6:35 AM MST
This article is misleading. It does not mention that the reason I was only a senator for three weeks is because I was asked to be the lobbyist for ASBSU. (Continued…)
Britton J. Holdaway
posted 3/05/07 @ 5:03 PM MST
By the way, I have been on SUBOG for four years. SUBOG meets every month during the school year. In four years I have missed one meeting, but The Arbiter will never report that. (Continued…)
Ryan Cooper
posted 3/05/07 @ 8:49 PM MST
Mr. Hondros,
First of all, your information is incorrect. Your figures match those that Senate Pro Tempore Amy Ortmann and ASBSU administrative assistant S. (Continued…)
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