The leaves are falling from the trees, and you know what that means – the Student Association election season is coming your way. But this year the palm cards may be hitting you sooner than you think.
While the average GW student watched our women’s basketball team struggle against Tennessee, our honorable members of the SA tried to create a political charade as laughable as Al Gore’s personality. It began with the all-powerful finance committee that decided it had to deal with the issue of the 115 missing pizzas. Not to beat the “pizzagate” story to death, but I nearly choked laughing when I heard that Sen. Dan “McCarthy” Moss (U-SBPM) decided to issue an “official summons” to compel students to testify. The good thing is that this waste-of-time investigation is free, unlike some of the other decisions SA senators are trying to force upon students.
Of all the annoyances at GW, student elections may rank at the top. What if I were to tell you that certain senators are trying to make sure that you have to deal with an election before you go home for winter break? That’s right, two elections in one school year. What is more ridiculous is that this extra election carries a price tag of about $2,500 of your money. If you are confused as to why they are trying to do this, you are not alone.
Executive Vice President Josh Singer is leading a newfound student group called Proportional Representation Now. PRN’s great and almighty cause is to get students to vote in a referendum to let the Senate have another freshman senator. You would think two would be enough. It sounds really noble, but the tragedy is that freshmen senators do not vote, so what difference does it make?
This is when you would want to question these senators’ motives. They applied for $750 from the finance committee, which should not be that hard to get seeing that four of five founding members of PRN are also members of the finance committee. Most plan on running for SA office next spring. Better yet, they get to walk around Thurston Hall and say, “Hey Mr. Freshman! I want you to have more representation.” This is almost like selling anthrax to Saddam Hussein – who will say no? What better excuse to campaign for your next office in the fall, while asking people to sign a form that in the end will stick them with an unneeded election and a big bill. The funny thing is these senators tried to pass this extra senate seat at the last senate meeting and it failed. So now they are going after your money another way.
If you think this is bad get this: eight-time Sen. J.P “Strom Thurmond” Blackford – yes, eight-time means eight years – has shifted his focus from impeaching, yes impeaching, SA President Roger Kapoor to making sure he doesn’t run for office again. Blackford, who was elected by one write-in vote last year (I wonder who voted for him?), is spearheading a movement to term limit the president and EVP in order to prevent someone from committing the masochistic act of serving twice. How considerate.
The only thing is that this too would require another election. Blackford, Moss and Singer were all participating in the pizzagate hearings Tuesday claiming what an outrage it was that $680 was wasted on 115 pizzas. The irony is they all want to have an unnecessary election on Dec. 11 that costs $2,500.
Burtfuscious say, “Money to feed students pizza bad, money for election face time to feed a senator’s ego good.” If they have that special election, I think someone should vote to term limit senators so that Blackford can find another hobby.
-The writer, a graduate student and former SA president, is GW coordinator for licensing and trademarks.
