The Nevada Sagebrush

Sen. Sean McDonald’s letter to ASUN President Sarah Ragsdale

Student government President Sarah Ragsdale left two of the five positions vacant in the election commission, making it harder for students to learn about filing for office, student leaders said.

Ragsdale will go before sentors Feb. 13 for a conduct hearing, which will consider disciplinary action.

Filing for elections started Monday on the Associated Students of the University of Nevada Web site. Students have until Friday to apply to run for the ASUN Senate, vice president or president. In the past, filing for office was open for two weeks. The senate changed the time period to one week to allow more time for campaigning, Sen. Taylor Anderson said.

Some student leaders said the lack of advertising is unfair because most of the people who know about the elections are ASUN insiders. Another problem could be not having enough people to fill the senate seats, which would create another election, Sen. Sean McDonald said.

Those issues are a result of the vacant publicity coordinator position. The poll coordinator, who is responsible for organizing voting in March, is also unfilled.

The elections code, passed by the senate last October, does not specify when the president has to make the Speaker of the Senate Greg Green said Ragsdale should have made the appointments to the election commission before the election process started.

He said he decided to have a committee on conduct meeting Feb. 13 to discuss taking action against Ragsdale because she did not make the necessary appointments for the election to run fairly. The meeting’s agenda said possible action could be anything from no action to impeachment.

“This is not something I ever wanted to do,”Green said. “It’s definitely a last resort.”

Ragsdale said she did not know what the offenses were when she was notified Monday.

“I can’t think of anything I’ve done wrong,”she said. “I’m just not going to let it distract me from more important things involving students, like (Tuesday’s) safety forum.”

McDonald said Ragsdale failed to make appointments before, and left a judicial council position vacant from August to November. He said a judicial council position is still open after a member graduated in December.

According to the elections code, the publicity coordinator, who has not been appointed, is supposed to give equal notice to all students about filing for elections and the Mar. 12 and13 election.

“As it is right now, hardly anybody has received notice,”McDonald said Saturday, two days before filing started.

Election commission chair Nicole Nelson said publicity was delayed because the decision to use an online application was not made until Saturday.

Filing for elections is printed on the Flipside Productions calendar and on the info monitors throughout campus. Sen. Taylor Anderson said he doesn’t think the publicity is a big issue. He said there are events this week, like basketball games, and ASUN will try to advertise the elections then.

However, as of Sunday, an e-mail to undergraduates informing them of the elections had not been sent, flyers had not been posted and information about the elections was not on the ASUN Web site.

“It may lead people to have less faith in the process; it can lead to allegations of corruption and bad faith,”McDonald said about the lack of publicity. “You might create grounds for someone to challenge the elections and to have the judicial council throw out the entire election under the elections code.”

Green said he doesn’t think the judicial council would throw out the election because the publicity problem doesn’t warrant it. He said the publicity is an issue because it gives ASUN insiders an advantage by not equally advertising the opportunity to run for office in a timely manner.

Ragsdale said she gave Nelson full control of the election commission, including making appointments.

“For some reason the sole responsibility was put on Nicole (Nelson), and I don’t know why,”Green said. “To me, it’s just not right. It’s not fair.”

Green said advertising the open positions in the commission is the president’s job, but Ragsdale did not advertise the vacant spots in the election commission.

Nelson said the poll coordinator appointment is on the senate agenda to be approved next week. She said no one has applied to be the publicity coordinator and the commission is doing that work.

“I’m not going to force her to fill those positions if she doesn’t want to,”Ragsdale said.

Green said Nelson sent him an e-mail Sunday night to tell him she was thinking about resigning as election commission chair. In her e-mail, Nelson said she was considering resigning because she felt like she wasn’t getting support from the ASUN administration, Green said.

Green said he called Nelson and begged her not to resign because there probably wouldn’t be an election without her.  Nelson said after talking to Green and McDonald, she decided not to resign.

Ragsdale said she is trying to stay out of the election process as much as possible because it is a conflict of interest. If she were running for re-election, it would be wrong for her to appoint people to organize the election, she said.

Green said if the senate thought appointments were made to give someone an advantage in the election, they would not approve them.

McDonald sent a letter to Ragsdale Friday addressing his concerns with the two commission positions remaining empty.

“Not only have you neglected to follow the Constitution, you have violated the oath you took to ‘faithfully execute the office of President,’ McDonald said in his letter to Ragsdale.

Ragsdale said although McDonald has legitimate concerns, he should have sent the letter to ASUN Director Sandy Rodriguez, so Ragsdale forwarded it to her.

“The manner (in which) he handles things is insulting, because it doesn’t change anything,”Ragsdale said. “It was more to make a scene. I mean, read his opening paragraph for Christ’s sake.”

McDonald’s opening paragraph to Ragsdale reads: “It is an all too common occurrence that I find myself writing you to once again express my sincere disappointment with the way in which you have conducted your office within the Associated Students. I feel that writing this letter is being done merely in vain, as it will do nothing to improve any situation within your control; nonetheless, I feel it is my duty to do what I can to bring light to injustices.”

“Throughout the year, we have corresponded through letters,”Ragsdale said. “I could wallpaper my house with all his letters.”

She said she doesn’t write back to McDonald’s letters because she would rather speak with someone in person. She said she plans to address the senate about the concerns.

McDonald said he waited to send the letter to Ragsdale because he thought she was going to send recommendations for the positions to the senate last Wednesday.

Anderson said part of the problem is adjusting to the new elections code, and next year things will run more smoothly.

            

-     What: Committee on conduct meeting

-       When: Feb. 13 at 8 a.m.

-       Where: ASUN’s President’s Conference Room (332) in the Joe Crowley Student Union

-       Why: The committee will consider misconduct of ASUN President Sarah Ragsdale after two posts on the elections commission were left vacant. Filing for ASUN office begins this week.

 

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