In a final twist in a bizarre and drawn-out election saga, Associated Student Government’s Judicial Board decided late Tuesday night to revoke its recommendation for censure of Tamara Kagel, ASG’s academic vice president.
The vote follows the double whammy the board dealt Kagel last week when it fined her for a campaign violation, then added the fine to her campaign expenses, forcing her over her spending limit and prompting the need for censure.
On Tuesday, the board reduced the fine from $20 to $5, putting Kagel back within her spending range – and free from censure.
“I’m glad that the Judicial Board was able to recognize the error that was made initially,” said Kagel, who learned of the decision in a phone message from Mitch Holzrichter, the Judicial Board’s chief justice. “I think this is really indicative of the election reforms that need to happen in the future.”
Holzrichter confirmed the decision Wednesday night but declined to comment, saying the issue was more complicated than others the board resolved this year and that justices had yet to decide on the wording of their official decision.
Holzrichter is an employee of Students’ Publishing Company, which owns The Daily.
On April 18, the day of the runoff election, justices fined Kagel’s campaign $20 for an e-mail she sent to hundreds of students, all of them members of the Student Admission Council listserv. The fine put Kagel $18.38 over the campaign spending limit of $100, which justices said warranted special notice from Senate. With the fine reduced to $5, Kagel is less than $5 over the limit. She said she still will issue a public apology.
In an hourlong hearing Tuesday night, Kagel argued that election guidelines did not prohibit her e-mail on election day because all students’ addresses were listed individually.
“E-mails to individual people are allowed within the guidelines,” said Kagel, a Speech sophomore. “It’s not campaigning at all. It’s private discourse.”
ASG Rules Committee Chairman Jason Warren, a member of the Election Commission, said the commission told candidates that e-mails to listservs were in violation of the campaign guidelines.
Kagel introduced four e-mails sent on April 17 and 18 by friends and campaign managers of other candidates, including her opponent Mike Fong and ASG President Rachel Lopez, as examples of the ambiguity of the election guidelines.
“I’m not introducing (e-mails from other candidates) because I want to say that these people broke the rules, so it’s okay that I did,” she told the Judicial Board. “Jason is being a lot more clear about this now. The fact that people were assailing this campus with e-mails to listservs says that things were unclear.”
Questions from justices during the hearing focused on Kagel’s relationships with the individuals who received her e-mail.
“How well do I have to know them?” Kagel asked one justice who repeatedly.
Kagel’s campaign manager, Lilia Lopez, told justices the prospect of public censure for Kagel’s e-mail was hard to accept when justices themselves had so many questions about the spirit of the guidelines.
“It’s very hard to accept a blanket punishment when you guys are just as unsure of things as we are,” said Lopez, a Weinberg junior.
Former ASG President Jordan Heinz testified on Kagel’s behalf at the hearing. He said no precedent for fining candidates for e-mails existed.
“In all the years I can remember, e-mail messages were fine,” said Heinz, an Education senior.
“I hope, in the future, Tamara can spend time on academic issues instead of this,” he said, pointing to a 12-page document Kagel prepared for her appeal.
Kagel told board members that she did not file her complaint until she learned of the recommendation to censure her on May 1 because she hoped the issue would go away after the election ended.
“The truth is I thought it was best for me and the organization if it had died there,” she said.
Kagel and Rachel Lopez, who also overspent during the campaign, likely will issue public apologies at tonight’s Senate meeting.
Senators also will vote on a constitutional amendment that would make referendums binding for only two years instead of four and would allow ASG to hold more than one referendum per quarter.
Concerns raised about student opinion on the Student Activities Fee increase prompted the amendment. Some senators wanted to hold a new referendum before voting to raise the fee from $33 to $40 per quarter this year, but ASG’s Judicial Board ruled that an April 1999 referendum was still binding.
Nine new pieces of legislation also will be introduced at the meeting:
_Ѣ incorporate a Brutus-like class search feature in CAESAR, including a search by time, day, instructor and course catalog number;
_Ѣ post an interactive landlord guide online with a searchable database of off-campus housing;
_Ѣ implement a computerized tracking system for university shuttles using the Global Positioning System;
_Ѣ survey students about removing the advantage given to students with Advanced Placement credits in the course registration process;
_Ѣ provide Thanksgiving dinner to students staying in Evanston over Thanksgiving break;
_Ѣ launch an advertising campaign to encourage students to fill out CTECs online;
_Ѣ convert under-used study carrel areas in NU’s library into study lounges with couches;
_Ѣ host a Web site listing undergraduate research opportunities on the ASG server;
_Ѣ and recognize the importance of Asian-American Heritage Month.
