Victory!

After one failed attempt, and a loss of credibility, the SA elections commenced, and after fighting off a write-in campaign from another late senate appointee, I have secured my seat come hell or high water until at least April of 2011. I find myself almost happy that the elections were originally cancelled, for it was during the break between the two that I discovered the plan to take my seat was already under way. I won't know the full vote count until late Monday, but I expect it won't be much. I'm obviously interested in how close I came to defeat.

This election has given me many ideas for how to organize for next year's elections. I have many good ideas for how to mobilize the masses. These will have to be filed deep in my brain until next year, unfortunately. In other SA news, my faith in the students is renewed, for they have struck down the Union Regeneration bill with a 57% showing.

I have been appointed to the "Search and Screen" committee to choose the new dean of students. I look forward to helping the school make this important decision. Looking into the future, I'm getting ready for the first meeting of the Safety Committee, as well as the start of the new term in under two months. I plan on joining the SFC, SAC, the Union Policy Board, and perhaps SORC. We'll see how this goes in June. Now there's only one more senate meeting, and this era of tyrannical conservative dominance in the SA is over. Let the red flag fly!

A busy week in the SA

Its been a busy week here at the UWM SA. Our non-competitive elections were cancelled due to fraud, the IEC Commissioner was fired, without pay, and now the previously vetoed "Union Regeneration" project is being rammed down the student body's throat, with a tidy, seemingly fool-proof online ballot. Go figure.

The election cancellation news broke last Thursday, and since then it has not quite been business as usual in the SA. At yesterday's emergency SA meeting last night, IEC Commissioner Haskell argued that it was "not her responsibility" to ensure a fair outcome in the election. She continued to call the IEC bylaws "corrupt." She was admonished, and then removed in a vote of no confidence I supported with a 19-2 tally.

Now the elections are to be turned over to the administration of the court, even though as members of the IEC, they should share the blame for this catastrophe. Now even less people will vote, and SA's credibility will continue to plummet.

The Union Regeneration project looks set to pass, regardless of the fact it was vetoed for an important reason. The Union IS NOT in need of an upgrade that will cost $100+ each semester for every student for the next two decades. Of course a “Union Regeneration” would be nice, but this is not financially viable for the majority of working class students on campus. This project won’t even be completed by the time all of us graduate.

This legislation was vetoed, and it should not be going before a student body who is unaware of the tremendous costs. With the Union Policy Board pushing such intense propaganda however, I doubt the student body will block it.