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Coalition disputes fine

By By Daniel Berk

Wednesday, April 20, 2005



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Student Senate elections ended last week, but the Student Voice coalition is still getting fined for violations that happened before the election.

Student Voice received a violation complaint for not turning in its expense report on time. The report was due Monday, April 11, and the coalition did not turn it in until the next morning.

Dennis Chanay, presidential candidate for Student Voice, said that the coalition had no expenses to report and that he was told by members of the elections commission to put that on the report and turn it in.

Chanay, Paola freshman, said that he wrote on the report that the coalition was broke and that it was stamped by elections commission chairman Luke Thompson. Chanay said he was told that there would be a violation filed against the coalition for turning the report in late but that it would be a minor infraction and only cost the coalition $25.

Thompson said that was not entirely true. He said that the expense report should have been more detailed and included how they paid for things, whether it was through a donation or out of their own pockets..

Thompson said the commission took into consideration the form being incomplete and late.

Chanay and the coalition pleaded guilty at the violation hearing Monday afternoon. The commission decided to fine the coalition $100 because it had made a mockery of the election commission by writing on the report that the coalition was broke, Chanay said.

“Normally, if you plead guilty, the commission lowers the fine,” Chanay said. “This time, though, they decided to raise the fine up with no real good reason.”

Thompson said that he had no comment on the amount of the fine and that he was out of the room while the commission was deliberating it. He said the decision on the fine was up to the hearing board and not him.

Chanay said the coalition was upset with the commission’s decision and would file an appeal today with University Governance. Chanay said that if University Governance rules against its appeal, the coalition would then consider taking legal action against the commission.

“We are prepared to fight this for as long as we have to,” Chanay said. “Luke said we didn’t respect the commission, and I don’t think that’s a reason to raise a fine for not turning in a report in time.”

Student Voice received a total of eight violations throughout the election. Six of the violations were filed against the coalition as a whole, and two others were filed against individuals of the coalition.

Edited by Kim Sweet Rubenstein
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