Friday, April 16, 2010
The hearing for the appeal that Envision candidates Ross Ringer and Devon Cantwell filed against the Elections Commission ruling is scheduled for next Friday. However, the way the commission conducted the first hearing on March 25 violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act. The violations could have been cause for legal action, but the candidates missed the deadline to file a complaint.
At the end of March, the commission ruled that the candidates should be removed from the ballot because they turned in their candidacy signatures late. Cantwell, the former Envision vice presidential candidate, said that before the commission moved into executive session, it simply said it was going to “deliberate and vote.” She said the commission did not give any further reason for why it was closing the meeting — which violates the Kansas Open Meetings Act.
Yesterday was the last day to file a complaint, but Cantwell said that she did not know about the deadline and that she and Ringer had been trying to juggle school and the election and hadn’t had a chance to look into it.
“We’ve been so laden with the campaign itself we had no time to find a lawyer and pursue what the process for filing would be,” Cantwell said.
Cantwell also said she couldn’t find any legal resources on campus because it would have been a conflict of interest for the lawyer in pursuing action against other KU students.
The Act also gives a specific list of subjects that may be discussed in executive session, none of which applied to what the commission discussed.
Elections Commissioner Jessica Lewicki, a law student from Jackson Hole, Wyo., said that the commission discussed the validity and deadline of the signatures and made its decision.
The act also states that “binding action may not be taken in executive session,” which includes a vote.
Lewicki said she was told the commission was allowed to vote in an executive session. She said that was the way it had always been done.
“I don’t remember anyone specifically telling me, but our advisor was there and this is how it’s been done in the past,” Lewicki said. “We were allowed to vote in a closed meeting.”
Cantwell said she and Ringer would both like to clear things up because they want to attend law school and having falsification of signatures on their records is not something they want to follow them there.
“Having something like this pop up as one of the first things on a Google search would be detrimental to getting internships or jobs, “ Cantwell said.
— Edited by Kelly Gibson
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Comments
Envision hearing scheduled amidst legal allegations
What a poor excuse for journalism. Had the author done even a little research, instead of relying on her own biases, she might have discovered that, according to Kansas Attorney General Steve Six (http://www.ksag.org/page/1-what-groups-are-subject-to-the-koma) and Kansas State University (http://www.k-state.edu/academicpersonnel/univcomm/komag.html : Section IV explains things very clearly) the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA) allows public bodies (i.e. the Elections Commission) acting in a quasi-judicial manner (i.e. the Hearing Board designated by the Commission) to hold executive sessions or even closed meetings when deliberating on the case/matter before it.
Additionally, this story barely even qualifies as news. Except for announcing the date for the hearing, there is virtually zero impact on anything. I would remind the author and the editors of this paper that defamation and libel are serious matters and the truth is not on your side.
The fault does not lie solely with the author. Much of the fault lies with the paper's editors; primarily Editor-in-Chief Stephen Montemayor. An article (more like a commentary) like this should never have been allowed in the UDK, let alone on the front page.
Envision hearing scheduled amidst legal allegations
Agreed, imaj_hawk. Annie, how can you, yourself, deem that the Elections Commission violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act? There have been no allegations toward the Elections Commission besides from yourself. I heard that you just called the Commissioner and started saying that she and the commission violated all these rules. I believe this is just a desperate call for a story to cause drama. I would have to agree with the previous post that this is defaming the Elections Commission and has no evidence or backup. The KOMA states that a group involved in making judicial decisions can privately vote. Journalism is all about research, and the story lacks credibility because no one ever complained about the commission violating the KOMA. The Elections Commission this year has done a great job dealing with all the issues and should not have to deal with media creating articles that are not newsworthy or even pertinent to the election.
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