[1242] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Three more cents...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Rezek)
Fri Mar 15 15:23:23 2002
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Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 15:22:23 -0500
From: Chris Rezek <crezek@alum.mit.edu>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
Penny #1: Paying for votes is bribery. Publicly offering to pay for votes
is announcing your guilt and eliminates the need for additional proof to
zero. Knowing Rhett's experience and views I would have been happy to see
him run a legal campaign (such as last year's) but unfortunately this year
he chose to use a method repugnant to the ideas of popular democracy and
the UA Election Commission recognized that. I hope the Judicial Review
Board does the same and confirms the disqualification while following its
policies and procedures fully to ensure that there are no complaints about
process.
The difference between offering tax cuts or free food and offering specific
compensation for votes is that the latter is a specific quid pro quo that
applies only people who have voted (or claim to have voted) for a specific
candidate. If Bush promises a tax cut for the rich - all the rich would
get it, even the ones who didn't vote for him. If the UA holds an open
forum on dining with food - all students who attend get it, even the ones
who didn't even vote at all in the previous election. When you are
offering money for votes is it clearly bribery and clearly corrupt,
regardless of the quality of verification. If a UAP candidate was offering
to give every undergraduate $5 or $10 or even $100 (as has happened before)
that would not be bribery because there would be no connection between who
you vote for and what you get. Bribery has no place in popular elections.
Penny #2: It was completely inappropriate for Judicial Review Board to ask
for students to stop sending it feedback. As Victoria has said, the UA
should always be open to constituent feedback. This is the first case I
can remember a UA body announcing that it was not interested in additional
feedback or opinions or information and I was appalled. I believe the
Judicial Review Board has realized its mistake and is now welcoming
feedback again at ua-judboard@mit.edu.
Sarah and Helen and other UA officials have posted thoughtful and
respectful emails. If you think Dan's emails were inappropriate then you
are in agreement with the Election Commission (and, I'm guessing all other
UA officials), which asked Dan to step down. As has been said, if you have
questions or concerns you should feel more than free - you are invited - to
send feedback to ua@mit.edu.
Penny #3: I think the UA spends hardly any money on itself. When I was in
Council I was always trying to get the UA Council to increase the UA's
budget to pay for publicity and events and supplies but Councilors were
genuinely reluctant to spend undergraduate activity funds on UA
activities. That's why I've been giving the UA $1k/year since I graduated
- so that it needs less of your $$ to do what it needs to do.
If you want to change how the UA spends its money then run for Council or
vote for someone who shares your views. The UA Council controls an annual
budget of ~$200,000 and can do whatever it wants with the money - even
giving each undergraduate a $40 refund - even using all the money for UA
parties. Of course the Council doesn't do either and responsibly
distributes the money among various student groups and events. The UA's
election web page shows that only the IFC, Panhel, McCormick, MacGregor,
Random Hall, and Next House had *any* candidates for Council. I know that
there are already several write-in candidates for EC. You have almost 2
hours left for new write-in candidacies or to vote for one of the many
already out there. And about 300 days before the next election petitions
are due. I sponsored legislation to change the Council to be elected
rather than appointed so that the undergraduate student body would have a
direct say in who represents them. You have the opportunity to participate
- don't let it pass you by.
Thanks for listening,
Chris Rezek '99
ex-[various UA and IFC offices]
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