The GW Patriot: March 2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Monday, March 30, 2009

~~It's April Fools Day.~~ April Fool's Day is in two days.* When I was 14 it meant the morning my brother and I taped the sink nozzle down so that when my mother woke up in the morning she would get soaked. Those were the days. Now, it serves little purpose other than to remind us that, even in the best of Hatchet years, their writers have the intellectual range of Joe the Plumber. Even now that The Onion has become the hit that it is, Hatchet writers are still incapable of getting laughs. At a school like this, the stories that are "so ridiculous they could actually be true" are ripe for the picking.

Instead we get "Hippo goes public about imprisonment, torture". Like Gitmo. Get it? They probably meant Abu Ghraib, but jokes shouldn't be over analyzed. They should be funny. Then why isn't this? Maybe because the Attorney General's name is Lando Calrissian. Maybe because the piece ends with the Hippo and "Trachtenbucks" (GET IT????) having babies. Author Scire Spice (get it?) wields the rhetorical prowess of Mike Myers in "The Love Guru." Just awful.

How about a story on Rahmbo and his commencement address? They try, they fail. They cross out the oft-repeated adjective "fucking." Get it? 'Cause he can't curse at a commencement address! Oh and they took a wholly original shot at Republicans. "Gun fucking," "war loving," "sodomy banning." All gold. Lots of cursing, like "Scarface." Not funny, like "30 Rock." PJF: I know I'll get shit for that, but I stand by the statement.

How about their corrections page? Compare George Brunner, a recovering drug addict, to a murderer? Done. Hilarious. They misattributed a quote to the Editor (Eggplant in Chief! HA!) which should have been attributed to Jesus. Get it? Me neither. Obama is misquoted as making a retard joke about GWBlogspot (can you say "easy target"?) and a tuition joke. It's funny cause it could happen, like "Head of State."

Or Just A. Giraffe's (get it?) piece on the SA. They need to get laid, apparently, unlike the Hatchet editors, who are so chill and hilarious that they came up with calling the Patriot the "Redcoat." Haha, cause America fought Britain way back. Get it? And the sex won't last long. Get it? 'Cause they're inexperienced. It's funny to call SA members "tools." Yep, that joke has the longevity of the Police Academy franchise.

I could go on and on, but by now you get my joke. The Hatchet isn't funny. I would laugh if they showed enough self-awareness to not publish the issue next year. Like most good jokes, we wouldn't see it coming, it would shock us, and it would reveal to us something we did not know up until that point. Namely, that the Hatchet reads its own drivel. But like Shrek 4, next year's issue is a stubborn inevitability. Hopefully I'll have the good sense to not read it at all.

*Logan corrected me (sort of). Ford fail indeed. But in my defense, I didn't realize it was my birthday this year until around 2pm. Seriously.

17 comments

Why They Hate Us

The Hatchet's April Fools Edition

I give it a B+.

That's a remarkably high grade, given that I've never thought the Hatchet's April Fools edition was even remotely funny in the past, and their writers/editors aren't exactly the Onion. This year, they managed to successfully avoid "going nasty" and mistaking prurience for humor.

Mr. Hatchet-man, this Bud's for you.

(There were a few duds, of course, and the supremely unfunny March Madness "bracket" made an appearance. Again. As if EBK winning last year wasn't proof that the joke is perpetually D.O.A.)

12 comments

Shortage Of Cigarettes Come Tuesday?

On Wednesday the federal tax on cigarettes jumps from 39 cents to $1.01 a pack. In addition, the tax on chewing tobacco will go from 19.5 cents per pound to 50 cents This is to fund the recently passed expansion of SCHIP which will increase health care coverage for children.

Funding any federal program by revenue that will go down over time is not sound budgeting. As Economics 101 would teach you, people respond to incentives. If the price of cigarettes keeps going up, demand will go down. Thus, the tax revenue received from the increase in the cigarette tax will go down as fewer people continue smoking. Even the Federal Government is championing the fact that smokers will inevitably quit when cigarettes get too expensive.

However, once smokers begin to quit, where is the money going to come from to fund SCHIP? The number of smokers would have to rise significantly to cover all the costs of the SCHIP program in its entirety. Smokers better suck it up if only to help the kids!

Smokers, except for elitist Bill Flanigen, come primarily from the lower and middle class. As this chart from The Heritage Foundation shows, the burden of tobacco taxes are placed on the very people President Obama said he would not tax.

So if anyone out there is a smoker, you better stock up on cigarettes on Tuesday in order to save some dough before the tax increase. But the higher prices better not discourage you from continuing smoking, or else you are taking money away from children's health care, you heartless smoker!

1 comments

Daily Links

Friday, March 27, 2009

Daily Links

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Oh....

Boyer Comments on the Race After the Polls Close

In an email with the subject line "I Hope Nick Wins":

My supporters and my family are a lot more dissapointed than I am, and they should be. They spent time and effort campaigning, changing profile pics, etc. I love and appreciate them all, as they've been told through numerous emails and tweets (yes that was for you Schire). But in all seriousness regardless of who wins the SA needs help, however after a lot of thinking one situation is better than the other.

I know first hand what its like to be EVP in a situation where you're not included in everything, and Jason will need a president who works with him completely and allows him to be a part of the process. I also know that people see through phoniness, and despite having some leadership issues, Nick is definitely not phony.

Again, I have a lot of reservations about his leadership, but there are enough people around Nick to help him develop his leadership, not to mention Jason.

Lastly and most importantly, of the two campaigns in the race, one conducted themselves with a lot more dignity, especially considering we all talked about unity. At this point the SA really does need to be Taken Back, and while I won't be involved in it at all, the more unifying team would be Polk and Lifton.

Kyle

Edit: Boyer corrects me:

The email was sent before the polls closed. If you received it afterward thats your fault, but if the polls close at 9:00, 8:43 is before.
17 min before. Glad he cleared that up.

1 comments

In Defense of the Hatchet

The folks over at GW Blogspot opened up a big can of worms with this post, accusing the Hatchet of...well, I'm not sure. Being evil and in cahoots with Stephen Knapp, or something like that.

I think the complaint is that the Hatchet has become too close to the University to remain meaningfully "independent," instead capitalizing on its close relationship with the University administration in order to obtain "scoops" (like the news that Obama would be coming to GW with Eric Holder for the latter's swearing-in as Attorney General). GW Blogspot's Nick Fabiani:

The GW Hatchet is supposed to serve as a the information source for and voice of the students of GW, not a mouth piece of the university. But when that "independent" newspaper comes to have a close, intimate relationship with the institution they are supposed to be turning a critical eye on, they cannot possibly be doing a good job. I understand the desire to get good scoops, but I think the Hatchet is sacrificing too much for it.

[...]

The paper has become watered down and useless; so concerned with keeping its ties to the information lines in the university that it refuses to challenge the status quo.

A damning charge, for sure. The problem is that it just isn't true. I see no evidence that the Hatchet has "sold out" the student body in order to ingratiate itself with the administration. (I would be more sympathetic to Fabiani, obviously, if he had provided some proof that the Hatchet had done so.)

I'm all about the alternative student press. I think that the development of alternative media at GW--the Daily Colonial, the Patriot, GW Blogspot, Inside the S.A., etc.--is a wonderful thing, and I hope that alternatives to the Hatchet only grow stronger in the future.

We must, however, be honest here. (What is a journalist if he isn't honest? Joe the Plumber?) The people at the Hatchet do more (and harder) work than probably any other student journalists on campus. They get wonderful scoops--as many commenters over at GW Blogspot have pointed out--because they do the tedious, thankless reporter work that most of the rest of us avoid. I sat next to a Hatchet reporter at every SA Senate meeting. While I was gleefully taking pot-shots on our liveblog at senators' sartorial choices, that reporter had a Word document open. In it, she took notes on everything that happened. She has a liveblog now, too. Instead of writing her boring notes into the Word document, she just posts them online into a boring liveblog. She has a terrible, tough, thankless job.

But it's damned productive. It's real journalism. After witnessing that, I stopped calling myself a journalist. I call myself an "opinionist," now.

It's their hard work, and not some super-secret, smoke-filled-room relationship between the Hatchet and the administration that gets them the stories we'd all love to break. Don't be bitter, guys. Be realistic. More often than not, we shouldn't be attacking the Hatchet: we should be emulating it.

7 comments

SA Presidential Election Special Edition

Me Me Me Me

Two Minute Campaign pitches.

Walking into Kogan today I saw representatives from both the Polk and the Bindelglass campaigns. So, I decided as an undecided voter that I would give each campaign two minutes to convince me why I should vote for them.

First up was the Polk campaign. Representing Polk was Greta "Kill Bodies" Twombly. She started off giving me the usual talking points; "Small, Tangible Changes". Some of the ideas; dining options, opening buildings up for late night study, I'd heard before. But then The Hammer told me about some other ideas; namely a system through the Library in which students could temporarily borrow computer/cellphone chargers. I found it interesting, though most likely unfeasible. I didn't ask why Polk wasn't out there himself, I assume he had class, which is actually a plus in my book, he isn't taking this too seriously and still remembers that he is a student.

Then was Julie Rodham Bindelglass. Bindelglass, as a candidate alone without her handlers around was personable. She didn't give me her bullshit talking points about "Taking Back the SA" or anything like that, she was frank. She spoke proudly of her record as Finance chair, and noted that she has been rather conservative in her spending (I disagree, but thats neither her nor there). I asked her if is she would allow a Unity Ball-esque event happen again, she said no, remarking that she was going to cut down the executive budget.

I'm still undecided, both campaigns worked hard for my vote, it seems. I guess we'll see the results tonight (and yes, there will be liveblog)

5 comments

Daily Links

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Thoughts on Rahm Emanuel

I have none.

Or, well, I have only a couple. My first thought is "why should I care about this?" The Class of 2007 had a decent reason to be angry about their commencement speaker: giving SJT the top spot was a bit like trying to sell someone back their own bowel movement. (Did I just compare SJT to a bowel movement? That's unfair. Sorry.) As long as the administration isn't actively insulting us with their choice of a speaker, though, it's just too minor of an issue to show up as a blip on my things-about-GW-that-piss-me-off-dar screen.

I agree with Pat: an intellectually stimulating commencement speaker would be nice. Come to think of it, some chocolate ice cream would be nice right now, too. I'm not going to care much if I don't get either of those things; they're about equally important (er, unimportant) to me.

To repeat myself: this is SO not an argument worth having.

2 comments

Commencement FAIL

Liveblogging Would Be A Bitch

Alfred Sirleaf is an analog blogger. He take runs the “Daily News”, a news hut by the side of a major road in the middle of Monrovia. He started it a number of years ago, stating that he wanted to get news into the hands of those who couldn’t afford newspapers, in the language that they could understand.
Alfred serves as a reminder to the rest of us, that simple is often better, just because it works. The lack of electricity never throws him off. The lack of funding means he’s creative in ways that he recruits people from around the city and country to report news to him. He uses his cell phone as the major point of connection between him and the 10,000 (he says) that read his blackboard daily

Link

0 comments

Daily Links

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Official Decision

The court ruled the following:

THE COURT OF THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY STUDENT ASSOCIATION

Decision and Orders

Boyer v. Joint Elections Committee
SC-09-002

In a 2-1 decision, this Court finds:

that the Joint Elections Committee did not abuse its discretion with regard to JEC Finding of Fact and Order S09-056, and

that the Joint Elections Committee did not abuse its discretion with regard to JEC Finding of Fact and Order S09-057.

Therefore, this Court orders:

that JEC Order S09-056 be affirmed,

that JEC Order S09-057 be affirmed, and

that the order of disqualification against Mr. Boyer be affirmed.

While the members of this Court disagree with the analysis of the JEC, and perhaps even the outcome, they recognize the deference due to the JEC and cannot find an instance of abuse of discretion.

A formal opinion will be issued by this Court in compliance with the Bylaws of the Student Court.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Christopher Wimbush
Chief Judge

0 comments

JEC Decision Upheld by Court

Daily Links

Monday, March 23, 2009

We decided to Liveblog.

Why not liveblog tonight's court hearing?

Daily Links

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Kyle Boyer Gets His Day in Court

Friday, March 20, 2009

Bailouts And Bull

Update on Comments

I hope everyone is having a wonderful break.

We've enabled moderation on comments, so they won't appear immediately after you post them. We didn't do this because of the recent spate of ugliness that flowed into our comment threads. (Though it was foul, that spate was not enough to make us punish you, dear reader, by subjecting legitimate commenters to an approval process.) We did this because we've been hit with a pretty nasty spam bot.

Don't worry: if your comment isn't libelous or an advertisement for penis-enlargement pills, it'll probably be approved.

We'll try to keep an eye on the site to make sure that worthwhile comments get approved as quickly as possible. See you back in class on Monday!

2 comments

Monday, March 16, 2009

Boyer will challenge JEC ruling

Friday, March 13, 2009

Cartoon Of The Day

Thursday, March 12, 2009

New Policy on Comments

If it's a ridiculous comment, it gets deleted, whether or not it's anonymous. (Anonymity, after all, is the great bugaboo of the Blogger system: it's very easy to fake non-anonymity by using someone else's name, so you are entitled to no great respect for not being an anonymous commenter.)

This blog is our mental trash can--not yours. If you have a problem with our arbitrary standards, feel free not to post comments.

That is all.

10 comments

Terrible, terrible.

The Hatchet editorial on last night's JEC hearing is an embarrassing jumble of haughty condescension, misplaced criticism, and self-contradictions.

Let's take it from the top. Haughty condescension:

Let us paint a picture for you. Two dozen overly invested students crammed into a room on the fourth floor of the Marvin Center, clacking away on laptops while one or two at a time play lawyer, and a candidate's eligibility is debated to death.

[...]

These violations were reported by senior Wylie Ballinger, who is not connected to the SA, but apparently has a lot of time on his hands.

Really, Hatchet? Really? Does it matter at all that, at any given time that evening, anywhere from 3-5 of the "overly invested" students in the JEC hearing were Hatchet reporters, or that the "clacking away" mostly came from Hatchet reporters writing and editing stories about the hearing?

Yes, it's sad that Ballinger took the time to file so many violations--sad, that is, because there weren't more people willing to do it with him. And yes, it's unfortunate that the debate was so repetitive. But is that really the fault of the JEC? Or was it the fault of the people making the repetitive arguments?

No matter. Moving on. Misplaced criticism:

The JEC cannot control how many complaints are filed (since anyone can technically report a violation), but does it have to turn into a Law and Order parody? This semester, The Hatchet's editorial board has repeatedly called for the SA to take a step back and examine how seriously the organization takes itself. The JEC should be first in line for this reality check.

The JEC put so much thought and time into the hearing because of the amount of evidence and the number of arguments that were being presented. I prefer that to the alternative--a blaise JEC more concerned with being quick and casual than with being thorough and fair. Sometimes, thoroughness and fairness take time.

More misplaced criticism:

However, why does the whole process need to take what could be a month? The general election was Feb. 25 and 26, and since the runoff election will now be sometime after spring break, it will frankly be a wonder if any student still cares enough to vote.

The JEC didn't force this process to take a month.

Self-contradiction:

Now, if a candidate is really in violation of election rules, we agree they deserve to lose their spot on the ballot.

[...]

Next, the questionable $25 parking ticket, which may have benefited from the debate, as it is an "expenditure."

[...]

To be clear, the charges were right to be fully investigated, but if a qualified candidate who garnered such a large percentage of the vote is dismissed on vague technical charges, where do we draw the line?
[...]

There is absolutely no reason for the JEC to put on such a production.

Let me see if I have this straight: candidates in violation of the rules should be disqualified, and some of the charges were worth debating and investigating, but popular candidates who are in violation of the rules should not be disqualified, and there was "absolutely no reason" for the JEC to put on such a production by investigating and debating about these charges.

C'mon, guys.

12 comments

Daily Links

Boyer Disqualified

After several hours of deliberation, the Joint Elections Committee has assessed five violations against Student Association Presidential candidate Kyle Boyer. When added to the three he has already accumulated, Boyer's total number of violations (eight) is enough to force his disqualification from the runoff against S.A. Senator Julie Bindelglass that will be held after Spring Break.

Nick Polk, who finished third in the general election two weeks ago, will replace Boyer in the run-off.

A more detailed analysis of this will come tomorrow.

Also, you may recall that the Patriot broke the story of Boyer's financial difficulties last week.

EDIT: Make that five violations.

10 comments

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Authors

About the GW Patriot

The GW Patriot is a non-partisan publication dedicated to promoting the free exchange of ideas in an environment where ideological diversity and serious debate are often lacking. As a journal of politics and culture, The Patriot challenges the liberal orthodoxy of university life by exploiting topics often ignored under the status quo.

By giving voice to the endangered species of conservative and libertarian thought in our commentary, we seek to articulate alternate viewpoints for a truly balanced education. We defend individual freedom, intellectual diversity, and fundamental human rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We strive to inform, engage, and perhaps even amuse our readers. We invite the active participation of any student who shares our vision and would like to join our cause.

About the Patriot

Hunter Patterson

Alex Fitzsimmons

Thomas Bird

Logan Dobson

Will Frey

Will Frey, Managing Editor

Posts by Will

Will's Blogger Profile

Will Frey is a sophomore double majoring in Economics and Political Science. He is the Managing Editor of the GW Patriot and serves on the College Republicans Executive Board.

Will proudly touts the fact that he is one of a handful of conservative Republicans who hails from New York City. Growing up in the midst of liberal government excesses taught Will to distrust the statist paternalism propagated by the left.

He interns for the DC Republican Committee, is a House Proctor in Thurston Hall and is an avid New York Mets fan.

When Will isn’t studying or fighting for the right cause, he enjoys running, golfing, philosophizing, and arguing against big-government tools.

Daily Links

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Senate liveblogkkake; the one that goes on forever

Meet The New Citi Bank!

S.A. News Update

Once more unto the toolbox.

1) According to a JEC press release, Senator-elect Melissa Gindin told the Committee that she "could not assume her seat due to academic reasons." Later in the release, it is reiterated that the resignation was for "purely academic" reasons. The repetition is suspicious and little birdies are chirping all around, but those rumors aren't fit to print. (Or blog. Bloop?)

2) The JEC has found probable cause on four of the five violations filed by senior Wylie Ballinger against Kyle Boyer. The fifth violation concerned surpassing the spending limit, which will be automatically assessed against Boyer if, by any number of other violations, he is found to have exceeded the $1,000 spending limit. Keep in mind that only three more violations are necessary for Kyle to be kicked off the ballot.

3) Jordan Chapman, the Vice-President for Judicial and Legislative Affairs, filed a motion in the Student Court to delay the runoff election until after Spring Break. The Court denied the motion, so Logan Dobson and a few other Senators are going to introduce a bill (that is the functional equivalent of Chapman's motion) in the Senate tonight.

4) If you didn't notice already, there is a Senate meeting tonight. There are quite a few pieces of legislation up for debate, and the obvious, uber-awk potential of Boyer presiding over a Senate meeting that includes his competitor and the kid angling to replace him in the runoff. Fuuun.

4 comments

Daily Links

Monday, March 09, 2009

Fire Hobbs, reconsidered.

Surprise, Surprise. The Hatchet is calling for the firing of Men's Bball coach Karl Hobbs. Now, full disclosure, I have in the past called for the axing of our little shouting general of a coach, but having thought about it, I feel it would be a horrible, horrible idea.

For one, Hobbs is NOT going to be fired. He is under contract for at least the next two seasons, and the University already has over a million dollars tied up in him from years past as well as the next two years. Two bad seasons isn't justification enough to throw 1.8 million down the drain. It will be hard to convince boosters that we are in need of money and new facilites when we are willing to throw away that kind of dough over a bad coach.

And say we do fire him. Not only are we a mil in the hole but then we have to go out and find another coach, and probably will have to pay him the same amount if not slightly more than Hobbs; considering the task of coaching a team with the worst facilites and budget in the A-10 that an prospective coach will face, this will be no easy task.

Options? Suck it up. We all know Hobbs is a whining malcontent who has about the worst time managment in all of NCAA basketball and mixed with lackluster facilites and an Admissions Department that won't budge, we will have to settle with below mediocrity for at least the next two years.
The best we can do is not give up on the team like the so-called "Coloinal Army" did this year. Instead we should rally behind our team and actually be "Fans" and cheer them on through thick and thin. Protip: Teams play better when they actually have fans in the stands cheering for them.

4 comments

Daily Links

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Daily Links

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

WMATA Bus Driver Punches McGruff the Crime Dog

Yeah, I know. Happens all the time, right?

Apparently, this bus driver was (how you say?) special:

Brim, who has been employed by Metro since 2003, will undergo drug and alcohol testing by Metro officials, and his future with the agency is under review, Smith said.

Brim has a history of arrests in the District of Columbia, including for prostitution in Oct. 30, 2006, possession of PCP in 1994 and possession of a gun in 1990, according to court records. In each case, prosecutors declined to file the charges in court.

The driver, who claimed that he was trying "to be funny," has been charged with simple assault. Public transit FTW.

H/T to Joe Henchman, via Twittah.

1 comments

Ain't No Thang, Guys.

First, thanks to GW Blogspot for crediting us when they reported on the financial questions surrounding Boyer's campaign. Second, thanks to them for pointing out that the Hatchet didn't mention the Patriot in its coverage of the Boyer campaign's financial difficulties.

But really, it's all Old Kinderhook. We have a great working relationship with many people at the Hatchet, and nothing has changed about that.

Truth be told, we weren't the only people "on to" this story, and we broke it only because we were the first to click "publish." Really. Though a fair bit of work did go into the story, it would be absurd for us to take as much credit for it as the Blogspot gang seems to think that we deserve. I know that the Hatchet's people eventually did the same legwork that I did, looked at the same documents, and talked to many of the same people.

In a medium-sized college community with multiple sources for news, a serious amount of overlap is to be expected and even encouraged. That overlap can be a difficult thing to keep tabs on, and it's sometimes worth wondering whether it's really important to note who broke a story, especially if work on the story was being done simultaneously by multiple publications. The Hatchet has cited us before when we really did deserve it; if they occasionally fail to mention the work we've done on a story before they report on it, we can forgive them.

Frankly, we've probably done the same thing to them many times.

3 comments

Daily Links

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Boyer Responds

Via Press Release:

All,

On Friday when my team and I filed our financial form we neglected to include the price of our Facebook ads which as the Facbeook "ad page" shows total $75.08. Discovering this error on our own, and wanting our form to be accurate, we emailed the JEC Saturday night and requested that the JEC work with us to fix it. The facebook ads were seen by thousands of people, and it thus would have been a hard sell to intentionally hide from the JEC. We identified the error, and in good faith sought to correct it as soon as possible.

A separate issue is the car which was parked on H St. during campaign days, displaying my posters. Because that car belongs to a GW student and is always parked on campus, we interpreted the rules to not include this private property as an expenditure, and did not put it down. The service of the car was essentially, a place to stand on top of, and private property to display posters. The car is always parked on campus, often receives parking tickets, and would have been parked near a meter displaying posters regardless of whether it was election time or not, just like the dorm doors or windows with posters on them, and the backbacks adorned with stickers. Even still, if we were required to report the car and its associated costs it would come to $62 for two-day rental alone as verified by several car renters, and $45 for parking which includes one day of parking via ticket ($25). Adding those costs to our form total of $809.57, we would still not breach the spending limit of $1000.

We were mistaken in failing to report the facebook ads. Even though the mistake was unintentional, we take responsibility for it. What dissapoints us is when any student goes violation-fishing after any candidate. Worst of all is the fact that throughought the race all of the candidates, including my runoff opponent, have demonstrated maturity, and respect for their competitors. That goodwill is easily overshadowed by unnessesary action.

My team and I are still confident that the issue will be resolved, and we can make the last week or so of the campaign once again about the candidates and their issues.

Kyle

13 comments

Quote Of The Day

Monday, March 02, 2009

BREAKING: Financial Questions Plague Boyer's Candidacy

Alleged discrepancies between Student Association Executive Vice President Kyle Boyer’s expenditure report to the Joint Elections Committee and his actual spending during his campaign for the S.A. Presidency could be enough to have his candidacy disqualified.

Wylie Ballinger, a senior in the Columbian College, filed five violations with the Joint Elections Committee against Kyle Boyer, a junior, on March 2. Ballinger alleged that the financial statement provided by Boyer to the J.E.C. failed to report the fair market value of the car he used while campaigning on H street on February 25-26, a parking ticket he received, parking meter payments, and the cost of Facebook advertisements. The fifth violation report alleged that, when the undeclared expenses are included in the tabulation of Boyer’s spending, he surpassed the $1,000 spending limit for presidential candidates.

An examination of Boyer’s expenditure report by the Patriot confirmed that the candidate did not report any spending for a car, a parking ticket, or meter payments, and that he reported no purchases of Facebook advertisements. Included in Ballinger’s complaints were pictures of a car being used by Boyer and his campaign supporters on H street in front of Kogan Plaza. A parking ticket was visible beneath a windshield wiper of the car.

Ballinger told the Patriot in an e-mail that he has “filed nearly 30 violations this election cycle against many candidates (including both Kyle and Julie). I am working on getting [a] witness for the facebook add [sic] but either way I imagine the J.E.C. may subpoena Kyle and force him to answer questions about it.” Ballinger stated that he believed the unreported expenses were enough to put Boyer--who reported spending $809.57 on his campaign--over the spending limit. He emphasized his independence, claiming that “no one convinced me to file [the violations] and I did not file them on behalf of any candidate.”

Boyer admitted that his campaign had found a discrepancy after filing the report and that he had contacted the J.E.C. on February 28, asking to amend the report. He told the Patriot that “we are very confident that it will be corrected on the financial form, and thus resolved.” He did not elaborate on the nature of that discrepancy.

The deadline for filing an expenditure report for the general election was February 27. J.E.C. findings of fact reveal that three penalties have already been assessed against Boyer for unrelated violations of election rules. Six are necessary to disqualify a candidate. According to the J.E.C. charter, one penalty must be assessed for each item of spending “unaccounted for on a receipt,” and $100 of spending in excess of the $1,000 limit for Presidential candidates can bring a candidate a maximum of three penalties. The J.E.C. Charter, election rules, and other public documents are available here. All violations filed against candidates, including those that have yet to be evaluated by the J.E.C., are available for public examination in the J.E.C.’s Marvin Center office.

The J.E.C. was asked to comment via e-mail, but had not responded by the time of posting.

The statute of limitations for filing complaints with regard to financial statements expires at 5pm on Tuesday, March 3. Boyer, who was two votes shy of the 40% plurality that was necessary to win the election outright last week, is slated to compete in a run-off election with sophomore and S.A. Senator Julie Bindelgass on March 11-12. If Boyer is disqualified, his place in the run-off will be taken by sophomore and S.A. Senator Nick Polk, who finished third in last week’s general election.

EDIT, 3/3 (8:15am): Ballinger filed five violations against Boyer on March 2, 2009. We originally reported that he had filed four.

19 comments

Snowmageddon 09!

Daily Links

Sunday, March 01, 2009

S.A. Press Conference II: Return of the Pie

It was pie and ice cream on the Potomac again this afternoon as Kevin Homiak led his second S.A. press conference. A few notes worth mentioning:

1) Mixed berry pie with french vanilla ice cream. Orgasmic.

2) I asked if any progress had been made on any of Vishal's three goals for the remainder of his time in office. The only progress made, apparently, has been toward increasing available study space for students. Vishal told us (via text to Dan Curran) that the S.A. has been working to get Monroe Hall and the Hall of Government open for finals.

3) Money issues are delaying progress on the other two goals--the elimination of tech fees for student organizations and getting students free printing across campus. It is worth noting, however, that individual students and and student organizations can make copies and print in the S.A. office, where black and white copying/printing is free and color copying/printing costs only ten cents per page.

4) Several S.A. officials were present at the meeting, and were asked who Vishal is endorsing in the run-off (and why he has endorsed no one thusfar). One responded with the obvious: he's not endorsing anyone, because "it would be a kiss of death."

5) Tim Little has been pimping a townhall on undergraduate education to be held tomorrow night in the Jack Morton Auditorium. Several administrators--including President Knapp--will be there to answer any questions you might have about advising or academics. More information is available on the Facebook event page here. Doors open at 5:30pm, and a reception will follow at 7pm.

6) GW now has a fully functioning test-bank, available here. One feature allows students to upload answers to test questions in addition to the tests.

7) Senator Dobson reports that two pieces of legislation are being considered by the Senate rules committee at the moment. The first would eliminate write-in voting for any office that had enough registered candidates to fill the necessary seats. The other would guarantee $2,000 in initial allocation funding to any student organization that represents an entire school (examples might include the Student Bar Association or the International Affairs Society). Both of these bills are sponsored by Steve Glatter (Law). Both seem like horrible ideas.

0 comments

Recent Comments

Blog List

-

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Monday, March 30, 2009

Friday, March 27, 2009

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Monday, March 23, 2009

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Friday, March 20, 2009

Monday, March 16, 2009

Friday, March 13, 2009

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Monday, March 09, 2009

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Monday, March 02, 2009

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Search The Patriot

Even if you hate The Patriot, you can still be a facebook fan

Contributors

Admin Control Panel

Blog Archive

Counter

_