March 16, 1995
The often contentious politics at SF State remained true to form when two candidates in this week's Associated Students elections filed grievances against the AS elections committee.
Representative-at-large candidate Jeff Towey filed a grievance against the committee after being told that he will be listed as an independent candidate rather than a member of the Student Struggle slate.
Towey said when he submitted his filing papers, he omitted his party affiliation because he was not sure about the name of the recently-formed slate. Since the committee assumed he was an independent, Elections Committee Chair Steve Navarro told him to write a memorandum to the committee explaining why he wanted to change his affiliation.
According to Towey, he submitted the memorandum but did not get an answer from AS until he ran into Navarro Sunday night. He said he was told that the ballot was already printed and the committee could not change it.
"I feel they handled things kind of shady, like there's something more going on that I don't know about," he said.
Towey said he thought being listed as an independent would hurt his chances because all his campaign literature identifies him as a member of the Student Struggle slate.
"I've been equating myself with Student Struggle," he said. "Everyone that I've talked to will know me as Student Struggle."
Navarro said that a number of students came forward wanting to change their slate affiliation. After conversations with the AS business office, Vice President of Academic Affairs Jessellyn "Penny" Saffold, and former AS president Hatem Bazian, the elections committee decided not to allow any changes to the filing documents, he said.
"I'm not empowered to grant party status changes," Navarro said.
Student Struggle presidential candidate Kenyan McCarthy took a differing view of the situation.
"The whole issue is that the current people in power are afraid of losing their positions and or status," he said. "They will do anything and everything to keep the Student Struggle from becoming the new student government."
Independent presidential candidate Jon Artigo filed a complaint against the elections committee after learning that his name would not appear on the ballot at all.
Artigo said he tried to file the papers to run for president but the AS information counter didn't have any application packets after Feb 22, although the filing deadline was extended to Feb 24.
He collected the 25 signatures necessary to file and attempted to submit them before the 4 p.m. deadline on Feb 24, but after conferring with the elections committee, he was told that he could only run as a write-in candidate since he didn't have the official paperwork.
"All I did was what I was told to do by the AS information office," he said. "But I felt from the beginning that I wouldn't get on the ballot."
The elections committee told Artigo he could run only as a write-in candidate because the committee was concerned about other grievances being filed that could threaten the validity of the elections, Artigo said.
Although his name was not on the ballot, Artigo said he thought he still had a chance to win and used the Internet to publicize his candidacy.
"Because of the fact that the party that has been controlling this campus for the last decade is dead set against me running, my name will not appear on the ballot," Artigo wrote in e-mail messages he sent to 4,000 SF State students. "However, it can be written in."
Navarro said the elections committee arrived at the decision not to print Artigo's name by consensus.
"I could go look up a precedent if you want me to," he said.