After nearly a week of deliberation, ASUO Constitution Court decided to not remove ASUO President Ben Eckstein and Vice President Katie Taylor from office, due to lack of evidence against them.
The court held a hearing last week to determine whether Eckstein and Taylor committed fraud in their 2011 election for ASUO Executive, based on claims made by former ASUO president Sam Dotters-Katz. Dotters-Katz filed a grievance stating that former OSPIRG @@http://www.ospirg.org/@@board chair and Taylor’s husband, Charles Denson, anonymously contributed to the Ben and Katie campaign.
The grievance alleged that Denson wrote two checks to Ben and Katie campaign manager Sophie Luthin@@http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sophie-luthin/28/a26/a05@@, who then wrote two checks to Eckstein. Ultimately, this caused Denson’s name to not appear on the final budget. According to Dotters-Katz, this was done to mislead the ASUO Elections Board and could constitute an egregious violation which could result in removal from office.
Con Court disagreed with this, stating that while the existence of the checks can be verified, Denson’s and Luthin’s intent cannot. According to the decision, it is not clear that either Denson or Luthin were attempting to change the outcome of the election.
The decision, written by Chief Justice Nick Schultz@@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/concourt.php@@ said, “While the Court condemns the Respondents (Taylor and Eckstein) for the serious violation, the ASUO Elections Rules do not offer the Court the authority to grant the Petitioner (Dotters-Katz) his requested remedy.”
Though disappointed with the decision, Dotters-Katz still views it as an important discussion.
“The point of this claim was to ensure the facts were brought to light and to send a message that election fraud and public corruption can’t be swept under the rug,” he said. “Holding elected officials accountable is an important safeguard of our democratic process.”
Eckstein explained that the entire trial was disappointing to him because it took away from real issues students are dealing with. He said that while he took the time to prepare for the hearing, he made sure to prioritize his job above all else.
“We were relieved the court agreed with us that the argument was without merit,” Eckstein said. “Now it is time to move forward and continue to work for students.”