We are entirely aware of the fact that certain things are personal. We completely agree that if this was any other students’ marriage, it would not qualify for center-front-page coverage.
But given that ASUO Vice President Katie Taylor and former OSPIRG State Board Chair Charles Denson’s marriage was known about and has not been disclosed to the rest of the ASUO … why?
According to the Green Tape Notebook, the ASUO’s constitution, “At the beginning of each term, Student Senators shall prepare a statement listing all ASUO Recognized Programs that they are in any way involved with or with which they may have a conflict of interest” (§ 5.1.i). Taylor is not a senator, and her marriage is not a recognized program; however, this is a conflict of interest, and we just have to ask, why?
Why did it take an Emerald employee’s public records search for members of the student government to know about this? Why did a number of those Senators not know about this before Tuesday morning?
Denson and Taylor met each other through mutual involvement as canvassers in OSPIRG. The argument has never been that the marriage caused Taylor to sign contracts she wouldn’t have otherwise signed. The issue here is the process, and in not disclosing upfront that her spouse was the student director of a group that directly benefits monetarily from that student government, that process has been compromised.@@reword@@
How did you not think it would be crucial to know this information, this year especially? The vice president’s spouse was chairing a group requesting a 97 percent fund increase — an unprecedented spike.
This just speaks to the nature of disclosure rules: They’re not important most of the time, but when they are, they’re essential. Looking to the process again, it is far more often the process of disputes that causes them to escalate than the topic. The criticism is not that they’re married (the topic); it’s the way it’s simply not been brought up.
Several senators believe that what was revealed is tantamount to a prohibited offense at a company. This includes strong OSPIRG opponent Sen. Kaitlyn Lange.
“If this had happened at any other company, she would be fired,” Lange said to the Emerald.
The night before the marriage was publicized to the Senate, Taylor sent an email to the body’s listserv.
“A news article will be coming out tomorrow with information regarding my personal life,” she wrote. “This article is not relevant to the ASUO or the work that we do. I do not plan to address it further than I have.”
But clearly, it is relevant to the ASUO; how can it not be? Not to get overly philosophical, but how are we expected to believe that someone’s private life has absolutely no impact on the decisions they make in the public arena?@@Powerful sentence. Frank Bains, dropping the mic and walking away@@
Returning once more to the disclosure issue: That’s what it’s about. If you were to disclose this and allow everyone to be aware of this important part of your life, it does become a non-issue and you are forced to consult your own conflict of interests. But, if you keep it in the dark, it remains an issue because it does violate a principle of open government.
Because why, if you are trying to promote openness and inclusion in the ASUO, would you be so opaque?