Supporters of the Dallas Brown and Emily McLain ticket for ASUO Executive held a “fat kegger” Thursday night at which they offered discounted prices on red plastic cups for beer in exchange for students voting electronically on a laptop, preferably for that ticket, said two former Emerald staff members who attended the event.
The party will prompt an audit of all executive campaign contributions and expenditures, ASUO Elections Coordinator Ryan Coussens said after the Emerald asked him if it violated any campaign rules. He said someone plans to file a grievance today, allowing the Board to investigate and rule on the matter.
Katy Gagnon and Korallynn Basham, both older than 21, said around 10:30 p.m. they received free cups after being told they could get cups for less money if they voted at the party, held at 1960 Kincaid St.
When the Emerald called Brown on his cell phone at 12:16 this morning, he said he was at a friend’s birthday party at East 18th Avenue and
Mill Street, and said no one there was registering people to vote. In a later phone call he denied knowing anything about the party on Kincaid Street.
“Well, that is not my doing because I’m not fuckin’ involved in a kegger,” Brown said. “Check that out if you want to. You’re welcome to talk to anybody or whatever. But I don’t know anything about that.”
In another phone call he admitted that he had been at the Kincaid Street party from about 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. but said neither McLain, his campaign manager Becca Shively nor he had organized it.
He said he paid $1 for beer, that it was not a campaign party, and he didn’t know anything about a laptop. He said house resident Alison Becker invited him to the party.
“Do you think I’m, fucking, an idiot? I mean, seriously, I’m pretty sure that my campaign’s doing just fine. The last thing I want to do is jeopardize it in any way,” Brown said.
Becker told Emerald reporter Susan Goodwin, who had been invited inside the house, that there was a laptop out for people to vote.
“We’re not making people vote either way,” Becker said. “There’s a lot of Dallas and Emily support. … I’m friends with them. It was just a party.”

Coussens said the key issue is whether the supporters were offering “something of value” in exchange for votes and whether discounts on alcohol constitute something of value.
The Emerald sent Gagnon and Basham to the party after hearing a rumor about it and finding a hand-written advertisement late Thursday night on a blackboard in McKenzie 240C late Thursday night. The message called the party a “Big Fat Kegger for Dallas and Emily” and gave the address of the house.
Emerald employees first learned about the planned party on Tuesday, hearing that someone would offer students “discounts on the kegger cup” if they voted for Brown and McLain.
The Emerald contacted Gagnon, a former reporter, to attend the party. She was instructed to enter the party and see whether she was offered a discount on beer in exchange for voting.
At about 10 p.m., Gagnon entered the party. Two kegs, red cups and a computer were set up on a table in the room, she said. At least one Brown-McLain campaign poster was inside the house.
Gagnon entered the house and asked how much keg cups cost. She said Becker asked her if she had voted yet, to which Gagnon said no. Becker informed her that beer cups were “only $3” if she voted, Gagnon said. Gagnon asked if it mattered who she voted for, to which Becker encouraged – but didn’t require – voting for Brown and McLain.
The charge for cups changed when Gagnon returned with a friend, former Emerald Classifieds employee Basham. They were told that cups were $1, but free for people who voted at the party. Basham filled a keg cup before voting online for Brown and McLain. She was not charged, and neither Basham nor Gagnon saw any money exchanged.
Approaching the party at about 12:15 a.m., Goodwin found Becker and asked her if she had a liquor license.
“We’re not making any money off the party; we’re not,” Becker said. “We’re running a party like I run a party at my own house. … We’re not charging anybody for beer.”
When asked whether people were checking for identification, Becker said, “We’re trying to do our best, but … a lot of my friends are 20.”
Later, she said the party “isn’t a campaign event; it’s just a party.”
Goodwin asked Becker if they were violating any laws.
“No. Not in the sense of campaigning laws,” Becker said. “We’re breaking the normal, like, throwing a party, but, I mean, that’s Eugene.”
Becker said there was “no problem” with having a party to get people voting and talking about it.
“And if people want to vote for someone else, we’re not going to say anything about that,” she said.
At the party, Brown-McLain Public Relations Officer Taran Nadler said, “We’re charging for cups.”
“In between 50 cents to a couple dollars. We’ve got a sliding scale,” Nadler said. “People can pay more, that’s great. … I’ve charged everybody the same price, I’ve just been like, ‘hey, donate what you can to the keg.’ Nobody’s paid more or less.”
Nadler said he estimated about 150 people had been at the party throughout the evening.
Susan Goodwin and Jared Paben contributed to this report.