Although ASUO Senate confirmed all four of the appointees for the ASUO elections board at the Wednesday Nov. 10 meeting, the vote was not unanimous and questions about an unofficial meeting between appointees before the meeting lingered.
ASUO Chief of Staff Ben Eckstein came in at the end of an informal meeting that ASUO Elections Coordinator William Price held with the appointees prior to their confirmation hearings, to the dismay of Sen. Chris Bocchicchio. Although Bocchicchio was upset with the involvement of executive staff members in the coordination of the non-partisan elections board, Eckstein said he simply held a minor complementary role. Bocchicchio said the election board is not supposed to be involved with either the ASUO Senate or Executive; however, he did not cite a rule in the ASUO’s governing document, the Green Tape Notebook, that states Eckstein’s involvement violated any rules.
“My role, literally, was to come in toward the end of the meeting, encourage the nominees and answer any questions that Will had been unable to answer or that Will wanted feedback on,” Eckstein said.
Price also said that by the time Eckstein came to answer questions, two of the appointees had to leave for other obligations. Eckstein cleared up the confirmation process with the two remaining and congratulated them on being selected.
Bocchicchio was the lone vote against two confirmations when he heard about the elections board’s meeting. He said he found Eckstein’s involvement inappropriate because of the outward appearance of the situation.
“My dad was in politics and he said, ‘Perception is what kills you,’” Bocchicchio said. “You could have had all the right intentions, but if it’s perceived you were doing something wrong, you were doing something wrong.”
Meanwhile, Bocchicchio added that if they wanted, he or other senators would be willing to go to the informal meeting along with Eckstein to explain the confirmation process.
Eckstein said that while the process of hiring an elections board changes from year to year, it is very common for someone on executive staff to be involved with support in dealing with the hiring process.
Eckstein mentioned that because the ASUO elections coordinator is the only executive position that manages their own staff, it is appropriate for the executive to offer support.
After Eckstein and ASUO University Liaison Braden Wolf gave feedback on the interview process, Price made the final call on the candidates for the job and selected the four that would make up his elections board.
“(The decision) basically came down to the absolute necessity to have individuals that were going to be unbiased,” Price said.
Price said that he, along with his staff, would hold a town hall meeting before fall term ended for students to offer ideas about the elections process for this year.
“We’d like it to be an open process (in order) to minimize problems come election season,” Price said.
[email protected]