Campaign manager for the We Are Oregon campaign Blake Sedgley@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Blake+Sedgley@@ filed a grievance with the ASUO Elections Board against ASUO University Affairs Coordinator and independent candidate Manny Garcia yesterday afternoon, calling for his removal from the ballot. Sedgley also sent a press release that said a detective from the Department of Public Safety contacted people involved with ASUO elections.
In the grievance, he outlines Garcia’s alleged involvement with the phishing scam. According to a grievance filed last week by the Ben and Lamar campaign, members from the Katie and Alex campaign created a phishing website on March 28 to tamper with emails and phone numbers from people involved with ASUO elections. It was then reported that documents were stolen and deleted from the campaign’s email accounts.
In addition to Garcia, the grievance also named Charles Denson, former Oregon Student Public Interest Group board chair and member of the Katie and Alex campaign, as a part of the scandal.
Garcia is a candidate for the Student Planning and Construction Committee. Sedgley asked that the Elections Board remove Garcia immediately because of his involvement with the scam — the scam of which prompted the Constitutional Court to remove Katie and Alex from the ballot last week.
“What I would hope is that he drops out on his own,” Sedgley said. “It makes perfect sense.”
He also stated in the grievance filed yesterday that presidential candidate Ben Bowman secretly recorded an in-person conversation where Denson admitted to organizing the scam and Garcia admitted to sending an email with a link to the phishing website.
Presidential candidate for the We Are Oregon campaign, Laura Hinman, said in the press release she received the email with a link that would have sent her to the phishing website. When Hinman didn’t click on the link, she said she received two phone calls from Garcia.
“It’s fair that Katie and Alex were held accountable for the actions of Manny Garcia, but it is necessary the actual perpetrator is removed from the ballot,” Hinman said.
She also said that she was approached by a DPS detective regarding the phishing email. She said she gave him all the information he needed.
Sam Dotters-Katz, former ASUO president and coordinator of the Your Emu Src campaign, also confirmed he was approached by a detective from DPS last week about his email being hacked.
ASUO Elections Coordinator Cedar Cosner@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Cedar+Cosner@@ said that the Elections Board will follow up with the grievance and will thoroughly look through it. He did not comment specifically on the grievance.