SA results bring controversy

With the recent Student Association elections finally over and the naming of former SA Legislative Affairs Director Justin Wax Jacobs as the new SA president for the 2010-11 academic year over former Albany Student Television Director Joe Bonilla, and SA Student Group Affairs Director Leah Rotella as SA vice president over SA Chief Legislative Aide Rebecca Fioravanti, three court petitions have been filed for several election infractions, all of which will be tried this Thursday in LC 21 at 9 p.m.

The petitions each make claim of violations of the election processes. One was made from newly elected Wax Jacobs to Sen. Matthew Wimpelberg for "malicious campaigning," another made by SA Vice Presidential Candidate Rebecca Fioravanti against Elections Commissioner Meagan Chen and SA vice Presidential victor Leah Rotella for bias accusations and one last petition from Sen. Bonilla and Rotella against Wax Jacobs and Fioravanti, according to court documents.

The documents read that Wax Jacobs wants to "unfortunately file a complaint against Wimpelberg" and that along the campaign trail, Rebecca Fioravanti and Wax Jacobs have found that many University at Albany students ask them "why our ticket was a ticket of ‘lies.'"

Other accusations from this petition read that Wimpelberg referred to Fioravanti, who was running as SA vice president, as a "do nothing" candidate who "latched on to Justins's stolen platform."

That alleged stolen platform is the SA Legislative Affairs Office, in which Wax Jacobs formerly worked in, that was mentioned in the petition as part of the CDTA contract negotiations that took place to extend the hours of service. According to the document, Wax Jacobs piggybacked onto that initiative that was headed by SA Legislative Affairs Director Samantha Bernstein.

Wax Jacobs said that these accusations are false, and that Wimpelberg is being sued mainly because he was facing charges himself.

"The issue was that false accusations were being made on his part, and since me and [Fioravanti] were being sued by the other side, we decided that fair is fair and we should present all the charges that we heard on the campaign trail," Wax Jacobs said.
Wimpelberg released a statement on the matter: "I feel as though it is unfortunate that this election has come to a series of court cases.  This is bad for the organization and I hope that the court rules in a just fashion."

The second of the petitions, which was filed on April 19, marks Fioravanti as the petitioner and both Chen and Rotella as the respondents.

In the documents, Fioravanti claims that she was "illegally taken off the ballot as a Vice President candidate without any investigation." A feat she attributes to bias on their part.
"[Chen] ruthlessly took me off the ballot without any concrete reason, a horrible use of discretion if you ask me," Fioravanti states in the documents. "Miss Chen works in the same office as Leah Rotella, and whether or not that factors into her bias at all, there have been numerous times where she has shown a bias against me."

Fioravanti was contacted, but was not available for comment b by the time of the report.
Chen was also contacted via e-mail, but was not replied

In a prepared statement, Rotella said she can't speak much on the specifics of the case because of its proximity of the case on Thursday, but she said: "What I can say is that it's very disheartening to see that the elections have taken such a sour turn. The Student Association Constitution and bylaws exist for a reason, and I feel as if those seeking office in this organization must not only abide by these rules but hold themselves to a higher standard, too. Not everyone who sought office this past election season did so.

"The most unfortunate thing that has come of this situation is the hindrance it has put on the state of the Student Association for the 2010-2011 academic year.  Usually by this point in the semester, we already have an Executive Board hired for the following year and are in a period of transition between administrations. With the elections having been held later in the semester and these court petitions delaying us another two weeks, I'm worried we won't have enough time to efficiently transition from the Sussman administration to the new administration. Hopefully, all will work out for the best on Thursday by means of just and fair hearings, and we will be able to put this all in the past and move forward in the direction of positive, proactive change."

The final court petition to be discussed at this Thursday's SA Senate meeting pins Bonilla and Rotella against Jacobs and Fioravanti, in which the former claims the latter "blatantly and purposefully ignored the rules and bylaws which govern our elections." Bonilla and Rotella also add, according to the documents, that "the violations were so numerous and egregious that in order to comply with the proper and just elections mandated in our Constitution, Wax Jacobs and Fioravanti should not be considered candidates for elected office in the Student Association."

The specific violations that are drawn out include "dorm-storming," in which claims are being made against Wax Jacobs and Fioravanti that "surrogates" campaigned door-to-door in the dorms on their behalf.

"Pre-election, as well as days post-election, we were hearing of different violations that [Wax Jacobs and Fioravanti] were committing," Bonilla said. "And not just your basic technicalities … from what we were hearing, it was a little more serious in that it changes the aspect of the result of the election.

"More or less, [Bonilla and Rotella] are looking for the courts to bring a solution to the sittion because, quite frankly, I don't want anyone who voted for me to think that they voted for me in not good conscsience, and same thing for people who voted for Justin. I just want fairness from the court."

Bonilla insists that he is not making these claims as a result of the election, and said win or lose, he would have done it as a principle of the matter.