Court
holds Pollock guilty of byline violation
By
Daniel Linck Savino
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
In a ruling posted Friday, the Associated Students Judiciary found Associated
Students, Inc. President Jamie Pollock guilty of restructuring the executive
branch and giving Chief of Staff Robert Godina an unauthorized stipend.
“
President Pollock acted outside the scope of the existing bylaws, and later
pushed a failed amendment to reconcile her disregard for the ASI written law,” the
ruling said.
The case, filed by student John Kitahara, argued that Pollock’s decision
to give Godina an executive-level stipend of $1,322 a month violated AS Bylaws.
The bylaws allow executive officers to receive stipends. Determining whether
the chief of staff fell under that description played a significant role in
the case. Pollock had used the stipend normally reserved for the ASI administrator
to pay Godina. Both officers were appointed by Pollock.
Kitahara expressed his satisfaction with the ruling.
“
I’m glad that it turned out the way it did. I got my point across that
I wanted to make,” he said. “You can’t work around the bylaws.”
Though the Judiciary ruled against Pollock, it is not immediately clear what,
if any, effect that ruling will have on her.
“
The court does recognize the work of the chief of staff but can only acknowledge
his monetary compensation after an amendment has been drafted and approved
by the Senate and then properly amending our AS Bylaws,” the ruling said.
“
Therefore, until then Mr. Godina as chief of staff should not be receiving
an executive stipend.”
Kevin Rhodes, ASI Attorney General and lawyer for Pollock, argued that “should” is
not equivalent to “must.”
“
It’s all bark and no bite,” Rhodes said. “It doesn’t
require Jamie Pollock to do anything. There is no statement in the entirety
of the ruling that gives any form of punishment or recompense.”
The ruling also stated that Administrator Sally Bulquerin “should receive
a stipend from hereinafter[sic].”
Stipends for both Bulquerin and Godina were addressed by the AS Senate, which
recently revised the Policy on Executive Fellowships. The revision allows both
the administrator and chief of staff to receive a stipend. Multiple
attempts to make the bylaw amendment called for in the ruling, however, have
repeatedly failed. Those efforts would have reclassified the chief of staff
as an “appointed executive officer.”
Rhodes also said because the ruling requires the bylaws to be amended for Godina
to be paid, the Judiciary is effectively voiding the fellowship policy.
“
To the best of my knowledge, bylaws are the supreme law of Associated Students,” Rhodes
said. “All other rules and policies adopted by AS are secondary to the
bylaws. The decision of the Judiciary to declare that ‘until the bylaws
are changed, Mr. Godina is not entitled to a stipend’ effectively undoes
all of the work done by the Senate on the executive fellowship policy.”
Chief Justice Mandy Reyes said the fellowship policy, though not considered
by the court while the ruling was being drafted, effectively solved the problem.
“
When we made this ruling, we were not aware of the amendment that had been
made,” she added.
The Judiciary’s ruling also noted deep-rooted problems with the AS Bylaws.
“
We feel that the current AS Bylaws allow for a major inconsistency which both
parties failed to mention,” the ruling said. “Hence, the difference
between an elected executive officer and an appointed executive officer both
fall under the ‘AS Executives’ category.”
The ruling also said the court recommended the AS Senate reconsider and fix
the inconsistencies in its functioning rules so future administrations cannot
abuse them.
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