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Jamie
Pollock reinstated as Associated Students
president after Judiciary's ruling
By
Daniel Linck Savino
Daily Forty-Niner
Assistant Opinion Editor
After
two hearings and a recount, Jamie Pollock
has been officially reinstated to the Associated
Students presidency. In a ruling issued
late Monday afternoon, the AS Judiciary
significantly reduced the Elections Commission's
previous findings, which disqualified her
from the position.
The
Judiciary heard two cases Thursday. The
first was brought by former presidential
candidate Uduak-Joe Ntuk, and accused the
Long Beach Union of both campaigning for
Pollock and being abusive towards him. In
the second, heard simultaneously, Pollock
appealed the Commission's ruling.
The
court began work on the case Thursday evening
and continued through the weekend, finishing
just after 5:00 p.m. Monday.
The
Judiciary threw out some of the charges
of which Pollock was previously found guilty.
Most notable was the accusation that Rebekah
Smith, outgoing treasurer and Pollock supporter,
was tearing down Ntuk's campaign material.
The Commission considered that a major violation
of the rules.
A
signed statement was presented on Smith's
behalf. In it, she admitted tearing down
several signs posted by the Black Business
Students Association. Those signs prominently
featured a picture of Ntuk and advertised
a club event at which Ntuk would be speaking.
The
court noted that the flyers were not registered
as campaign material, and Smith was not
a campaign worker for Pollock at the time.
Pollock
was deemed, by a unanimous vote, to not
be responsible for Smith's actions.
The
Judiciary upheld several minor violations
related to passing out unapproved campaign
material and using unapproved workers.
"The
court finds Jamie Pollock culpable of a
total of three minor violations, which does
not carry the sanction of disqualification
as president-elect," the court ruled.
"The sanction that this court hands
down will include half of the defendant's
first two months stipend be forfeited."
The
monthly stipend is a payment based on cost-of-living
expenses. Applying current amounts, Pollock's
fine will amount to roughly $1,300. That
money will be used, per the ruling, "to
support an ad-hoc committee made for the
sole purpose of improving the ethical standards
of the election process."
Pollock
described the ruling, saying "the bottom
line is, we won fair and square. Now it's
final."
On
the other side of the ruling, Ntuk expressed
his dismay with the Judiciary.
"If
that's their decision, they're letting the
politics of hate win," he said. "It's
a dark day in Long Beach State's history."
In
Ntuk's complaint against the Union, the
Judiciary cleared the paper of all charges.
They held that the paper was not affiliated
with Pollock's campaign, and that the articles
published in the April 18 issue did not
constitute campaigning.
"The
principle purpose of publishing student
material is to allow for the expression
of one's opinions to flow freely, as prescribed
[sic] in the first amendment," the
ruling said. "Therefore, the content
of the Union Weekly publication does not
meet the definition of campaigning."
The
court also ruled against Ntuk's assertion
that the paper was campaigning. The Union
staff passed out copies of the paper to
passersby during the runoffs, both at polling
locations and other high traffic areas on
campus. The ruling said that "this
act of distribution, although unusual, was
not unreasonable and does not constitute
campaigning...because it was a response
to acts of theft of their publication."
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