MSA candidates file, BEC rules on additional complaints

BEC ruled on five complaints Thursday.

By Megan Stroup

Published Nov. 13, 2008

Technical difficulties with the online voting application for Missouri Students Association president have created an extra week of campaigning and an extra week of filing formal complaints.

Presidential candidate Jordan Paul and running mate Colleen Hoffmann filed five complaints against opponents Phyllis Williams and Jonathan Snipes on Thursday.

Paul said there were three different arguments covered in these complaints. He said the most blatant violation Williams/Snipes committed was posting a campaign flier on a Maneater distribution bin in the Arts and Science Building.

"You are not allowed to do that under any circumstances, I believe," Paul said, claiming this act was a violation against The Maneater, which is independent of MSA, the Board of Elections Commissioners and the campaign.

But Williams denied that her slate posted any material on a Maneater bin. Instead, she said, Snipes posted a flyer on the window directly behind the bin, to avoid posting on the doors where the flyers could block the line of sight.

The BEC ruled that Maneater bins are not under their jurisdiction and issued no fines.

Paul and Hoffmann also argued that Williams and Snipes did not take the time to follow procedure when getting permission to post in Arts and Science. This argument was expressed in three separate complaints, on Williams/Snipes' campaign materials on doors, on windows and in classrooms in the building.

"Our campaign has done all three of these," Paul said. "The difference is you have to have a signed form, signed both by yourself and the building coordinator, received by BEC before you can do this."

Paul said that because it's now crunch time for the campaigns, not turning in the form gave Williams/Snipes an additional day to campaign they wouldn't have if they followed the rules.

"We only have 10 election forms," Paul said. "Phyllis has seen my forms and knows the protocol. It's not like it's foreign."

But Williams argued the BEC handbook states slates only have to get permission before posting, and the building manager form that Paul's complaint references is not due until the Monday following the posting.

Williams said she had verbal permission from Arts and Science building manager Marcia Reeves and had set up an appointment on Thursday to have the forms signed.

Williams said as of 4:20 p.m. Thursday, she had submitted all necessary materials to the BEC. The BEC is still considering the complaints.

Reeves was not available for comment.

The Paul/Hoffmann campaign filed a fifth complaint against Williams/Snipes on Thursday afternoon regarding a flier posted on the wall on the second floor of the Arts and Science Building. The BEC was still investigating the charge Thursday night, Chairman Justin Mohn said. Mohn formerly worked for The Maneater.

Paul and Pacheco both said slates may obtain permission from building coordinators to post in classrooms, doors and other areas, but as far as they know, nothing is ever allowed to be posted directly on the building walls.

"You could tell it was intentionally put there," Pacheco said. "It was put there to set it apart, it was very clear it was put there for a reason."

But Williams said the poster is not from her campaign.

Williams said she and Snipes printed 16 copies of a particular poster to post only in Cornell Hall on Monday. Ten of these posters were affixed to the bulletin boards and the other six remain in Snipes' possession, she said.

The poster next to the bulletin board in Arts and Sciences is a photocopy of her poster, Williams said, because the quality and texture of the paper was distinctly different from the paper her campaign used.

Williams also added that two of her Cornell posters are missing from their posted locations.

"We are concerned because it's not the flier we made," Williams said. "It's a copy of a design that was posted in Cornell and Cornell only. To be straight, we're not accusing any slate of anything like that."

Regarding the earlier complaint against Paul/Hoffmann for solicitation in off-campus apartment complexes, Williams said their actions were solicitation in its basic form. But the BEC denied all four complaints, regarding excessive fliering, solicitation and fliering on windows and in bathrooms.

"You cannot post anything on anyone's door without permission," Williams said, adding she believes residence hall solicitation rules should apply to off-campus complexes as well.

Williams said the BEC has no precedent for this because before the removal of the campaign spending cap, no slates could afford door-knockers such as the ones Paul/Hoffmann hung this year.

Candidates Joe Fessehaye and Lindsey Abell have not filed any complaints nor had any filed against them.