Only one day before Student Senate elections, RSVP and FACE continue tossing accusations and attacks, but the election might be over before any consequences of negative campaigning are decided.
FACE presidential candidate Matthew Wallace said three online comments made by Scripps College of Communication Senator Shawn Silvis were personal attacks and asked the Board of Elections to fine RSVP $675 — $225 for each comment.
Silvis’ comments referred to Wallace as “this jackass” and “idiot.” A third comment said “It’s Matt Wallace stooping down to this low of a level,” according to an email from Wallace to Board of Elections Chairman Chauncey Jackson.
The board has not yet met to discuss the complaint and might not be able to do so until Wednesday, the first day of voting, Jackson said.
RSVP presidential candidate Kyle Triplett said he does not expect his ticket to be fined.
“I don’t think Shawn’s comments were derogatory in any way,” he said. The end of the campaign season has brought more attacks on both parties, he added.
“Both sides are really starting to throw jabs at each other,” he said.
FACE was fined $225 this weekend for an image posted on Facebook.
“I think it’s pretty cut and dry,” Wallace said. “I think you could argue that there was gray area in my case, but him calling me a jackass — there’s little gray area in that.”
The controversy began when Wallace posted an image that he said originally came from somebody named Dave Poppelman, who Wallace said he has never met.
The image was a screen shot showing Triplett’s Facebook photo page. One of the photos shown on the page depicted a drawing of a woman with the caption, “Tracey is wrong. Use an example to show that Tracey is wrong,” and the words, “She’s a woman” hand-written underneath.
RSVP complained that the posting of the image by FACE campaign members constituted negative campaigning, and the Board of Elections agreed.
Wallace said his ticket will be able to pay the fine, but it doesn’t help its “financial underdog” standing.
In his initial response to the fine, Wallace asked Student Senate’s Conduct and Discipline Committee Chairman John Calhoun, who is running for Graduate Student Senate president on the hOUr party, to file a disciplinary complaint against President Jesse Neader, Vice President Matthew Beddingfield and Treasurer Patty Roberts for endorsing RSVP while sitting on the election’s appeals committee. The endorsement constituted “willful neglect of duty,” he said.
However, the complaint is unlikely to be filed at all because no senators are willing to do it, Wallace said.
Wallace is not eligible to file the complaint himself because he is no longer a senator. Calhoun said he does not intend to pursue the issue and no senators have filed complaints thus far.
“As it stands now, there’s nothing to look at,” Calhoun said.
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