THEUWMPOST est. 1956
the student-run independent newspaper
April 09, 2012
POST ENDORSEMENT FOR SA PRESIDENT
Panthers win second home series page 6
Issue 25, Volume 56
page 12
SA election scandal Weekend Natives page 14
VP candidate’s leaked Facebook reveals personal attacks, conspiracy to defraud election Failed emergency A look at the How to rig an SA turmoil leaked messages election without senate meeting from Grow’s complicates really trying spells budgetary Facebook account trouble ICONIC and UP candidates
election
Includes racist and sexist attempt to subvert election remarks; plot to rig election ICONIC party tossed off commission independence
By Audrey Posten and John Parnon Staff Writer and Assistant News Editor news@uwmpost.com Vice presidential candidate Eric Grow resigned his position and was fired from his job at the Milwaukee Election Commission after an anonymous source leaked private Facebook messages, highlighting racist and sexist remarks about other members of the UW-Milwaukee Student Association and a plot to rig the presidential election. Twenty-nine of the 39 leaked pages are a conversation in which ICONIC presidential candidate Hugo Nguyen proposes bribing students to take vacant seats in the senate. They planned on using the votes of the fake senators to install Sen. Terry Maxwell as election commissioner. “Fine. I’ll stuff the senate,” Nguyen said to Grow in the leaked Facebook messages. “U do ur thing. But if they don’t approve Terry [Maxwell] then what, no elections? Cause if there is an election with ASV I personally feel that they will win.” In the leaked messages, Hugo and Grow conspired to stack the March 20 senate session. If they still could not get Maxwell elected, they thought about forcing him through a poorly attended emergency senate session, during which the 2/3rd approval required to secure his appointment would be easier to obtain. Grow said he believed Maxwell, as IEC, would disqualify Allied Student Voice, a third party headed by presidential candidate Daniel Laughland and vice presidential candidate Tereza Pelicaric. Nguyen told the Post that all 29 pages of the conversation were meant to be humorous, and that Grow “probably knew [he] was joking.” Another five pages of the leak are a conversation between Grow and his friend Samantha Zager, in which he said that his position in SA was “shady,” he was actively working to remove his political opposition from the ballot and made racially charged remarks about his party’s presidential candidate Rick Banks. “It has made me give up on black people,” Grow said in the message. “My candidate is black and he is just not a good candidate. It’s the most frustrating thing. He is just bad at politics.” In a separate conversation with Sen. Elle Rodriguez, Grow expressed frustration over what he said he saw as Bank’s unwillingness to take more of a leadership role. “I know that he can act like he’s above
ballot; Grow remains By Justin Jabs and Zach Brooke Staff Writers and Assistant News Editor news@uwmpost.com
The upcoming Student Association election has changed dramatically after the Independent Election Commission’s last-minute decision to remove the ICONIC party from the ballot, days before they are distributed to students’ email accounts. The commission ruled late Sunday evening to assess ICONIC a total of 475 points for three different infractions related to defacing an opposing party’s campaign materials, harassing another candidate and conspiracy to subvert the electoral process. That amount was nearly double the 250 point threshold needed to disqualify ICONIC presidential candidate Hugo Nguyen and vice presidential candidate Jory DeLoach from this week’s election. The commission also ruled that all ICONIC senatorial candidates would remain on the ballots as independents. “My concern from the beginning is Hugo’s blatant mocking of the electoral process,” acting IEC Commissioner Anthony DeWees said shortly before ruling on the first of three complaints against Nguyen, who was not present to contest the charges. Following the ruling, Nguyen remained defiant, telling the Post by phone, “I have no intention of going gently into the night, and I plan on staging the largest write-in campaign UWM has ever seen.” The upheaval comes after private Facebook conversations between Nguyen and United Panthers vice presidential candidate Eric Grow were leaked by an anonymous source. The messages detail a plot to subvert SA elections and undermine the independence of the election commission. In the messages, Grow talks about “trying to get [his] political opposition off the ballot,” and he and Nguyen discuss ways to “stuff the senate” with paid students to get Sen. Terry Maxwell installed as the independent election commissioner. Grow has since resigned his position as special assistant to the president. While he remains on the ballot, his running mate on the United Panthers ticket, presidential candidate Rick Banks said if elected, he would ask Grow to resign. Grow himself told the Post via email, “I will not continue working for the Student Association under any circumstance.” DeWees assessed 200 points against the United Panthers and ICONIC parties following the
The leaked private Facebook messages of United Panthers vice presidential candidate Eric Grow, who served as special assistant to the president before he resigned Friday, revealed an attempt to undermine the upcoming Student Association elections and subvert the independence of the election commission. The messages sent between Grow and ICONIC presidential candidate Hugo Nguyen detailed a plot to remove Chief Justice Anthony DeWees as the acting independent election commissioner and replace him with Sen. Terry Maxwell. Grow claimed in the messages that DeWees’ role as both acting independent election commissioner and chief justice violated the SA constitution. “The chief justice would have to rule that what they were doing was somehow constitutional … If he did that we would appeal to everyone at the university,” he told Nguyen. Grow and Nguyen said in the leaked messages that they believed Maxwell, whose appointment by President Angela Lang as commissioner was voted down at the March 11 senate session, would be willing to overlook blatant campaign violations committed by ICONIC and would be willing to throw Allied Student Voice off the ballot. Allied Student Voice is led by presidential and vice presidential candidates Daniel Laughland and Tereza Pelicaric, respectively. “At this point it’s a shame, because it takes down the legitimacy of the election,” Laughland told the Post. “I’ve always said I want this to be about the issues … and now it’s coming back to personal attacks again.” Both ASV candidates expressed sympathy for UP presidential candidate Rick Banks, who they said they believe was unaware of Grow’s underhanded political tactics. Banks said that he knew that Grow and Nguyen were talking about campaign issues, but did not know they were planning to rig the elections. “They wanted to do all these things with Hugo, and I thought we were focusing on the wrong thing, why couldn’t we focus on building a campaign,” Banks said. Grow told the Post through email that Maxwell was not involved in the plot and is “a fresh face within the Student Association who is not running with any party in the upcoming elections.” Maxwell claimed via email that he saw the IEC seat as a way to stay involved with SA while avoiding the “carnage” of senatorial battles and the election.
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INDEX
NEWS SPORTS
By Steve Garrison News Editor news@uwmpost.com
1-5 6-7
FRINGE EDITORIAL
8-11 12-13
COMICS PUZZLES
Deadline for Fair Parking Bill among many issues not addressed by SA at meeting By Zack Garhart Staff Writer news@uwmpost.com
An emergency Student Association senate session held on April 6 failed to draw enough senators to meet quorum, meaning that a deal to obtain 200 subsidized parking spaces in the Klotsche Center and Pavilion parking garage may be in jeopardy. The SA was under pressure from administrators to approve the deal, which would increase student segregated fees by $6.50, before the UWMilwaukee auxiliary budget was to be submitted to the UW System on April 15. President Angela Lang said she felt uncomfortable calling an emergency senate session, but felt she had to after her request for an extension was denied. “Parking was the one thing we could do for students, even in this weird political climate,” Lang said. “I really don’t want to lose the fact that we should really be working for the students.” Also unaddressed at the failed meeting, which fell two senators short of the 2/3rd majority necessary to hold an emergency meeting, was the approval of the Senate Appropriations Committee bylaws. SAC grant kick-off week, scheduled for April 14 and April 15, will become legally tenuous without approved bylaws, SAC Chair Rachel Falk said. “It’s possible that the parking deal will fall through now and parking rates might go up next year in the garages,” Speaker of the Senate Rick Banks said. “Depending on what happens on SAC weekend, there could potentially be lawsuits for violations but I don’t think that’s going to happen.” The SA office was crammed with senators, reporters and curious onlookers at 2 p.m. on April 6, with some members of the senate ready to phone in their vote on the time-sensitive agenda items. Nonetheless, the senate fell short of the 25 senators necessary, and within minutes of calling the meeting into session, Banks called to adjourn. Several senators, including Michael Ludwig, were displeased with the decision but Chief Justice Anthony DeWees said he had no other choice. Although the emergency meeting was called 48 hours ahead of time and both Lang and Banks had received a number of e-mails saying certain members would not be there, Lang said she was not sure what to expect. “Given other situations, we could have gotten
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Grow’s Misconduct