From left: Alexandria Bishop, Naya Payne and Nicholas Cropper were each the subject of alleged campaign violations during fall midterm elections.
By Emily Wunderlich
The election for Student Government senate was not without controversy.
Before the votes were tallied, SG’s four-member elections rules commission had to address three alleged campaign violations — all of which were dismissed.
Early campaigning
On Oct. 16, Wendy Castro, a member of the commission, filed a grievance against candidate Alexandria Bishop for early campaigning, defined as “any public or private declaration of your intent to run” under SG statutes.
The night her candidacy was approved, Bishop sent a message in a Snapchat group called “USFSP Fam” that had more than 30 people in it. The message asked members for their Twitter handles so Bishop could follow them on her campaign account.
“I just read that first paragraph (of the approval email). I didn’t read much farther because I was excited,” Bishop said in the commission meeting Oct. 16. She said she didn’t get to the part of the email that specified when campaigning would begin.
Although she could not vote on the issue, supervisor of elections Alexandria Domingo came to Bishop’s defense in the meeting.
“I know in the campaign packet, it did say the actual dates, however, it doesn’t say you will be in violation if you do campaign earlier,” Domingo said. “Also, when you turn in the campaign packet, you kind of turn in the whole packet, so therefore you kind of do lose the actual dates unless you took a picture of it.”
The commission unanimously voted not to disqualify Bishop for the minor infraction. She was elected Tuesday with 25 percent of the vote.
University logos
On Oct. 17, senator Mikey Sherrill filed a complaint against candidate Naya Payne for use of a university logo in campaign materials. Sherrill cited a campaign video on Payne’s Facebook page that included the University Student Center sign.
Payne argued that the university logo itself was not embedded in the video, and that the USC was considered a campaigning location under SG statutes.
Domingo again voiced her support for Payne in front of the commission but recused herself from voting. Payne was not disqualified, and he was elected Tuesday with 48 percent of the vote.
Slander
Then, on Oct. 23, Gregory Cote, an incumbent senator running for re-election, filed a complaint against candidate Nicholas Cropper for slander, citing an article in the Oct. 22 issue of The Crow’s Nest. Cote’s complaint appears in full below. It has been edited for clarity.
“(Cropper) specifically calls out my position as chair of appropriations and directly implies I’m being paid to sit around and do nothing. This candidate doesn’t understand that (committee chairs) get paid for office hours, not for holding committee meetings, and the paycheck is only $48 bi-weekly.
“Furthermore, I am the senator who brought up repaying chairs for this year during the last appropriations session, as it had been done in the past and is necessary for senator retention. He also criticized that in the article.
“He used the opportunity The Crow’s Nest gave him to make me seem like an ineffective senator, and make SG seem like a hellscape that he is coming in to be the savior for.”
Since Cropper could not attend the meeting, he delivered a recorded statement that was played in the commission meeting.
“I want to make it very clear that my having a problem with the chair of the appropriations committee being paid during the fall semester has absolutely nothing to do with the person who fills that position,” Cropper said in the recording.
“I wholeheartedly agree with senator Cote’s assessment that a pay is necessary for senatorial retention. However, I believe that the pay should be a reward for hard work, not a guarantee for filling a position as a committee chair.
“I’ll admit that I’m still learning how all this works, but nothing I said meets the very high bar of being called libel or slander,” he said.
Ysatis Jordan, student body vice president, was one of the people who voiced their support for Cote in the open discussion.
“I felt kind of attacked. I know it was toward the appropriations chair, but as someone who has been in Student Government and has been in the legislative branch and then the executive branch, I think it was really rude … especially because senate is a lot of work, but people don’t understand until you’re in senate,” she said.
“I just think that someone shouldn’t bash an organization that you want to be a part of before you join,” she added. “You don’t know the problems until you’re in the organization, so don’t bash us, because you’re causing bad blood before you even get in.”
The committee voted 2-1 not to disqualify Cropper. He was not elected and declined to comment on the results or the commission meeting in an email to The Crow’s Nest.
