Pictured above: Veronica Jimenez (left) and Jonathon Hatzistefanou
Courtesy of Jonathon Hatzistefanou
In deciding to run, Veronica and I fully understood the enormous burden we were choosing to carry — both in running and in potentially being USF St. Petersburg’s first governor and lieutenant governor under a new constitution and under a consolidated USF.
However, while it may be an enormous responsibility, it is simultaneously a duty. For any representative to fulfill his or her purpose — that purpose being to represent the student body’s interests in all respects — they must first recognize the occupation of chief executive as a duty.
If the executive does not understand the job of governor or president to be inherently grounded in a duty to the student body, the executive has already failed in fulfilling their purpose.
This failure is reflected in our Student Government in a plethora of cases — some infamous for themes of drama and revenge, others shrouded in obscurity for the routineness of occurrence.
The impeachment scandal of last spring resulted from self-righteous individuals who were driven by the imperative of social justice that appears to spread cancerously throughout any college campus it finds a home.
The personal agendas of those offended by tweets whose subject matter is completely separate from the daily operations of Student Government have no place in determining the functionality of a student organization meant to represent the student body.
Nor do unmotivated, self-interested individuals only occupying their position of leadership by happenstance and for the benefit of their résumé have any business tarnishing the reputation of Student Government through an inability to properly execute their duties and subsequently resigning.
Any Student Government worth its salt will immediately recognize such instability as first and foremost unacceptable, and secondly will resolve to immediately remedy such institutional ailments in the whole of their capacity. Any Student Government that does not do so is not one worthy of being your representatives.
Simply running for this office is a privilege, and not one that Veronica and I take lightly. To hold the office of governor is not only a privilege, but a duty.
By electing a governor and lieutenant governor who have the experience in Student Government to efficiently execute daily duties without struggle; who wholeheartedly recognize the fundamental afflictions which bog down a proper execution of responsibility to the students; and who understand the nature of the office to be one founded in a duty to the students and their interests, you will be doing yourself and your fellow students a great service.
For this, Veronica and I ask for your vote on March 2 through 5.
