Minor sanctions for Tyagi-Lachman ticket
Posted February 15, 2011 at 11:56 pm in Featured, News
The Undergraduate Student Government Elections Commission determined that presidential candidate Monish Tyagi committed a minor violation of the elections code by having campaign materials present where alcohol was consumed or present. Tyagi and running mate Logan Lachman will be not be allowed to wear their campaign T-shirts for one hour today.
Rock the vote · Steven Ilami, a freshman majoring in computer science, and Anatashia Lewis, a senior majoring in public relations, cast their votes. - Cory Sanford | Daily Trojan
“The Tyagi-Lachman campaign was found in violation of wearing campaign material in an unapproved location,” said Barb Solish, the USG Elections Commission chair. “However, the commission determined the intent of both the code and the candidates as well as circumstance warranted a minor sanction.”
Tyagi and Lachman will not be allowed to wear their campaign T-shirts today from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Vice presidential candidate Rohan Mehra, who is running with Alex Fadil, filed the formal complaint against Tyagi on Monday.
The complaint included two photos that show Tyagi wearing a campaign shirt at a nighttime event with a DJ in the background. The complaint suggested alcohol could have been present, given the setting of the photo.
“The intention of the rule is to not to use alcohol in a way to promote or entice people into your campaign in any way,” Tyagi said. “In the code it states that alcohol may not be used at any campaign events, and I think it’s very clear that this was not a campaign event.”
All three presidential tickets confirmed that they agreed before the election to discuss such allegations with each other before filing any complaints.
Mehra said no malice was intended in filing the complaint.
“Traditions is a bar that serves alcohol,” Mehra said. “Everyone would agree that it’s unfair to campaign in an alcoholic venue. We were just figuring out if campaigning was going on or if it was an accident.”
Current USG President Chris Cheng, whose campaign was sanctioned last year for using an e-mail listserve last year, said the charges are part of the learning experience of running a campaign.
“It taught us that keeping track of details really helped us out in running our administration to keep an eye out for the rules and to make sure that everything went according to protocol,” Cheng said. “It helped us know now to make things run smoothly this year.”
For more coverage on the 2011 USG elections, click here.
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This article is tagged: infractions, infractions appeals committee, sanctions, Tyagi-Lachman, USG Elections 2011
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I’m a semi-recent alumni (and journalism major) and as such, have no vested opinion in the outcome of the election. However, I fail to see how this article is biased. I can’t even tell who people are accusing Ms. Bracker of being biased towards. All I see here is reporting on the results of an infractions case, using quotes from involved parties interspersed with facts from the ruling and complaint. I’ve read through the rest of the campaign coverage as well and see no injection of opinion or biased reporting.
Yes, the DT endorsed a candidate, but nearly all print publications do so. Apparently this is a hotly contested election, but there is no reason to accuse a student who is most likely just trying to complete their journalism learning lab requirement of being part of some media conspiracy. Doesn’t that seem a little silly?
Rachel’s reporting and twitting had been so biased, so unprofessional and speculative….. putting a fair press to shame.
Sigh……
I think this is what happens when the Daily Trojan is allowed to officially back a candidate. Their reporting about this matter has been one-sided from day one and obviously biased. They even had to make a formal correction to a previous article where they smeared Monish and Logan with speculation and untrue details. I just think in the future that the DT should remain on the sidelines of the election and be an un-biased resource for the students.
How about instead of not letting Tyagi-Lachman wear their shirts for an hour, you hand them a pamphlet saying they can shit all over USG elections rules and do whatever they want, because they aren’t going to be held accountable for anything they do?
This whole things seems to be a simple dirty trick. Mehra failed to respect his own words to discuss such matter amongst all candidates, and then after reporting he kept repeating that its ‘not a big deal’ and ‘no malice intended’.
His acts were either simply naive or malicious. Unfortunately, Daily Trojan’s covering of the event is not an example of mature press. It was so speculative Its so unfortunate, specially at the election event. Simply a bad press!!
You said it best. Besides the blatantly awful reporting, where is an editor?? why is our publication looking so shabby?