Here it is ladies and gents, your 2008 ASUO Elections Issue. Inside there is:

- A wonderful editorial with a gentle headline

- ASUO Executive candidate interviews

- ASUO candidate questionnaires, that are a bit scrambled due to the late special elections.

- Recaps of Eugene visits by Obama and Clinton.

- An interview with Rockne Roll, Editor of OSU’s The Liberty and Oregon Legislature candidate

- A few choice words about the new online evaluation system by Matt Walsh.

- And more…

The Con Court has made a ruling and denied a motion for reconsideration that sets the precedent that ASUO candidates cannot advertisement with, specifically, the Oregon Daily Emerald, and by default, the Oregon Commentator.

A motion of clarification filed by Tony Mecum brings into question Election Rule 6-12, which states:

that no candidate “shall employ, for any purpose relating to such election or ballot measure, any University facility or resource to which other electors do not have equal access.” Election Rule 6-12.A.vi defines “University facilities and resources” as including “[p]ublications produced with University and/or student funds.”

Executive candidates Sam Dotters-Katz and Johnny Delashaw signed a contract with the Oregon Daily Emerald to run 10 half-page ads during this week and next week. Con Court ruled this breaks rule 6-12 because the Emerald can choose to not negotiate with a advertiser.

The Oregon Daily Emerald newspaper is a publication produced with student funds and as an independent paper has the right to run only the ads it wishes to, making it not necessarily accessible to all electorates. Therefore Election Rule 6.12 bars any electorates from employing the Oregon Daily Emerald newspaper.

A footnote in the opinion says:

This is just an interpretation of the Election Rule 6.12, not a determination of the validity of said rule.

This is absurd. First of all, ASUO President Emily McLain’s campaign ran an ad in the Emerald last year. Second of all, candidates have always ran ads in both the Emerald and the Oregon Commentator. We have several examples of this. Finally, both publications have advertising policies that clearly state both publications will not deny an advertiser based on political reasons, only if said advertisement is deemed offensive. (Actually, in the OC, pretty much anything goes as long as we get our dough.)

This is a preposterous precedent that the Con Court has set. It will deliberately take away much needed revenue from two students groups, both this year and possibly in the future unless this gets cleaned up.

CORRECTION: I originally said that Mecum filed a grievance. Mecum, a member of the Oregon Action Team, actually filed a motion of clarification.

The Oregon Commentator staff is hard at work on our ASUO Elections Issue. It will be distributed next Tuesday, the first day of voting.

Voting is taking place today and tomorrow on Duckweb for the amendment changes put forth by the Executive that would add two Senate seats [see below]. If passed, students have until the end of Friday to file papers to run for those spots in next week’s election. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that opening up filing for an position five days before an election is not standard government protocol. What would you expect, however, from an administration that has shown it knows how to take advantage of setting the agenda for its own benefit. For some reason, voting for next week’s election now starts on Tuesday, not the normal Monday start.

We at the Commentator wouldn’t give a hoot if it wasn’t for the fact we are trying to put together the next issue, which will have the most extensive voters guide on campus, a caring service to University students from Sudsy. It’s a little hard, however, to do so when we are not sure of all the candidates.

Luckily, Marty Leopard, General Manager of Western Oregon Web Press, Inc, was nice enough to pencil us into their busy printing schedule on Monday, so that we have the week-end to finish things up. Cheers, Marty!

Now that the ecstasy of Barack Obama’s visit to our humble city is beginning to wear off (though one keeps expecting his most ardent disciples to show up on the doorstep one weekend morning wearing “Hope” t-shirts and asking if one has “heard the good news”…), the Democratic primary is once again looking like a political campaign rather than a messianic ascension into the hallowed Oval Office.

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So when I first heard that Barack Obama was coming to town I creamed my pants, not because I wanted to, put simply because Obama seems to have that effect on people. I don’t know what it is about the guy, but he makes more people swoon than Frank Sinatra. He’s a rock star and a politician rolled into one fat joint that the country still hasn’t come down from.

As evidence of this, more than 8,000 people showed up to see him last night at McArthur Court. One line stretched all the way from Mac Court to 18^th St., where it continued down 18^th street and wrapped around all the way to Hayward field. It took a solid hour and a half to get everyone in the building.

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Does anybody else think this should be required viewing for the ASUO?

Not trying to get the bobby-soxers in a tizzy or anything, I just think it’s a pretty significant speech. It also offers a fantastic contrast to the tone of so-called “race relations” on this campus.

The Commentator received a letter to the editor today from University student Aaron Polk. It’ll be in the next issue, but I thought it would be timely to post it on the blog:

Dear Editor,

When I opened up my Facebook today, the first thing I noticed was an event invitation to an Obama rally this Friday. An even bigger surprise was that Obama himself was coming. To be honest, I was glad to see that he was coming because I saw it as an opportunity to protest and show him that not all young students are naive enough to fall for his charismatic speeches. But that enthusiasm didn’t last for too long when I found out that the ASUO was sponsoring this event.

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I got a call today while working in the ASUO from a member of the Barack Obama campaign saying that Obama is planning on coming to Eugene on Friday, and they need to find a 10,000 plus occupant arena. I informed them that there would not be many students on campus at this time, at which point he responded, saying, “Yes, President Frohnmayer just informed me of that.” Of course you talked to the president of our university before little ol’ me. I don’t know if this is all for real. It might have been a hallucination caused by pulling an all-nighter in the library, taking too much aderall and the disillusionment caused by working in the ASUO. Maybe it was a premonition from God that the Messiah is coming. I will keep you posted.

Update: Word is 90% sure that Obama will be at Mac Court at 8:30pm on Friday March 21st! But this isn’t official. I am just trying to share my vision with the world. I hope no one is freaking out about this. 

Update 2: Just found a bit of confirmation for you all that my premonition about this might just in fact be true. KMTR commented on their website regarding the visit saying that is was for sure the he would in Portland on Friday and possibly Eugene.

Update 3: The Register Guard has confirmed that Obama will hold an event Friday at Mac Court. For the record, I scooped them all. It’s just too bad it’s Obama and not my man McCain.

With the perhaps not-so-stunning revelation that Barack Obama’s friend, pastor, and mentor, Jeremiah Wright (the title of “The Audacity of Hope” comes directly from Wright) has, among other things, suggested that the United States is responsible for AIDS, blamed the U.S. for bringing 9/11 upon itself, and suggesting that African-Americans (emphasis on the “African,” evidently) sing “God Damn America”, Barack Obama is once again in the same boat as he found himself when his wife made her “misunderstood” remarks about only just now being able to be proud of America. That is to say, the man who was supposed to be above it all, the man who was supposed to be beyond race, the man who was supposed to represent “change” is being dragged down into the slime of identity politics.

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Rockne Roll, friend of the OC and Executive Editor of The Liberty over at OSU, is running for the Oregon House of Representatives District 16. He will be facing Democratic incumbent Sarah Gelser. Although I don’t know Gelser, I can almost guarantee that Roll has finer taste in clothes and cigars. Best of luck to Roll in his campaign.

P.S. Via NW Republican, Matt “The Law” Lindland, a former Olympic wrestler and ultimate fighter, is running for House District 52.

Derek Nix, campaign manager for the Oregon Action Team slate and candidate for a PFC Senate seat, has resigned from his position as Student Senate Administrative Assistant. In his resignation letter, sent out Monday morning and acquired via a public record’s request, Nix said verbal conduct in the workplace that may be interpreted “to cause professional harm to my position in the ASUO and worse, to my personal safety,” led to his resignation effective immediately.

Over the last two weeks, I have been subject to repeated workplace harassment that threatened me with my job, the details of which have been reported to the Personnel Committee, but it culminated Thursday when Senator Gulley threatened me with physical injury. Senator Gulley had and has no evidence to support his slanderous accusations at Wednesday night’s Senate meeting.

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I must say, I really must say, that I am sick and tired of election season already. No, I am not talking about the ASUO Elections. Those have just started and I am giddy in anticipation for the first grievance to be filed. I am sick and tired of the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential Nominee. It dawned on me today that maybe the Democratic Party is not torn between two transformational leaders, but that it simply is not satisfied with what it is left with. This is not to say that Barack Obama and/or Hillary Clinton are not transformational leaders, or that the DP doesn’t like them.

Maybe the initial media hype of “the first woman president” and “the first African-American president” that kept both candidates high in the polls (this speaks more to Obama polling higher than Edwards) is beginning to wear off. With almost identical policies, characteristics (combative, strong, dedicated, organized), and messages (Clinton’s initial campaign slogan was “If you are ready for change-she is ready to lead”),  the only things differentiating these two are their skin-color, gender and that Obama got a better graphic designer. Hopefully not a single one of these differences will be the one that decides who gets the nomination, but then what will?

Wait…I don’t care so shut up about it already!