West Virginia University Student Government Association Governor Taylor Richmond announced his plan to run for student body president during Wednesday night’s meeting, four months before elections take place. Richmond is forming a ticket to run for the position, and was looking for a vice president, governors and members of athletic council. "I’m announcing early so that students who want to run will know someone to seek out," Richmond said. "Even though SGA held forums last spring to change elections, nothing has been done, and I don’t think anything will be done." Normally there is no formal announcement of tickets or plans to run, said SGA Attorney General James Bailey. "There’s usually no big announcement or coming-out party or anything like that," he said. Richmond’s reasoning for announcing his plan was because the ticket selection process was a "back room thing." "I’m just trying to change the way things are done," he said. But Bailey did not agree about the ticket selection process being a secret matter. "Taylor said that formation of a ticket is held in back rooms and is secretive," he said. "That’s not how it goes – people generally know who’s going to run by the way they act or how they talk." There is no policy addressing the formation or announcement of tickets in WVU’s Student Body Constitution or Elections Code. The Elections Code also states no candidate can campaign for office until 14 days before the election. Fines can be issued for violating the code. Richmond’s decision to announce early was not campaigning, but trying to give students who want to run a chance to seek him to be on his ticket, he said. "If that means I have to pay a fine to do it, then so be it," he said. Richmond was not campaigning during his announcement, however, said Elections Chair Matt Gutta because he was not asking for anyone to vote for him; Bailey agreed. Gov. Molly Wilson reminded Richmond, following his announcement, she and SGA Vice President Whitney Rae Peters were planning an informational elections meeting to help those wanting to run to get involved in the process. Throwing his or her hat in the ring for presidency early could undermine the work of a governor’s platform, said SGA President Jason Zuccari. "I think it’s a little bit too early to talk about elections," he said. "All of the board’s goals should be thinking about getting things done before our term ends instead of thinking about elections." There is still plenty of time for election matters, Zuccari said, and just because Richmond announced first does not mean he will win first, but there is a possibility for more candidates to announce their plans to run. Peters said Richmond’s announcement was out of the norm for SGA, but did not think it was a bad thing. "I kind of have mixed feelings about it. It’s against the norm, and it is good to break the norm," she said. "I’m not afraid of change." She agreed with Zuccari and Bailey, saying her fear was that any governor talking about running meant not finishing up work on their current platform. In other business, SGA’s Board of Governors unanimously passed a resolution supporting more handicapped parking spaces on campus. The resolution was drafted by Richmond and Gov. Scott Covitz, and calls for the extra parking spaces in lot 10, between the Business & Economics Building and the Life Sciences Building, to be converted to handicapped. Zuccari will present the resolution to WVU’s Board of Governors at its next meeting, Nov. 6.
Richmond to run for SGA pres. in ’10
Published: Thursday, October 22, 2009
Updated: Thursday, October 22, 2009 01:10
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