Spring Break
ASG votes against campaign finance changes
Jonathan Crabtree
Issue date: 3/8/07 Section: News
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The Associated Student Government Senate voted Tuesday night against a bill that would cut the election campaign expenditures cap for ASG executive elections in half. Sen. Jacob Holloway authored the legislation to cap campaign spending at $1,250 because lowering the amount allowed to be spent on a campaign would lead to an increase in the diversity of people who chose to run for executive office, he said.
"Even though this failed, the spirit of change within this resolution is not going to die," Holloway said after the Senate meeting. "I'm going to continue to work on more legislation to try to get more students involved in the elections process here and to try to bring more diversity to ASG.
"I think it's really important that we started the dialogue in the right direction to try to change ASG," he said.
Holloway wants to get students who wouldn't normally run for offices to become part of ASG, he said.
The bill was two votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass it. Several senators who abstained could have tipped the scales in the other direction.
"This bill was a step in the right direction, and I think it really shows something that we got a pretty good majority on this," Holloway said. "It makes me feel confident that my next few bills I'm going to be trying to get through the Senate will hopefully pass, since quite a few senators seem to support something like this."
Holloway's concerns about the impact campaign spending can have on election results are not necessarily unfounded. In the last ASG executive election, the winning ticket for president and vice president also spent the most money, a total of $2,069.04, of which Kappa Sigma donated $900, according to campaign finance reports.
"Even though we lost, the battle isn't over with this. Like I said, the spirit of this legislation is change, and while I'm here, we're going to continue with that idea of change," Holloway said.
Any students who wish to run for ASG executive officer positions in the upcoming election can pick up their applications at the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership in room A665 in the Union or print them off of the ASG Web site at asg.uark.edu. Applications must be turned in to the same office by noon Friday.
"Even though this failed, the spirit of change within this resolution is not going to die," Holloway said after the Senate meeting. "I'm going to continue to work on more legislation to try to get more students involved in the elections process here and to try to bring more diversity to ASG.
"I think it's really important that we started the dialogue in the right direction to try to change ASG," he said.
Holloway wants to get students who wouldn't normally run for offices to become part of ASG, he said.
The bill was two votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass it. Several senators who abstained could have tipped the scales in the other direction.
"This bill was a step in the right direction, and I think it really shows something that we got a pretty good majority on this," Holloway said. "It makes me feel confident that my next few bills I'm going to be trying to get through the Senate will hopefully pass, since quite a few senators seem to support something like this."
Holloway's concerns about the impact campaign spending can have on election results are not necessarily unfounded. In the last ASG executive election, the winning ticket for president and vice president also spent the most money, a total of $2,069.04, of which Kappa Sigma donated $900, according to campaign finance reports.
"Even though we lost, the battle isn't over with this. Like I said, the spirit of this legislation is change, and while I'm here, we're going to continue with that idea of change," Holloway said.
Any students who wish to run for ASG executive officer positions in the upcoming election can pick up their applications at the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership in room A665 in the Union or print them off of the ASG Web site at asg.uark.edu. Applications must be turned in to the same office by noon Friday.
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