Candidates for the ASUU elections were tried for a variety of grievances Tuesday night, ranging from early contact with unaffiliated students to posting pictures on Facebook.
The Associated Students of the University of Utah elections committee heard a challenge regarding two pictures posted on the Facebook accounts of Revolution Party candidates Tayler Clough, who is running for president, and Rachel Rizzo, who is running for vice president. One of the pictures shows Rizzo with a wax replica of CNN news reporter Anderson Cooper, while the other shows all three candidates from the Revolution Party standing in front of a picture of Jesus at the Draper Temple open house for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The GO Party filed multiple grievances against the Revolution Party, claiming that they were actively campaigning to a high number of unaffiliated students who have access to the pictures online and protesting the resulting comments below the pictures. Under the Anderson Cooper photo, someone questioned in a joking
manner whether Cooper might be helping the campaign and Rizzo commented that he might be passing out food.
“We don’t have a problem with the pictures, it is the comments that followed,” said Cameron Beech, campaign manager for the GO Party. “We admit the pictures were probably posted in good fun, but many people see it. This is a clear violation of the rules.”
Bobby Sakaki, who represented the Revolution Party, said he does not think the pictures violated any election rules.
“This is nothing more than a case of friends posting pictures with other friends,” Sakaki said.
The issue comes over contact with unaffiliated students, Beech said. If the Revolution Party gained any sort of advantage from posting the pictures and the resulting threads, they should be punished, he said.
Other issues included approaching unaffiliated students and asking them to run for a given party. Candidates from the Synergy, Revolution, and GO parties were also fined for failing to attend mandatory meetings.
Campaigns are not allowed to contact students prior to Dialogue Week, which begins Saturday.