Burnt Orange Report

Byron's Picks for Student Government...

By Byron LaMasters

SG President: Brent Perdue - Books Not Bombs
1 year At Large: Ben Durham - Reprezent
2 year At Large 1: Zach Neumann - Reprezent
2 year At Large 1 with year remaining: Andrew Dobbs - Reprezent
Liberal Arts Rep: Ali Puente - Reprezent
Daily Texan Editor: Ben Heath

I've never really gotten involved in Student Government elections. Most students don't vote (last year turnout was higher than it had been in a long time - about 20% - 10,000 or so votes cast, because of Internet voting for the first time). And most students that vote typically vote for their friends. Most of the people in SG (student government) are (in my opinion) in SG to pad their resume. So, basically I'll vote for my friends and for people that I know are Democrats or liberals, but that's basically it. I'll definitely vote for Andrew and the other two University Democrats on the Reprezent ticket (Zach Neumann and Ali Puente). If you are a UT student, be sure and vote for the three of them. I'm also voting for Ben Durham, because he's a good liberal.

I won't be voting for Reprezent on the top of the ticket. Even though the Reprezent Presidential candidate (Patrick George) voted for the Iraq War Resolution (a SG resolution passed last year opposing the war in Iraq), and the resolution supporting the Lawrence decision, Patrick George is the son of conservative former state representative Kenn George (R-Highland Park) - who is substantially bankrolling the ticket. The Reprezent Vice-Presidential candidate Matt Stolhandske has previously been involved with the Young Conservatives of Texas, so I won't be voting for him either. Although, having said that, their ticket is running on a relatively progressive platform, and I believe that Patrick George will be a decent SG President. I'm just not personally interested in helping pad the resumes of Republicans (even Republicans like George that go out of their way to tell us that they're liberal on social issues).

I won't be voting for any of the Focus candidates after their frivolous sexual harassment complaint against Andrew. Andrew distributed a flyer on campus with a picture of students in swimsuits floating down a river at the student government retreat. Part of the Reprezent platform is to cut funding for things like the student government retreat, and give that money to student organizations and scholarship funds. So, the purpose of the flyer was to point out that our student fees to student government are going to fund retreats for SG when they could be used to fund student organizations. The picture was taken in a public place, and it was public record. The flyer was approved by the elections board, but two girls claimed that pictures made them cry. It's a swimsuit silly. Get over it. It's part of the game. If the two girls aren't mature enough to deal with something like that, then shouldn't be running in the first place.

I'm voting for Brent Purdue for president. He's the only candidate that is experienced and comes from a solid progressive perspective. Read his interview with The Daily Texan. He gets it.

Ben Heath is the best candidate for editor of the Daily Texan. He's well-qualified, progressive and experienced. Check out his website for more.