Jason Lifton Elected SA President, Dobson, Maxim Head to Run-off

Jason Lifton defeated Xochitl Sanchez by a shockingly close 51.5% to 48.5% margin.

Logan Dobson and Rob Maxim head into a run-off for the EVP contest.  Dobson finished in first, Maxin in second, Jon Binetti in third and Josh Goldstein came in fourth.  Dobson recieved 28% of the votes, and Maxim had 26% of the vote.

The JEC announced that there were a significant amount of violations, hinting that many winners could be disqualified.

We'll post a full election recap, results, and in-depth analysis tomorrow.

WRGW-SA Debate Report Card for the EVP Candidates

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of WRGW News.


Overall, I think Dobson had the best night by a small margin. Maxim had a great night too, but Goldstein and Binetti were far behind their competitors for different reasons.


Logan Dobson - I thought Logan's opening statement was unimpressive (despite his dramatic claim of its greatness before the debate). But Dobson had some of the best one-liners of the night, and reinforced his public persona as being 'anti-establishment.'

His responses to most of the questions were good, but not great. His response to the question "would you release formal written documentation on individual voting records?" was surprisingly 'no,' but he gave a weak justification in saying there are too many procedural votes (why not just keep voting records of formal bills?). Whether you like Logan, at least his answers were honest, which can't be said about the other candidates at all times. Dobson was also the only candidate with the courage to say that the Greek community has too much influence over the SA.

Dobson had a great closing statement, in which he said the EVP should be working harder than the SA president since they should be advocating and running the SA Senate.

As expected, Logan matched his usual SA Senate meeting chicanery by making jabs at other candidates, constantly grimacing, rolling his eyes, and making silly faces as his opponents were speaking. It was kind of refreshing to see, and added a lot of character to the debate but at the same time let's hope these aren't his natural reactions when meeting with President Knapp or Bob Chernak.

Grades:
Opening Statement: C
Closing Statement: A
Style: A-
Substance: A-
Final Grade: A-/B+
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Rob Maxim - I honestly didn't have very high expectations for Maxim before the debate started, but he turned out to be extremely capable at defending himself.

His opening statement was too idealistic, and too similar to what we've heard in the past (how we need new leadership, what his role as EVP would be, etc).

He argued his points forcefully, and gave off the impression he knew what he was talking about. As the only non-SA senator, he had liberty of answering in hypotheticals when discussing how he would have voted in previous Senate legislation.

Out of all the candidates, Maxim was best at saying what students want to hear, like his position on Senate voting records, and had a good point that he was the only EVP candidate that studied abroad (shielding himself from the lack of successful action on the part of the SA this year, according to many).

His closing statement, however, was a fairly weak call to "work together."

Grades:

Opening Statement: C

Closing Statement: C

Style: A-

Substance: A-

Final Grade: B+

Photos from the WRGW News-Student Association Debate

Candidates for the Student Association Presidency and Executive Vice Presidency met in the Marvin Center Ampitheater Friday evening for the first ever WRGW News-Student Association Debate.  Discussion topics ranged from campus dining to sustainability to alcohol amnesty to gender-neutral housing. Below are photos from the debate.  You will soon be able to see many more photos from the debate on our Flickr account.

Photos by Tylar Greene

EVP candidates Rob Maxim, Logan Dobson, Josh Goldstein and Jon Binetti

Jon Binetti Running for EVP - Sets Up Greek Free-For-All

Jon Binetti, a current undergraduate SA senator representing the Engineering School has launched his EVP campaign website, JonBinetti.com.  Logan Dobson, who himself is running against Binetti, asks who exactly his opponent is, implying Binetti is a low-key SA senator.

With Binetti now in the race, it now sets up a 4-way greek slugfest between the following candidates and fraternities:

Logan Dobson - Sigma Chi
Josh Goldstein - Beta
Rob Maxim - PIKE
Jon Binetti - Phi Psi

There are still two full days left to register with the JEC (2/16 & 2/17), so theoretically a non-greek candidate could still enter the EVP race.

BREAKING: Josh Goldstein Running for EVP

CCAS Senator Josh Goldstein has entered the EVP race against Logan Dobson, and he has his own facebook group and website.

Goldstein writes on his website that "the current state of the SA is unacceptable," a theme that is likely to be similar to Dobson's candidacy.  

Goldstein was appointed as a freshman SA senator last year, and won a CCAS seat last Februrary in a hotly contested race against 16 candidates for only 6 spots.  He ironically finished second - to Logan Dobson. 

Dobson had 586 votes compared to Goldstein's 537.

Logan Dobson Running for EVP

Current CCAS undergraduate SA Senator Logan Dobson is running for SA executive vice president according to a blog post on Inside the SA.

Dobson will likely face fellow CCAS Senator Josh Goldstein in a competitive election.

As for the latest election rumors this morning, Michael Komo is unlikely to run for either SA president or EVP, although nothing is out of question at this point. If Komo decides not to run, Lifton will be a virtual shoo-in due to his high name recognition, unless challenged by another high profile SA insider.

WRGWnews.com will be comprehensively covering this month's election, so stay tuned.

Josh Goldstein Running for Executive Vice President?

Sophomore SA Senator Josh Goldstein (CCAS) has all but officially announced his campaign to become the next SA Executive Vice President.  Inside the SA (Logan Dobson) posted this letter that Goldstein allegedly sent to various student organizations, a very clear signal he will be running for EVP.

Dear [Name of student organization],

Hello, my name is Josh Goldstein and I am a Student Association Senator representing the Columbian College. I am reaching out to you because I want to learn more about the student organization that you lead, [name of student organization].  More specifically, I would love the opportunity to sit down with you to learn about the organization, its programming, and to discuss ways that the SA can work with you in the upcoming year. 

I think it is crucial that we get to know each other so that we can work together to help you reach the goals that you have set for your organization and utilize the SA's funds and relationship with the GW Administration to provide a better experience for you and your members.  As an SA Senator, I feel that it is my responsibility work both for you and with you to find ways for the SA to help your organization succeed.  Feel free to contact me via email at XXXXX@.com.  

I hope to hear from you soon and am looking forward to meeting with you.

Sincerely,

Josh

Candidates will begin officially announcing in the next several days.  We'll post all the major candidate announcements or any major rumors that come up, so be on the lookout.