The Voters Have Spoken: Election Day Results

BY, EMMA FRANKLIN

Voters flocked to their local voting locations on Tuesday to elect various candidates to office. Three of the most heavily watched races were for governor of N.J., governor of Va., and mayor of New York City.

The candidates for N.J. governor included Republican incumbent Chris Christie and Democrat Barbara Buono. Christie won the election by a landslide with 60.4% of votes to Buono’s 38.1%. Although N.J. has been a historically Democratic state, Governor Christie won the support of voters through his moderate policies and quick response to last year’s Hurricane Sandy disaster. Governor Christie’s mounting bipartisan support would potentially strengthen his potential bid for the 2016 presidential election, if he chooses to run.

GW College Republicans Chairman Alexander Miller said he was, “Very proud of Chris Christie in his incredible victory in New Jersey. He received a record number of votes from women and minority groups and seems well positioned for 2016.”

The race for Va. governor included the state Attorney General, Republican Kenneth Cuccinelli, and former Democratic National Committee chairman, Democrat Terry McAuliffe. Although the race was very tight, McAuliffe came out on top with 48.0% of the vote compared to Cuccinelli’s 45.5%.

“I kept a watchful eye on Virginia. Cuccinelli was predicted to lose by 7-12 points. However, the closeness of the elections proves that Americans are upset with the failed Obamacare and refutes claims that the government shutdown was the fault of, and ultimately hurt the GOP,” said Miller.

Cuccinelli, a Tea Party supporter, was not predicted to receive as much of the vote as he did. However, due to negative public opinion surrounding the Republican Party following the government shut down, McAuliffe’s campaign received a bit of an energy boost and increased voter turnout. These results have prompted the Republican Party to reevaluate how it chooses nominees in an effort to lessen the number of extremely radical candidates.

The GW College Democrats were active in the campaign. “Mr. McAuliffe's victory is particularly heartening because we invested so much effort in helping him win. These results mean real, material improvement in people's lives because now Medicaid expansion appears more likely in Virginia,” said GW College Democrats president Omeed Firouzi.

The race for mayor of New York City, widely considered the second most powerful political position within the United States, included Democrat Bill de Blasio and Republican Joseph J. Lhota. De Blasio was the overwhelming winner with 73.3% of the vote compared to Lhota’s 24.3%. 

“I’m thrilled at the results in New York City,” said Firouzi. “Stop and frisk may come to a close now, so obviously that is a good thing because it means progressive policy outcomes.”

New York City consistently votes liberally and considering the not-so-popular term of current moderately conservative mayor Michael Bloomberg, de Blasio’s win was no big surprise.

Cory Booker Wins New Jersey Senate Special Election

by Emma Franklin

Democrat Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J., came out as the victor in Wednesday’s special senate election to fill the seat of the late Senator Frank R. Lautenberg.  He won with 54.6 % of the vote. Booker beat Republican and former Bogota, N.J. mayor, Steve Lonegan. Booker will be the first African-American senator from New Jersey.

Although Booker won the election, the results were much closer than initially anticipated, especially considering Lonegan’s tea party ideologies in a historically left leaning state. These results may be a result in part due to Booker’s delay in organizing public events in the early stages of his campaign. Regardless, many NJ voters found Lonegan too conservative.

Booker has received national recognition for his work as mayor of Newark. He is credited with helping bring business to the city, decrease unemployment rates, reduce crime rates, and reform the public schools system. He is also known for his more heroic acts such as living in a Newark housing project, helping neighbors shovel snow, living off food stamps, and even rescuing a neighbor from a burning building.

Booker is an avid Twitter user, with a following significantly greater than that of Newark. He is known for his inspirational tweets, Instagram videos and interviews. He is also a regular on late night TV shows and as a guest on various talk shows. Booker received strong endorsements from President Barack Obama and many celebrities.

“I am very excited to see Cory Booker in the Senate,” said GW College Democrats President Omeed Firouzi. “He'll be a unique Senator who will urge his colleagues to focus on public policy issues, such as urban affairs and drug sentencing reform that many incumbents fail to address.” 

The GW Democrats spent a weekend visiting New Jersey to campaign on Booker’s behalf.

Booker will finish Lautenberg’s term beginning in early November and will face re-election in November 2014. He plans to continue living in Newark and maintain a strong presence on Twitter.

Former Obama Speechwriter Speaks at GW

by Emma Franklin

On Wednesday night, 32-year old Jon Favreau, President Barack Obama’s former speechwriter, spoke to members of the GW community in the Dorothy Marvin Betts Theatre. Favreau spoke as the GW College Democrats’ fall kick-off speaker for the 2013-2014 academic year.

“We're very excited to host Jon Favreau who obviously played a large role in crafting the narrative of the Obama presidency and helping frame the President's campaign and policy agenda," said College Democrats President Omeed Firouzi.   "We're thrilled to be hosting an intelligent and sharp mind with keen knowledge of what a life in public service is like.” 

Favreau told a full auditorium about "The Journey Into the Life of Public Service,” a topic he considered extensively during his college years and beyond.

Following graduation from the College of the Holy Cross, he was offered a job for then Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. He started by running errands, taking calls and getting coffee. He would wake up at 4 a.m. each morning to pull together the daily press clippings for the campaign. Favreau’s dedication and talent for politics soon became apparent and he was offered a position as deputy speechwriter for the Kerry campaign.

Favreau’s position on Sen. Kerry’s campaign lead to his first interaction with then Senator Obama of Illinois, who was giving the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. There was a sentence in Sen. Obama’s speech that was very similar to Kerry’s speech, so Favreau was awarded the task of informing Sen. Obama that he needed to change the sentence and let the presidential hopeful keep the phrase. Thankfully for Favreau, Sen. Obama took the request light-heartedly.

Following Sen. Kerry’s loss, Favreau began writing speeches for Sen. Obama in 2005. He eventually served as the Director of Speechwriting for President Obama from 2009 through early 2013.

On Wednesday, Favreau talked specifically about his relationship with the president.

“Somehow the two of us made it work for eight years; the longest and most fulfilling working relationship that I ever had,” Favreau said. “And in the process, I learned more than I ever could have imagined about writing, about politics, about life.”

On the topic of what drives politicians, Favreau said that there is no shortage of people who will say that there is a self interested, political motive attached to every decision made by politicians today. These same people say that if you think you can change this you are young, naïve, or foolish. However, Favreau rejects this idea.

“The greatest gift I ever received over the eight years I worked for President Obama is knowing that this is a lie,” said Favreau. 

Following his speech, Favreau took time to answer questions from audience members. Questions ranged from favorite historical speech--which Favreau said was Robert F. Kennedy’s address following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination--to worst day on the job, of which he said there were many. When asked if he is better than Obama at anything, Favreau laughed and couldn’t think of anything.

Audience members responded to Favreau’s speech in an overwhelmingly positive way.

“Favreau’s speech was fascinating. He shed a positive light on working with the president, with anecdotes not only about the kindness of Obama as a human, but also of his morality as a president,” said student Lauren Hoffman. 

Since leaving the White House, Favreau co-founded Fenway Strategies, a small but popular communications firm, and became a columnist for The Daily Beast. He plans on someday writing a television show about the presidency and politics.

The GW Democrats kick-off event was co-sponsored by The Student Association, The Graduate School of Political Management, The School of Media and Public Affairs, and the Student Dining Board.

SA Senate Passes "11th Hour" Bills in Final Session

By Kyle Menyhert

The Student Association introduced substantial legislation at the final legislative session for the 2012-2013 Senate.  The SA passed a  resolution encouraging GW to “take a set of proactive measures to stop sexual assaults and launch an awareness campaign against sexual assaults”. 

Senator Omeed Firouzi also proposed a bill to extend the grace period for returning a substitute dorm room key. Today, if you fail to return a substitute key within 24 hours to the key depot, you are charged $150 for replacing the lock.  Firouzi proposed that the administration write a formal explanation  for the $150 penalty and extend the period from 24 hours to 72 hours. 

Finally, the SA finalized  financial allocations for student organizations  for the Academic Year 2013/2014. 

SA President-Elect Julia Susuni and the new Senate will take office on May 3rd.  

Student Association Passes Student Life Resolution

By Myles Goldman

At the final meeting of the semester on Monday night, The Student Association Senate again took up the issue of Square 75A, the area on Pennsylvania Avenue the University is currently in the process of requesting approval to develop.  Currently, restaurants like Mayran and Froggy Bottom Pub reside at the location and will be forced to close once the University begins the project.  

After rejecting a similar resolution by a vote of 8 in favor 9 against and 10 abstaining, the Student Association passed a “Resolution Regarding the The George Washington University’s Current Proposed Development for Square 75A.”  The resolution passed 22-4, and says that the Student Association wants Square 75A to include affordable, local restaurant establishments in the developed property.  

According to Executive Vice President of Community Affairs, Patrick Kennedy, who worked with Senators to write the bill, the difference between the bill the Senate rejected three weeks ago and the one they approved was a small but important one. 

"We are more proactively [than in the previous version] encouraging a component of this project," Kennedy said.


There was much debate about the amendment, though.  Proponents such as the bill’s author Elizabeth Kennedy (Undergrad-At-Large) said that students had come to her and said how much they would miss the restaurants that would be going out.  She believed the bill was focused on student life. Kennedy said this was the bill she was most passionate about in her three years as a Senator. 

"This is what our jobs are about," Kennedy said. "We are here to represent the student body."

The bill was also supported by SA President Ashwin Narla.

"We really need to have something for the student experience," Narla said. "This is us as students advocating for something we've heard from the student body. We hope that a decision to find a new retailer is student friendly," he commented during his President's Report.

Opponents of the bill were concerned about the loss of revenue to the University and the tone of the resolution.  Ryan Counihan (Undergrad-SOB) was one of the Senators who voted against the bill. Counihan was concerned about the amount of money the University might lose that it could spend on areas like academics renting the newly developed property to a local, low-cost restaurant versus renting out the building to the highest-bidder.

"If we're talking millions of dollars [the University could lose], I don't think we should be trying to force the University to give that up," Counihan argued.

Elizabeth Kennedy tried to address concerns about the tone of the bill. At the prior meeting, Alicia Knight Senior Associate Vice President for the Division of Operations, had expressed her surprise that the Student Association had proposed the resolution addressing square 75A. Kennedy said on Monday night that she and the bills co-sponsors had spent three months preparing the bill.

"This was something she [Knight] knew was coming," Kennedy said. "She might have been initially taken aback by our interest in Square 75A since the SA has not proactively taken a role on projects like this in the past, but this bill itself wasn't a surprise to them [the administration]," she commented.

John Ralls, the Senior Associate Vice President for Operations Administration, representing the Division of Operations, was sitting in the audience and could be seen shaking his head when Kennedy made her comments. Senator Michael Amesquita (Grad-GSEHD) attempted to motion to give Ralls an opportunity to respond but Vice President Abby Bergren ruled the motion out of order since a Senator can only give-up their speaking time to other Senators or members of the SA President's Cabinet. Ralls could not later be reached for comment.

At the meeting the Senate also passed unanimously "A Resolution to Urge The George Washington University to Adopt the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau Shopping Sheet." The resolution calls on the University to use the college "shopping sheet" the Federal Government has created as part of the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau. The sheet includes info about cost, graduation rates, and loans and allows students to compare these statistics among different colleges according to the bill's author Omeed Firouzi (Undergrad-CCAS).

Narla also announced at the meeting the creation of an ad-hoc council that will look at the SA's student organization financial allocation process. The 12-member council will meet starting next semester and will consist of 6 SA Senators and Presidential cabinet members and 6 members made-up from the student body at-large. The council will then make recommendations on how the process can be improved to the SA Senate. The SA is now accepting applications from students who are interested in being part of the council.