Crimson candidate upsets residents

A complaint will be filed today against the Crimson ticket by the president of the Willkie Residence Center and Willkie residents, charging that members of the ticket were campaigning unescorted on Willkie floors during quiet hours. \nWillkie President Jackie Pirnat said she received phone calls at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday morning from residents who complained that Peter Kurinsky, a Crimson candidate running for Willkie Senator, was disturbing them while they were studying.\nPirnat said she approached the candidate and asked him if he was a Willkie resident. Pirnat said he replied that he was. Then she asked him if he had received permission from the Willkie residence manager to campaign. He said no.\n"That's when I said, you need to leave," Pirnat said.\nKurinsky said he was knocking on doors when he was asked to leave. He said he left shortly thereafter. \nTwo Crimson affiliates were also campaigning in the South Tower. Pirnat did not know their names. \n"After midnight, if you are not escorted in by a guest, you should not be in the building," Pirnat said. "They were disturbing residents, and that is not what we want them to be doing."\nKurinsky said he was accompanied by a Willkie resident and did not know he needed permission from the residence manager to campaign in the building.\n"I hadn't heard anything prior to being notified by the (Willkie) president that you need permission from a manager," he said. "I had no intention to bother people." \nCrimson presidential candidate Casey Cox said his party is trying its best to be sensitive to the residence halls.\n"We're doing the best we can to be considerate and not to bother any people," he said. "I know a lot of tickets are out at night."\nHe said his party has acted respectfully.\n"If we were asked to leave any place, we immediately left, as far as I know," he said. "We apologize to any residents we may have inconvenienced."\nAny violation of the residence hall policies is also a violation of the election code, Elections Coordinator Leah Silverthorn said. \nIf the elections commission finds the complaint to be true, Crimson will have to pay a $134 fine.\nThe fine is equal to five percent of Crimson's $2,680 campaign spending limit, which is based on the number of candidates on the party ticket. \nCrimson will have 24 hours to reply to the complaint.\nIf the complaint proceeds, it will be heard and voted on by the elections commission. The Crimson ticket may appeal that ruling to the IUSA Supreme Court. \nCopies of the complaint will also be submitted to the Supreme Court and Director of Student Activities Jim Gibson, according to IUSA guidelines.\nCrimson was also booted Tuesday from an area outside Ballantine Hall where party candidates was offering students root beer out of a keg.