IUSA complaints to be decided tonight

IU Student Association campaign tickets celebrated the end of election season with the traditional slew of Election Code violation complaints Tuesday night.\nRepresentatives from each ticket gathered in the Indiana Memorial Union Solarium to address each of the seven complaints filed in front of the IUSA Elections Commission. All four tickets filed complaints, though Hoosier Party managed to escape any allegations with no complaints filed against it.\nThe commission stayed all its verdicts until 7 p.m. tonight to allow time to investigate the details of several complaints.\nFusion's and Crimson's complaint regarding Big Red's campaign expenditures inspired more debate than the other six complaints. Both alleged Big Red exceeded its financial budget and falsified records to show otherwise. \nThe complaint charged Big Red with failing to report the cost of door hangers, citing a price below fair market value for its foam cup holders and ordering 1,200 T-shirts, of which only 600 were reported. \nIf found in violation, Big Red could potentially be disqualified, despite winning the election.\nCrimson staffer Shane Merriweather represented his party on the matter.\n"Would the IU campus really want people in office who would lie to them?" he asked of the commission.\nBut Big Red maintained its actions were benign and earned the party no benefit.\nBig Red staffer Doug La Fave openly admitted the omission of the door hangers occurred completely by accident and asked the commission to take no action. La Fave argued the addition of the hangers would not have caused Big Red to exceed its budget.\nHe provided several online sources citing lower prices for foam cup holders than the price Big Red actually paid.\nThe bulk of the debate centered around the purchase of 1,200 Big Red T-shirts by Vice President-Elect Angel Rivera.\nRivera testified that he believed a "loophole" in the Elections Code would allow the party to raise its spending limit. After consulting with President-Elect Katie Diggins, the two decided to purchase only 600 shirts with campaign money, leaving Rivera to shoulder the cost of the remaining 600 shirts, Rivera said.\n"It's very important to note that we didn't violate the code," La Fave said. "We worked within the framework of the code and the rules as we understood them."\nHoosier Party also filed complaints against Big Red for vandalism of private property on the Fee Lane railroad bridge just north of 10th Street, which displayed the ticket's Web site address as of Feb. 23.\n"Big Red did not intend to deface or damage any property," said La Fave to the commission. "Bridges have become a symbol for students to use as advertising."\nBig Red accused Fusion of violating an election code item which requires campaigners to remain 50 feet away from University libraries at all times.\nFusion presidential candidate Dan Shapiro argued that the code was ambiguous on the definition of library grounds.\nHoosier Party also accused Crimson of violating bans on taping of promotional materials to any sidewalks when it taped 14 separate fliers to the ground outside of Foster Quad. The complaint asked the commission to consider each flier as a separate violation, which would result in disqualification.\n"I find it hard to justify giving the same punishment for hacking into the Web site and changing all the votes as for taping fliers to the ground," said Elections Coordinator Derek Molter.\nRivera said he is confident Big Red will take office this spring.\n"I trust that the elections commission will be fair and just," Rivera said. "We've been very open and honest with them."\n-- Contact staff writer Mike McElroy at mmcelroy@indiana.edu.