Wednesday, February 04, 2009

The Officials Return [Heavier] Fire.



Both factions took the trouble of digging themselves in post 12/11, almost in Great War like fashion, firing sporadically at one another with the occasional mortar or two raining down on a mess hall or latrine. A few people gone blown off their can, but no major action.

Slating saw an eleventh hour attempt at peace. Ken Kerns should take pride, as do I, in that even during the slating efforts were made to reconcile. Dictor showed up, McShera did not. Mark's excuse, 'they didn't confirm'; Dictor's excuse to the 12/11 meeting cancellation/re-setting and his absence 'they didn't confirm.' Initially McShera/Officials through authorized personnel were willing to engage through yours truly (not Armando Grundy, lol), but the Progs (somewhat immaturely) demanded unconditional surrender. Gradually I wore the Progs down to accepting some concessions, culminating in a Monday night attempt to reconcile the Progs & the Officials, Dictor was willing to talk. When I asked McShera what he wanted or was willing to offer - he said 'they pull out,' another way of saying unconditional surrender.

Throughout the months of December and January, the Officials were largely on the receiving end. They lost the Prog-faction, they lost a key vote in senate, many felt undermined by Dictor's announcement to the Alligator, and still many were literally knocked off kilter to see the re-emergence of an old foe, Josh Simmons, in a top leadership capacity. To end the streak, Progress won the TheRadikal.com and SDS endorsements.

Slating, however, may have just turned the tide. The Officials secured Stacey Gray for Veep (as speculated on this site), they secured a key Treasurer candidate, they fired over two dozen campaign violations against Progresss (I think this tactic should be reserved for the Machine, but w/e), and they chose to get payback on MT with GC, only I can't promise JW won't lose his cool, as GC has taken MT and totally outdone him.

Slating numbers provided on a day-to-day also proved life in the O's was by no means defeatist. Although TR continues supporting Progress, I'm glad lines of communication remain open and strong and I hope to see both sides grow stronger, however, could the two factions kindly consider reducing the campaign violations war - I mean don't you guys think that's a bit petty? And that's being addressed to Progress folks thinking it wise to reply in turn in the future.

28 comments:

Joshua Simmons said...

If you can't beat 'em, sue 'em.

Anonymous said...

Upset about campaign violations? This is total war Christian, battles will be fought on every front.
Now the question is if the system will take the gentleman's agreement and kick progress off the slate before the ballot is printed.

Axis of Axiom said...

In my opinion it should be the Orange and Blue/Gator Party. O+B is no different than gator after picking up Brandon White who is indebted to gator. O+B/Gator should be the new term.

Anonymous said...

We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will! You do your worst! - and we will do our best! Perhaps it may be our turn soon. Perhaps it may be our turn now.

Anonymous said...

And how is Mark supposed to show up for a meeting if nobody remembers to tell him it's actually on? It was nothing more than a miscommunication.

Anonymous said...

"and they chose to get payback on MT with GC, only I can't promise JW won't lose his cool, as GC has taken MT and totally outdone him."

Is this referring to me? If it is, I can't say I'm sure what you're talking about. My best guess is that you're referring to Dictor's idea that I was secretly recording his "interview" of O&B CLAS candidate Kira Parse, which is nothing but laughable paranoia. (Apparently I "gave myself away" by putting my hand into my jeans pocket as I walked away?) Why I would even want a recording of Dictor droning about his nebulous grievances with O&B is beyond me.

If you're referring to O&B's recording of the Progress Party slating process, then I don't know how openly videotaping a meeting that was legally required to be public "outdoes" secretly recording a private meeting and posting it on the Internet. In any case, I wasn't even directly involved with this besides supplying the camera we used. From what I understand, the whole thing started when Johnny Gersten came into our room talking about taping our slating process, and someone decided if he taped us it was only fair for us to tape Progress. Johnny ended up having to leave before he could record anything, but the camera in Progress's room caused such an entertaining commotion about FERPA nonsense that we decided to keep at it.

Anonymous said...

To quote Trimboli: "This is the stuff we're GOOD at."

O&B runs the best damn slating and campaign operation SG has ever seen. Look at the slates they're up against: all Greek for Unite, half-crazed with Progress in CLAS; nobodies all around in EG for both parties vs. 2 BEC Reps and a major society Treas in a campaign run by another BEC Rep. This is past playing for keeps or trying to win, it's running up the score Spurrier-style.

The White Rabbit said...

Wow, we arent giving up because a joke party emerged running on the idea that they could turn out more students for student government than they did for obama? Yeah, all of the senate seats won by the indies will be Orange and Blue, and we will win exec in a run-off, i bet you a beer.

Last i heard they had revised their vote turnout from 18k to 30k, what a joke...

Anonymous said...

"and they chose to get payback on MT with GC, only I can't promise JW won't lose his cool, as GC has taken MT and totally outdone him."

I talked to O&B and Progs I know. No one has any clue what this means.

O&B is happy to file campaign violations against Gator when they violate the 700 codes. Un

Anonymous said...

The funny thing is GC may have stayed uninvolved if JW hadn't incorrectly attacked him for anonymous posing. BD only has JW to blame.

Anonymous said...

@Anon4:46: Hyperbole about slating aside, if you are right at all about CLAS and EG, that's a great start for the O&B team, as winning big in those two colleges are a must for even a mildly successful exec/Senate slate. The question I have, based on the 2008 results, is whether O&B has a full slate, particularly in the larger categories of Fresh, Sophomores, and Grads.

As for your other remarks, Progress will run into trouble if they are relying on candidates who are, at best, the "angry drunk" type - i.e., passionate when stirred up but could care less otherwise. And from what I've seen, their leadership and exec candidates aside, they do have the problem to fix.

And Unite will need more than the CLASSC treasurer on their side to win CLAS. Fortunately for them, they start off as the favorites. And every vote Progress gets is either a vote O&B loses or no one would have gotten - which means Unite will benefit greatly, especially in the Senate.

And I agree with the White Rabbit. If this election is at all like 2000 or 2005, this thing will go to a runoff, and Unite will have the edge.

But I'm too far removed from the scene, and have no clue how the campus is splitting in the usual demographics, especially whether Unite kept the Greek system intact.

But O&B grabbing the Benton Engineering Council is a very good get for that must-win college.

Anonymous said...

4:46 is Joe Trimboli, because the only people who remember colloquial spoken words well enough to quote them on a message board are the speakers themselves.

Even if he wins something in this election, he's still a loser.

While Dictor's existence is grotesque and incomprehensible to most of the student body, you gotta give the kid credit for pursuing systematic change through a slash-n-burn strategy. It's the only way to take down the system.

Bring it on, Progs.

Anonymous said...

If RT would kindly stop telling WV about DT's conversations with FC... everything would be going a lot smoother.

Anonymous said...

What the fuck is Axis of Axiom talking about? Orange and Blue is now the Gator Party because we have the most qualified treasurer candidate running with us who use to be Gator? Maybe you should go look at your preselected Exec ticket and notice that Grasshopper and Ortega were both GATOR PARTY senators.

In other slating news, I would like to congratulate Progress on showing "progress through participation" by having a with their campaign platform on it. I'm shocked it didn't consist of removing FBK and replacing it with the Civic Media Center.

Anonymous said...

Joshua: If O&B really wanted to mess with you guys they would report MT for his recoding. Florida is a two-party consent state (Fla. Stat. ch. 934.03) and while this is only MT's first offense, how long before he would use his livescribe pen in the wrong situation? That time it would be a felony.

Justin Wooten said...

7:45 PM, I never told anyone "GC" posted anything anonymously.

Anonymous said...

My blog may not be as big on the current SG scene as Christian Duque's TheRadikal.com. And like him, I have my own views on the election. But I want to extend an olive branch to any and all parties running in the Spring 2009 election - you can submit any statement you want, and I'll reprint it here. All I ask in return is the opportunity to ask you a handful of questions to help highlight the differences between the parties.

Anonymous said...

I really feel bad for everybody in Progress other than Josh and Ben.

They know what's up. Everybody else is just along for the ride and they won't see the cliff coming until it's too late.

francisco said...

Damn it who stole my use of the gentlemen's agreement buzz word. You sir represent everything the Keg Party is against.

Anonymous said...

Quit whining Bracco.

Anonymous said...

People are missing the point. This election isn't about FBK. It is about O+B screwing over WP. WP has been working behind the scenes in JCB fashion and has almost united the BEC. Grasshopper brings GSC and GAU. If PGT can keep her mouth shut you will likely see HSA flip. Once that happens, O+B should have a clear path if they can swing two houses, like ATO and SAE. Regardless, the NRA, the UAW and the SC should benefit nicely.

Anonymous said...

I guess the post @ 5:38 AM may have been Dictor instead of you JW.

Justin Wooten said...

8:52, Dictor doesn't post on here, and no, that wasn't me. I've never claimed any "pounds" for attempting to guess who posted what anonymously, and I posted under my own name in that thread. Frankly, the quote is so stupid, I would either guess it was Gator Party or O&B that were trying to stir shit. Or it was Graham Clark himself, as it should have been obvious to him hardly anyone in SDS cares about this blog (no offense Duque) or even knew who Clark was, yet his reply attempts to sound genuinely upset there was some imaginary campaign against him. I don't know or care regardless.

Anonymous said...

Yes, SAE and ATO are rumored to be moving with Progress. Maybe KA.

Anonymous said...

Justin, I agreed with you that that post probably wasn't written by an actual SDS member, and my reply was obviously sarcastic. Why would I make a post insulting myself? People are inventing a bunch of drama here that never actually happened.

Anonymous said...

Wait, so Justin is now claiming that O&B posted an attack on Clarke pretending to be SDS? You just can't stop lying.

Justin Wooten said...

11:55 PM, I didn't claim anything. I specifically said "I don't know or care regardless." Please work on your reading comprehension skills.

Anonymous said...

Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Let me pose a question: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? How long ago did you graduate? Why are you still so involved in this? Don't you have something even slightly more productive to do? Do you realize that this ridiculous college-students-wanting-to-play-politics really isn't that deep or meaningful? Get a life! YOU ARE BLOWING MY MIND. MOVE ON.