- To Be, or Not To Be, the Gator's Gator
- Lydia Washington Interview Request?
- High-Ranking FBK Official Remains Silent
Correspondence Keeping a low profile
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/060810move.phpFeed Me With The Info
The RUH LoanParty Names - What A Cool Website!!!
Who speaks for Gator, the Party Leader or the Party Chair?
For the benefit of diversity I plan on including both Sam Green and J. Clayton Brett in the upcoming Fall/Spring section of this weblong, however, an interesting scenario has just played out. What exactly does the title of Party Chairman (in a SG context) actually mean?
For starters, a party cannot exist without a chairman, so on paper the role is critical. A party can also be completely sabotaged by the lone chair, so the position definitely has real-life-powers during a campaign. And there might be the answer. Is the Party Chairman solely a campaign-time officer? I would have to disagree and cite Sen. Laura Gonzalez at the helm of the Gator Party and all of the work she did. Sen. Gonzalez did not fade into obscurity once the election was over, in fact if anything, she strode right to the forefront and was publicly described as the Party Leader by the press (more I would opine as a logical continuation from Party Chair to Party Leader, as opposed to formally being elected by her party on the floor [though I may be mistaken]).
Another aspect of this debate is cabinet. Just because Senate has a majority and a minority, it's almost absurd that cabinet shouldn't have something similar. Yes, cabinet should be non-partisan, but we all know it's not. Despite the fact that the ruling party usually garners a lion's share of cabinet directorships, candidates with connections to the minority will usually slide through the cracks as well. Members of cabinet from Party A should work from their respective posts to carry out (on whatever level possible) promises made by their party to the student body. Just because an officer is selected as opposed to elected, these details should not disturb the commitments of that person's party to the student body, at least this is my opinion and if you can visualize this scenario, read on.
If the Party Chairman leads the party during campaign-time and the Party Leader leads the party in Senate, then which party official(s) (minority or majority) lead party members in cabinet and/or takes the responsiblity to advocate and lobby on behalf of their respective political party's platform in SG Cabinet? Though it may seem I am advocating that the Party Chair has, or should have this role, I am actually posing a serious question. Surely parties that bring thousands of faithful constituents to the polls twice-a-year have a leadership structure in the Executive Branch?
Still...the question remains on the table and without a real answer. What is the complete role of the Party Chair? Campaign-time figurehead or year-round official?
Despite my endorsement of her, Fmr. SBVP Lydia Washington seems to have ignored a Facebook request at taking some questions. I can totally understand her reluctance to speak out, mainly because I know she could concretely touch base, the way very few of us can, about the true involvement of certain nefarious groups on SG.
I was told by a top FBK official that an interview with TR would be considered, I am hoping that in weighing out the pro's/con's that my trackrecord with those on the other side of aisle in interviews speaks well for me. I think many students would love to read, even if a somewhat stale account, of what FBK thinks of its identity and role in campus life and campus leadership.
Thanks to everyone for the kindhearted letters. I'm tempted to name-drop but won't.
I don't know about you, but as an alum of UF I was extremely offended to read that Bernie Machen, president of this fine institution does not reside on the campus he's supposedly here to lead. That home is more than just a mansion for the Machen's to "entertain guests" and the idea of the UF President renting it out to groups while he's away makes me ill. The UF President's Mansion is for the UF President, it shouldn't be scaled down as a party pad for the president and a time-share when he's away. I'd love to speak to the hiring committee that approved this prick.
BERNIE MACHEN IS AN ASSBAG.
As a former BOM member and a senator that strongly pro'ed the SG loan of $500,000 to the Reitz Union Hotel, I must admit feeling very much alarmed at hearing that the hotel defaulted on its first payment of $100,000 back to the A&S Fund, can someone please email me or post here as to what the status of repayment is. I am also concerned b/c of articles earlier this year discussing a sizeable SG deficit and throughout that flurry of reports I never once read anything of the 5-year repayment of the RUH (which for this year would have remedied 1/3 of the debt).
The worst constraint of that whole experience were the State regulations prohibiting SG from negotiating the loan upon a favorable line of interest. It was also something that had never been done before and there's just something about being the first, be it the first to walk on the moon or the first to streak down Main Street at 2am, being part of something groundbreaking usually comes off as being very attractive...I don't know, I'm not Plato over here, but at the time the idea of helping the hotel with $500k seemed fit and in my book I rationalized it as special, one-time increase upon the Reitz's already $3.4 (or .7?) million package.
From the moment I first heard about the cast-out houses (those few houses that got left out (or chose not to join the sell-out [Kappa Sig, DU,etc) Access F'04 ticket), the Gator Party name, though somewhat lame, sounded oh so very cool. Gator only sounds slightly lame for a party because it's name, image, and colors are so redundant on the UF student, alumni, faculty, and fan communities that you almost feel like the Gator Party is just another way of looking at our campus, at our school, and this magic formula definitely hits campaign-politics on the mark!
Now I understand the whole concept of using the Swamp name, Chris Carmody and John Boyles, two "indies" (and by this we only mean non-Greek, as both are Keys and sell-outs today, no offense gentlemen) that split the Greek vote and enjoyed huge student support, but with Boyles so too should Swamp be put away in the trophy case of the Mainstream Hall of Fame. As far as relevance to the Gator Nation, as far as image and presentation, I would go with the Gator name hands down over Swamp. With Swamp you need to put a Gator into the picture, *this is deep, so sit down for it*, with Gator....YOU ARE THE GATOR.
As for the opposition...the name is really the least of my concerns. I do not think the opposition under one flag will last too much longer, there are already some substantial chinks in the chain and one can only hope that multiple parties will emerge this fall or next spring. The idea of multiple parties will no doubt all but guarantee the mainstream forces a victory, however, the bulding of a tried and true, successful indie coalition requires the cohesion of several political and ideologial tendencies in a perfect balance. Yes, I said ideological tendencies and yes we're just discussing Student Politics. Many have failed to fully assess the complexities of student politics, often dismissing student races as all about t-shirt colors and sales pitches outside the polls, but those of us that have been part of at least one KICK-ASS campaign know that there is much more to a fine-tuned political machine that than the logo and the sales pitch.
Right now, the Opposition lacks political forces with political maturity (meaning a history on campus independent of the current party) and different operating styles. After the demise of Access and the graduation of many of its leaders, the Independent community was left in the hands of junior partners that were forced to assume the big-roles before it was really there time. The results of hardworking, commited but also inept leaders saw the Independents gradually stray from the traditional and begin a process of mimicking the Mainstream -- club nights, off-campus meetings, legacy leaderships (party exec's tranfer over from one year to the next, rule by the select few).
http://grove.ufl.edu/~vision98
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