What do Jamal Sowell and Paul Drayton have in common? Aside from both being Student Body Treasurers and both being Kappas -- not a heck of a lot. Jamal Sowell climbed the ranks from senator to 2x-elected-SG Executive. He unified the African American community and with the help of Francis Harrell & James Argento, consolidated that community with the Independent movement.
It's arguable when the Black Caucus at UF was stronger: during Sowell's reign or immediately thereafter. Today, however, if I were to ask you to name a single prominent [African American] name for Student Body President in 2009, few names come to mind. [Radikal Prediction: look to a BSU splinter to offer a deal to O&B pre-Christmas break; this prediction carries a small bit of speculative backing w/ it]
Paul Drayton in one summer undid all of the prominence that Jamal Sowell, Crystal Caesar, & Diane Kassim left for posterity. Sam Green was no leader, he was merely a victim. To be Senate President Pro Tempore and get blocked from Florida Blue Key is a humiliation not only to candidate, but to the entire community. Had Green crossed over to the GDI's and organized with them for rebel run, I believe he would have redeemed his stock in SG HIstory.
Sadly, Green took the humiliation and swallowed it. Paul Drayton compounded that humiliation by walking out on the students, re-defining the Student Body Statutes, and ruling by proxy -- making promises to the Alligator that this blog debunked through Rene Medina's own word.
The only time Drayton really acted (or reacted) is when after tirelessly pushing, I flat out announced that a call should be made for his impeachment and that call was finally made by the brave (and now handily rewarded) independents of the Orange & Blue Party.
My advice was worth its weight in gold. Now I have advice worth its weight in platinum and the advice is to the Gator Party for Spring 2009: "Stay Home. You will be annihilated come Spring."
BSU doesn't normally lose Murph. Rule out coincidence. The Black Community has spoken. O&B should remain open to dialogue with BSU and at least a couple Greek Houses I can think of right off the bat.
41 comments:
Gator lost Murphree because our candidate was up against the Senate Parliamentarian. He had a lot of backing, and he busted his ass on the campaign trail. Jamel, sad to say, was barely even seen wearing his Gator Party shirt. He did minimal campaigning, and expected to win. When you don't show your face, people tend to vote the other way.
Or a member of BSU is about to run for FBK president and will keep BSU on board to make sure that happens...
Jamel's career was over weeks ago. It was an inside job.
And the rest of BSU getting screwed was an inside job too. Thank Goldberger.
O&B's Exec don't cut deals, they saw what happened with Unite. If you want in on their show, you just send your best and hope for the best. When it comes time to pick the Exec ticket the O&B stalwarts will go with whoever is the most qualified and deserving.
Jamel didn't even try. But whatever, did the guy ever do anything in Senate anyways?
You people kill me with the repeated political extermination of BSU's black men. LOL People have gone after Will Atkins, Will Perry, Sam Green, Paul Drayton, and now Brandon White and Jamel Langley.
I don't wanna cry racism, but if it walks and quacks like duck, then it is a duck.
If in district D the AA community had lost by a large number of votes it would be justified to say it was an inside job or 'racism' BUT it was somewhere around 50 votes...it was just a mix of bad luck and not enough time spent campaigning.
Why does everything have to be such a large conspiracy? It pretty hard to try to screw people over in this type of election and at the end of the day for every seat Gator lost 1 more Orange & Blue person is sitting in the chambers so I don't think that would have been in Gators best interest.
Maybe its not a good idea to have a candidate be an area leader...
Gator lost a couple LS seats in the Spring because of the lack of effort and campaign made by a couple candidates.
Jamel failed to obey Goldberger. End of story.
Any black person that would split with BSU for the Spring ticket was probably never really in the picture of things.
It it very evident the power structure they have put in place, and that everyone follows suit.
goldberger is the biggest failure on the FBK side in years. jcb must be left shaking his head that his successor just keeps giving up seats, allowing record turnout, and putting system bigwigs in the crosshairs of the law
Has there ever been a black fbk president?
You can't smack around PTI unless you are in FBK and have the alums supporting you. O&B just dug there own graves. The DQing of Ben is just the start.
2:27,
I hear the Florida Bar doesn't look to kindly on felons, Gator party pulling what they did to stop what was going to be a O&B sweep of D and C was absurd, didn't they know that they party that makes it's living out-smarting them in Senate every week would catch them?
Buckle up ladies and gentlemen and keep your eyes on the alligator.
what laws were broken? none.
end of story. dont threaten.
ed jennings is black and was fbk president
The top party brass and decision makers in O&B are political sophisticates of the highest order. These people know how the FBK run system works better than most of its membership does. They are a frightening mix of ambition, ruthlessness and brain power and they are all just getting warmed up.
They've tasted blood and they want more.
And they'll get it too.
Are you retarded?
This is student government.
This is what people do in their spare time to build their resume while gaining great experience and have some fun.
We are not dealing with the world economy or dueling nations. We are all working for the students.
So, shut up O&B. You blow everything out of proportion just to get your name in the papers while accomplishing NOTHING for the student body. Why dont you try working on something productive, rather than causing trouble and being counterproductive.
Thanks guys.
I'm very skeptical about the truth of Anon 4:26's comments.
Even so, I'm comforted by the fact that every single person in O&B is extremely socially awkward (with the possible exception of McShera).... and that is unlikely to change when they get out into the real world.
Jamel is no different. show the proper respect or eat shit 'n die.
You are all being ridiculous. At this point I find it completely immature to bash anyone of either party. As a part of the student body I think that the campaign is over for this semester and things are only going to get worse from here with a certain party gaining more seats.
Since the O&B could only win by using slander then they are really not a great party to have governing the student body or me. I personally feel that party only one because they brain washed the freshman in order to win. They got a newspaper to write a biased report from summer time. They are all to weak to fight a battle and having a good platform. As far as everything I else goes I can't wait for everyone to see what frauds they are. O&B good luck because I will personally make you sure you do everything on your platform and if you don't be prepared for hell, LITERALLY!
Have a great day and always remember "IT'S GREAT TO VOTE THE GATOR PARTY!"
3:39
Conspiring to commit perjury and perjury, and if you still do not know what i am referring to you are hopelessly out of the loop.
Like i said, just wait, the next few week will be very interesting.
Who black is going to run for president of Blue Key?
And does anyone think BSU can correct their mistakes for the Spring?
"Since the O&B could only win by using slander then they are really not a great party to have governing the student body or me. I personally feel that party only one because they brain washed the freshman in order to win. They got a newspaper to write a biased report from summer time. They are all to weak to fight a battle and having a good platform. As far as everything I else goes I can't wait for everyone to see what frauds they are. O&B good luck because I will personally make you sure you do everything on your platform and if you don't be prepared for hell, LITERALLY!"
Did a Gator Party senator get their 5 year old cousin to write this? How cute!
Sam and I certainly were not of the same mind on everything, policies and tactics, but I'm proud of him and the Orange and Blue Party for doing something I never could have.
5:21: You're right. This is student government. It's not dueling nations or the world economy. So tell me how it is that rigging elections, nepotism, and implementing an inept form of government is working for students? Furthermore, tell me how this could be considered "good" experience for the future, or fun? Just why in general?
5:55: If you think the FBK way of doing things is great then you're the one who's brainwashed.
Frankly, the hardest thing for me to get a grip on is that I have friends who know how ridiculous the system's way of doing things is and who are still involved on its side. Do they believe the only way they might be able to have any impact is by working from the inside? Is it really just a power/ego/resume play? And if it's about making at least some small difference... is it worth it to sell yourself into that crew?
Oh well, what do I know... I'm an old irrelevant codger now.
Goldberger was devastated that Jamel lost 8:47. shows how much you know.
Who is this Jamel? I don't think I have met him (I am bad with names, sorry); was he actually of any importance to the Gator Party? I was pretty sure Ossip had the race locked up when his opposition left for the weekend, I just didn't tell Ossip because he would have stopped working.
Anon. 4:26 PM: Thanks for the kind words but I think you give us all too much credit.
As for the rest of the comments, here is me attempting to be un-bias:
This was by far one of the worst elections in quite some time and no side is without blame. If you believe one party or the other is clean then you need to remove your rose-tinted glasses.
While I am not going to address which party engaged is lower tactics, I will say that things do need to change. Even the battles that Ryan Day and Sam fought for hours on end were never personal, nor was Pants (at least from what I witnessed). In the past, personal attacks were isolated to the blogs, but this time many were public. I believe most of it is due to the shift from a one-party system to a two-party system - however long O&B may exist has yet to be seen - and the growing pains that come with it. I also believe a more liberal writing of the 700 codes could eliminate some of the problems that occured. That being said, this did not stop me from having to break up some verbal arguments this semester.
The seats may not show it, but Orange and Blue recieved over 40% of the vote this semester and people have finally realized the "punks" that keep a certain individual up at night and "were not hugged enough by their mothers" are here to stay. I imagine things will be more peaceful under Jordan and "The House that Moseley & JCB Built" but there are still some issues to be solved concerning the elections...so just be on the lookout because the scale has yet to settle. The way I see it is Senate is going into its second semester with dualing parties and its leadership will finally realize that O&B is not something it can simply sweep under the rug. Any attempts to silence O&B, for better or worse, will just result in the same circus that occured this past semester.
I would like to see both parties deliever on some of their platform points but this will also require both parties to admit that some of their ideas are just plain silly. *My one partisan punch* If Moseley was able to admit cameras in the parking garages was a silly idea, then I am sure Gator get rid of the crossing guards *end punch*. We should see on Tuesday how the rest of the semester will play out; a good first impression is everything.
With Dale gone the senate will finally accomplish something. Her dreadful leadership prevented either party from producing any results, end of story.
Jamel would not have lost had he been in Phi Tau.
How's tapping shaping up this semester? Who's getting in this go round?
All hail the all powerful Phi Tau.
They really are pretty powerful. Mike Fetto (Phi Tau) got roughly the same number of votes in 2007 against Cavataro as the SHO Vice President got this year.
Keep talkin...this spring you'll learn to shut your face about Phi Tau. we invested wisely.
It is improbable that we will keep Goldberger around for the next cycle. He failed us when he refused to cut the deal with Sam for ACCENT.
anon 1:28pm is someone from O&B.
No deals were cut for ACCENT. The position went to the person most qualified for the job.
No deals were cut for ACCENT. The position went to the person most qualified for the job.
this made me giggle, since when are qualifications even part of the consideration lol
Were any of you actually around when Sam was passed over for ACCENT?
That being said, Goldberger graduates in the spring and will likely be in Tally for an internship next semester anyways. No need to cast stones at someone that will no longer be a player.
1. Goldberg is a junior... He may be doing a semester or year long internship but I doubt he will be graduating.
2. The Black community has overstepped their boundaries. Their hubris has otten the better of them. the new power minority is the Hispanic-Latino community. They won every single one of their seats...
keep an Eye on Ms. Maryam Laguna who also happens to be an FBK officer.
Come on the Hispanic-Latino Culture, Really? That's a joke! We all know they ride bitch to the Blacks just like the Alpha's ride BITCH to the Kappas.
And speaking of Alphas the only reason Senator White is going anywhere is because Senator Stevenson left to do other things, but I have a feeling this may not be the last we see of him.
Everyone's noticing his followers these days.
Will Atkins was hardly a leader. More like a puppet who didn't get what he wanted, then jumped ship. I think Courtney is up to something as well, but what do you think it is? I don't know if the AAs are as strong as they once were, but they still are able to command some attention. What is going on with the other minority groups?
2:17
if the HSA is riding bitch how did they win all their seats and the BSU lost all of theirs obviously there is some kind of shift happening. Also how come the HSA president was party chair?
BSU holds a ridiculous amount of seats in FBK which is the source of thier strength but if this election shows anything its that their base of voters is evaporating...
The HSA President, ha a joke! You know how you have to do things for appearances.
Did he work, or simply hold a position...hmm that is the question?
You the only good think about a set back to the AA Community is that it sets the PERFECT stage for a comeback.
Big UPS to all OUR HATERS!
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