Officials, Progs, & the Future of the GDI Tradition

Quite frankly, TheRadikal.com is an Indie-Isolationist blog (who actually talks like that? -- I DO.), in the sense that electoral coalitions like Access, and arguably Impact, could and did serve a viable purpose. However, once elected, I have never been supportive of Indie parties merging with the dominant FBK-backed/Greek party (even to save a Senate win, [e.g. Ben Cavatero, Fall 2008]) for one simple reason: the future of the Independent tradition.

People like Pedro Morales and Mitchel Tannenbaum are both major assets to the Indie movement, but they are both prime examples of people quite simply not getting the jist of what 'the movement' is all about. Unlike the FBK-backed Greek bloc, 'the [independent] movement' does not maintain standing armies quartered in campus housing zones or heavily concentrated in key voting districts (e.g. A, C). The [independent] Movement' doesn't have limitless financial resources or ties to politicians around the state.

But there is a tradition that transcends the standing armies and the fat campaign bank accounts, it's a force that runs through certain kinds of people, it's a form of enlightenment - if you ask me. What possesses a person like Sam Miorelli, Bruce Haupt, Rosemary Clouston, James Argento, Frances Harrell, or Ken Kerns to become workhorses for a futile cause?

The Progs should be doing the walkouts, infiltrating and dividing the Machine from within, they should be the ones seeking to sabotage the Machine and embarass its cadres at every possible turn. The Progs should be doing Iron Fist '05 type campaigns using Avant Garde type media to infuriate the masses and create a backlash against the Student Senate, they should be organizing rallies, demanding Alligator coverage, penning legislation that will fail 80:8, but really putting their ass on the line, acting as if the terms they won were won by some kind of joke, some kind of travesty, using those posts as single-use vehicles to further a slew of bills forcing the Machine to act, forcing it to act on issues they've lied to the students about for 10yrs, (e.g. a 24hr LIBRARY) - shaming the system and it's mouthpieces...saying WE ARE HERE TRYING TO GE THIS TO WORK AND...

SO & SO SAYS THIS

SEN. X VOTED NO AND SAID THIS...

"THEY TABLED OUR BILL"

"RALLY ON TIGERT!"

PRESS CONFERENCE

SENATORS ARE ON HUNGER STRIKE, REFUSE TO LEAVE CHAMBERS

And yet...the very group that sold itself as being revolutionary...with the color red all over the place, talk of Trotsky, and of philosophy and dialectics from here to Gibraltar, is being out-revolutionized (word?) by Centrist-Independents -- that's like Gator trying to teach the Iron Fist how to be fringe - or - like Armando Grundy giving anyone election-campaign advice.

Open Question, Progress Party Senators:

I want to know what pieces of legislation have been introduced by Progress senators since taking office (whether bills passed or failed). Would also like to know what key votes and/or pro/cons Progress senators have been a part of.

Anyone can post here.

Thank You.

Dead Blog?

I got O&B's #1 Senator on the site, in a post with 25 comments (see below); I got the much awaited KEN KERNS INTERVIEW coming out in 9 days; I got the insights of the Duque on tap, all day and all night. Dead blog? Yeah RIGHT!

This is THERADIKAL.com

Where Jamal is always PRESIDENT, I'm always in Senate, Pete's shouting on his bullhorn, and you... my faithful lovers & haters are here -- reading all about it (goin' on 4yrs!!!).

Ossip, O&B, and the Independent Movement

"The walk-out was a last resort we used after the majority Unite/Gator Party voted against a one-week postponement to allow Senators time to actually look through the applications. The first time Senators actually knew about the nominees was when the agenda was published about 12 hours before the meeting. The R&A meeting at which these names were reviewed was at best held with limited notice, and Senators were not emailed its time and location, so no minority members were present. Also, 48 names, the agenda, and some replacement seats were all approved in about an hour or so, raising suspicions about how thorough a job the majority-only committee did in reviewing those applicants.

As for the actual events of the walk-out, we decided to leave after realizing that there were only 55 Senators in attendance, 8 of them affiliated with Orange and Blue. As quorum at the present time is 49 due to the spring class seat increase, we quorum-busted and ended the meeting. All we wanted was to postpone the nominations long enough to actually read their applications, and the majority denied us the time we absolutely needed to make an informed decision. As such, we took matters into our own hands and ended the meeting."

Sen. Jonathan Ossip

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo proud of the Orange & Blue Party -

THAT'S WHAT BEING A GDI IS ALL ABOUT!

Ken, you should cover this as well. QUORUM-BUSTING - genius!
With Access we had so much power and still felt limited, these kids, with a minority footing in only one branch of government, a divided footing as it stands, are able to make their presence felt. These are serious posts that should be filled by qualified candidates -- not hastily through midnight appointments.

SalvadorAllende.org & Classes

I'm currently working on a new website, facebook group, and taking Civil Procedure II. & Con. Law II, so I'm rather swamped. However, TheRadikal.com WILL be publishing the much awaited Ken Kerns interview in the month of June - to be sure! In fact, I'm really going to try and deliver during the early part of the month. So be patient...SG's #1 Blog will be back shortly!

When TheRadikal Speaks, You Listen!

Today was truly an eventful day. My loans arrived! I had a great lunch with a great friend. I toured the Capitol! Here's to short sentences!

Duque Visits Detroit City Council

Story coming soon.

Web Reviews by 'el Duque'

I went a little hard on Sg-Span. However, what's up with these 3-4 month vacations?!! Dead Blog?

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We've got blogs that last five or six months and then hit a wall - they run out of material. They want to take this site out and I welcome them, hell, I even send traffic their way! And what? Four turncoats run a blog anonymously, they run out of material, they make claim web saboteurs hacked them, then they go private, then they go inactive, then they announce themselves like the unmasking of Kiss on MTV in 1983, but then unlike KISS who went on to several gold and platinum runs....they FOLD.



Then you have SwampFrontLawn. I mean what can you say about this rag? Pro-System? Toolfest? Propaganda Clearinghouse? I mean reading this was like going to Karl Rove for an objective take on the Bush administration. Never in all my blogging-life had I read such a piece of crap - and I've read plenty of crap on the boards since 2005.

Status: Getting Less Action Than MAX HARDCORE.



It's not all bad after all. I mean you've got guys from way back in the 1990's like Ken Kerns online. Now I'm not saying Ken is older than dirt, in fact, I'm probably older in age, but it's nice to see a voice from the past millennium talkin about SG. Kerns does a good job in seasonally blogging on SG - good election time articles. Ken also sells books, tote bags, and buttons off of his website. I do believe he may also peddle bumper-stickers.

Got Buttons?

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Then there's Gator Gossip Girl. Good little blog, seemed to cater to average bozo more than anything, but good effort. If this were the late 80's/early 90's this blog would be totally zine-worthy! That's actually a compliment, a great read for those memorable moments on the can.

I think that more blogs should stray away from SG for breathers; cover something else! Whether than be skanks with guts in inflatable fraternity swimming pools or talkin about how Joe Bennett wants to pack on muscle and get rich per a facebook update so he can nail Lady Gaga - whatever it may be, stray a bit.

Now I'm not advocating you write books and sell tote bags, but get away a bit.

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EEE

EEE and Sg-Span seem to be two peas in the same pod, perhaps a casualty of the infighting of December 2008, or perhaps a concomitant creativity-freeze that warped amateur bloggers everywhere.

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Duque's Clear Favorite
One Last Gasp for Fresh Air

SG Gatorade

You can tell there's some clear TR influence on this page. A lot of subject diversity at work here. Last post was in mid-March, so I'm hoping there will be more to come. This seems like a fairly well put together site that could easily be around for years to come, should its author(s) so choose.

Reilly Recap: Friday Night Special Post

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What Novel Extracurriculars for UF Student Body President Theta Chi, I.F.C., Florida Blue Key.

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Reilly Recap, 10 words or less

"A massive swamp bar tab."
Matt Martz

"A total waste of time.
He was an empty suit."
Sam Miorelli

"HomeZone."
Ben Dictor

[Back in Fall]"When I infiltrated the meeting,
I remember him saying we were kids
who are mothers didn't hug enough.
Justin Wooten

"Impeachments."
Mark McShera

"An unyielding defense against maligning,
insipid, and misguided partisanship.
J. Clayton Brett

Ken Kerns....Sneak Peak

TheRaDiKaL: What can you tell us about the Vision Party campaign and working with Gary Slossberg? In what ways did the Voice Party (your incarnation) compare and/or differ from Vision?

Ken Kerns: Vision ran for an extraordinarily long time, from Spring 1997 to Spring 2000. I was only around for its final two elections, when it failed to win any seats. And when I was there, I could see why – very little effort was made to build and sustain coalitions in the fall and spring, and especially at recruiting new activists. In Spring 2000, we were heavily reliant on the qualifications and diversity that our Treasurer candidate brought to the table as BOCC Treasurer and the first openly gay candidate for campus-wide office.

Gary Slossberg was a great person to work with – funny, friendly, and passionate about his beliefs. As the Vision presidential candidate in 1999, for example, he spearheaded an effort to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. Of all the political leaders I worked with at UF, he remains my favorite – I can’t quite explain why, but I think it has something to do with the fact that it took a lot to get him mad at you.

Vision was always like that, too – while not a “College Democrats” party, Vision was very much a socially liberal one that was skeptical of FBK and the greek system.

Voice 2001 was a bit different. Our platform was within the Vision tradition of “integrity, democracy, diversity” but our emphasis was on the plight of student organizations, and improving how SG worked. Our biggest fight was over giving more money to student groups – an amendment to the A&S Fee budget that Fusion bitterly opposed in the election but eventually sponsored when it came time to fund the organizational budget. We did not really campaign on social issues as much, although we favored more emphasis on a cleaner environment. With folks like Adam Guilette, a founder of the Liberty Project, on our side, our campaign was more about making SG more responsive, more decentralized.

It’s within the GDI tradition that Vision had cemented, but we had our own policy accents that made it a distinct force.

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The Full Ken Kerns Q&A...June 1, 2009
NO MORE POSTPONEMENTS! ONLY 41 Days Left!
Argento, Capezza, Kerns: "The Big 3"

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....

Skeet Surrency: 6 Replies to TheRadikal.com

1) The quote in which I call Machen an ally was both paraphrased and taken out of context by the alligator and yourself. As you probably know, Alligator reporters don't usually walk around with voice recorders - it's pen and pad for them, which almost always means your quotes will wind up paraphrased the next day. A more accurate quotation would have read "It's nice to Machen as an ally on this issue...” Now of course that sentence they chose to quote me on was just one of many I spoke during the interview, and the one immediately prior to that one was important contextually. It went something like "Budget cuts and tuition increases are symptoms of the same problem - Tallahassee refusing to adequately fund education." And the reason Machen is an ally on that particular issue is because he agrees with that statement 100%. We even got the man to agree that FL is in need of an income tax, which was a real surprise considering his conservatism.

It doesn't mean his handling of the situation is exemplary or commendable - I'd say he's done a horrible job advocating on behalf of students, faculty, and staff at UF. And when we confronted him with that sentiment, his reply was unsurprisingly pragmatic: it's easier to get money out of you students through tuition increases than it is to get this state to fund our school. So his role in this funding crisis is really just a symptom of the crisis itself, not the cause of it.

It is also worth nothing that at this time last year, 4 friends and I starved ourselves for 2 weeks trying to get a seat across the table from Machen to discuss our university's investment practices, which he refused to do. To get into all the ups and downs of my interactions with the man over the past 4 years easily fill an essay. Needless to say, I trust the man as far as I can throw him, yet I am not opposed in principle to working with him when it suits our needs.

2) I have friends and and allies in every political party represented in SG right now. I'm willing to work with anyone willing to work with me.

3) "Old" SDS was primarily a group of friends who got into activism together, and who mostly got out of activism at around the same time. The reasons for that are numerous and include, variously: activist burnout, loss of moral due to our defeat in the SRI campaign, school obligations, other activist obligations, people moving away, and a loss of direction or lack of creative ideas on where to go next.

"New" SDS could refer to anyone who joined SDS around the time when the original members were leaving, and represented a new generation of activists. Old SDS members failed to leave the organization with any sense of institutional memory, or with any meaningful training of new members on how to be successful activists. At the same time, the old SDS members who stuck around still held a considerable amount of sway over the organization, but were not coming up with any plans of their own, or were not able or willing to follow through on them. Even so, it was during this time that we won our first significant victory as activists, which was to stop the installation of handscanners at the rec centers on campus. But compared with our previous levels of activity, SDS was largely stagnant during this time.

New members obviously grew restless with this, and when it became clear that the old members were not offering anything in terms of where to go from here, they charted their own course, which included heavy participation in SG elections and a restructuring of the organization. For better or worse, the prospect of restructuring SDS brought back some old members, who were opposed to some of the measures. Tensions ran high for a while, and the end result was that most of the restructuring proposals passed a vote, but some didn't, and this left many new members dissatisfied. Some ended up leaving to form a new group, the International Socialist Organization. Most of those who left have not been back to a meeting since then.

Since then, SDS has returned to levels of activity similar to what we saw when we first started. Our focus is on the anti-budget cut campaign. Specifically we see our role as operating both independently and within the coalition formed around opposing the cuts (Coalition Save our Schools), in order to push the dialogue of this fledgling movement towards a more radical analysis of the situation. The ISO has also been active during this time, tabling, recruiting members, and attending meetings and conventions. Membership crossover between the two organizations exists on some levels, and it is undoubtedly a good thing that a explicitly socialist organization exists on campus. We could be wonderful compliments of one another, if the levels of collaboration between the two organizations would increase. That's obviously the most constructive direction the two groups could go together, and that's what we're working towards.

4) Frank Bracco has always been a friend of mine within SG. Before there was an Orange and Blue or SDS, I was active in getting an SG referendum question passed in the 2006 elections, and Frank helped me navigate the confusing culture and bureaucracy of SG. Since then he has helped in the same capacity in two other SG referendums I helped get onto election ballots.

Sam and I have no relationship to speak of, except that he served as the president of a political party I was marginally involved in. Politically I'm sure we'd disagree on most subjects.

5) SDS has slated members in the Orange and Blue and the Progress Party. Our constitution officially says that "We are not a mouthpiece for any particular party or ideology... (you can find the rest on our facebook group)." If it made tactical sense, I don't think many in SDS would object as a matter of principle in welcoming members of any political party who are willing to work constructively towards the broad goals outlined in our constitution, nor would we forbid our members from joining such parties. That said, we are unabashedly leftist in our analysis, so it would be odd indeed for much crossover to occur between us and, say, the college libertarians. Even then, we have often welcomed libertarians at our meetings, and have collaborated in putting on events with them, College Democrats, and even the College Republicans (most notably, in debating them on the issue of healthcare, where we were the only advocates of a single payer, universal system, but also in the aftermath of the Andrew Meyer protest, where we worked with the College Libertarians to put on a forum on civil liberties)

6) I did not participate in organizing the last radical rush, but it seemed okay to me.

Thank You, "Joe The Plumber!"

Lansing Tea Party

Let me start out by saying that I strongly believe in the concept of taxation and large government. How many people are going to openly admit wanting big government in this age of lousy economics and foreclosures left and right, but at least I'm not naive enough to believe that the markets will cure all evils. It's those same markets that packed up and headed over abroad at the prospects of cheap labor and nil government regulation. Surely, right-wing economists could once again point the finger at big government as the main culprit for the big U.S. companies ditching the red, white, and blue - however, we're not talking about a return to feudalism are we? We still want someone to live in the White House right? We still want a federal legislature and judiciary right? We still want some kind of a national government, right? I mean what's the purpose of chanting "U.S.A, U.S.A.," if you're goal is to revert our national government to the days of the Articles of Confederation?

Governments regulate, they tax, and they spend for the general welfare. So...while I strongly disagree with 90% of the arguments posed at yesterday's Lansing Tea Party, I just want to commend the organizers and even most of the supporters that showed up for taking part in their civic duties. It's important that Americans make good use of their constitutional freedoms to speech, press, and association. These were hard-earned freedoms, truly enjoyed by a select few nations in the world today. Most of these concerned conservatives, I'm sure, never miss an election and never pass up a chance to talk politics. I may not agree with them on substance, but I support their activism as if I were speaking of my own.

In closing, I would hope that the protesters and their supporters keep in mind that President Obama has been in office barely three months. Many of the protesters were extremely disappointed and furious with President over the fledgling economy - it's simply not fair. Give the man a chance. If you disagree at the end of six months, a year, a term - fine, but you're guy had the reins for 8yrs, our guy has been in office 3 Months, take that into account too.



Remember What Saved Us From U.S. Depression...it wasn't the bankers and industrialists being let free to go wild...it was FDR's NEW DEAL!

[Skeet] Surrency Comment Fallout

"It's being taken somewhat out of context. I took it as Skeet saying Machen was an ally on the issue of raising the sales tax."

Mark McShera
Fmr. O&B Party Presidential Candidate

"I mean a bunch of lefties supporting higher taxes doesn't surprise me.

Sam Miorelli
Fmr. Student Senator
Fmr. O&B Party President

It shows that Skeet believes in his goals enough to not act in the manner of a petulant child. He doesn't take the opposite stance of the administration and Machen just for the sake of being in opposition to them. Any good movement should recognize and be able to exploit opportunities within an established power structure that may present themselves.

Machen can be an ally today on one issue and an arch nemesis tomorrow on another. The world is not black and white and this is how mature and well adjusted individuals conduct themselves. There is no benefit to being shrill for the sake of being shrill. Screaming out, "It's Opposite day!" is the stuff of elementary school yards and high school spirit weeks, it is in now way a manner in which leaders need conduct themselves.

Joseph Trimboli
O&B Party Chairman

"I think the Alligator quoted Skeet out of context. I believe that Skeet would only be refering to Bernie as an ally when it came to the educational sales-tax (since Bernie has publicly supported it) It is well known that Skeet disagrees with Bernie on nearly every issue except this and the Alligator is well known for misquotes."

Frank Bracco
Fmr. O&B Party S.B.V.P. Candidate

"Skeet is a loser that is graduating, and only cares about this stuff because he is a media whore. All his activism is focused around how much he can get his name in the paper."

Justin Wooten
Progress Party Organizer

I don't know what was said or how deserved it was, but I'm skeptical of calling a guy that honestly thinks he deserves a bonus big enough to prevent several faculty being laid off an 'ally of the students,' but hey, if he really is, then he's a great ally to have."

Joe Bennett
Fmr. Student Senator

"Justin Wooten made a very apt analogy by comparing the study-in at Tigert Hall to the London protest referenced in Zizek's seminal essay, "Resistance is Surrender". My fear is that if the student opposition movement to the budget cuts gets too close with administration, it will compromise its autonomy and message.

Dave Schneider
Student Senator, Progress Party Leader

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Officials, Progs DIVIDED On Skeet

People have been hammering me as of late for implying that Skeet Surrency is an Official, yet it's interesting how factional-lines distinguish between support and skepticism.

In a post-election [SG]-world, it would seem that the divisions that broke the back of the Indie movement would be all but healed. One would think that 'the movement' is on the money again, waiting to give the machine a bloody nose in Fall! But not the case just yet.

Unlike SG as a whole, SDS is supposed to represent a certain fringe, a certain sector willing to take the fight one step further than the mainstream kids. It's quite unnerving that SDS, a group Skeet Surrency has largely associated with and which is credited with the protest in question, is now considered a Pro-Machen support group. It's not only sad for SDS, it's sad for the entire Independent movement.

SDS Leader Calls Machen "An Ally."

Read The Alligator Article!

I think dialogue is great, don't get me wrong, but when a key leader of a revolutionary student movement calls the head of the University of Florida's administration 'an ally', then you have to wonder what SDS is exactly all about.

Joe Bennett Speaks!

TheRadikal: Please tell us when you arrived at UF and what were some of the first organizations/causes you got involved with?

Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I arrived at UF in the fall of 2005 and I didn’t really care about SG. I’d been in SG in high school and figured it was a bunch of dorks playing house and adding resume lines. I joined the gator swim club freshman year and then the UF Rugby team fall 2006. I never really got involved with any causes throughout my college career. I did some work with mentally handicapped kids for community service, but I wouldn't describe that as anything close to championing a cause. I directed most of my passions into UF Rugby; building it from a scrub club into a nationally ranked force to be reckoned with. I tore my ACL spring of 2008, taking me out of the game and leaving me with enough free time to find another cause. Queue entrance of Student Government.



The Radikal: How did you first learn about student government and what motivated you to join the Orange & Blue Party and run for public office?


Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I got involved in SG through my association with one Mr. Samuel Miorelli, whom I attended high school with and lived with freshman and sophomore year. He told me over the summer that the Senate seat for my college (public health and health professions) was open. I wasn't taking classes at the time, so I had to wait until Fall to apply. I applied as an Independent, and with some pointers from Sam made it through the interview unscathed. My plan was simple: I'd stay Independent in the Senate and vote according to my conscience (that thing everyone talks about doing but never does). I realized very quickly that the Orange and Blue party was essentially a coalition of people that already did that, combined by the common goal of bringing down the corrupt Gator party. I joined right after I got my R&E seat.


TheRadikal: Did the candidates and/or the party change from the days on the campaign trail to the historic Fall victory, and if so, how?


Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I wasn't really involved with the historic Fall victory. Like I said, I joined the Senate as a replacement Senator and was not initially involved with Orange and Blue until later on.

I can offer some commentary on how things changed, however. I think what made Fall 2008 so successful was the wonderful circumstance where everyone was united to champion the same goal. Everyone was able to ignore their differences because the Gator party was a foe worth uniting against. The division that caused the formation of Progress and Orange and Blue as separate parties came as the result of personality clashes. Essentially we had two groups of people that didn’t like one another, and so even though they had the same goal of usurping the Gator party, they weren’t willing to work together to make it happen.


The Radikal: How would you describe a typical Tuesday night Senate meeting?

Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: The typical Senate meeting… makes you lose at least some of your faith in humanity. JJ was almost as bad of a chair as Kelly Dale. The leadership of the Gator party regularly took action ranging from pointless to ludicrous. That anyone is willing to follow them at all is laughable. For some reason people do… I have no idea why.

Orange and Blue would fight the good fight, but far too regularly goes into a conflict expecting to lose. Far too often people complained for the sake of complaining. The chorus of nasal “NAAAAY”s from the back corner did nothing but foster a defeatist attitude. The idea of isolating the party to a single, back corner in a four corner room is in itself defeatist. We needed to work much harder at being the voice of reason and providing an example for others to follow. Far too often we just bitched; no one respects that.

The Radikal: How would you describe typical office hours, a senator's modern day relationship with Glenda & Sandy, and a typical senator's relationship with his/her Senate President?

Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I didn’t really do many office hours; I tabled for my constituency requirements because it took half as long to get done. The time I spent in the office was either for Rules and Ethics or working with John Ossip on something or other. JJ was a terrible Senate President, one of the least genuine people I have ever interacted with, and almost as poor of a chair as Kelly Dale. Glenda is a nice lady, but I wonder why she stays around. Everyone in Senate speaks well of her, but few and far between are the Senators that treat her like a human being.


The Radikal: What are some of your proudest moments w/ O&B in Senate? Low points?


Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: My proudest moments in Senate were defeating the bills removing minority protections and gaining the support of some Gator senators. There was a small victory every time we succeeded in getting a Gator party senator to vote their conscience. It’s truly terrifying how mindlessly people will vote for things that are blatantly morally reprehensible, and so seeing someone break free from brainwashing or resist being strong-armed was inspirational. Ben Dictor gets most of the credit for getting a lot of these Senators on our side, but I’d like to think I had something to do with it as well.

Getting bylaws written for the Orange and Blue party and having elections for new officers was somewhat of a personal victory, although the main aim in doing that was to prevent the party splitting. History can tell you how well that one worked out…
That leads into my lowest point; the split between Orange and Blue and Progress. Political death. We essentially said, “Here Unite, have the election, we didn’t want it anyway.”

Another huge source of exasperation for me was Rules and Ethics. From the committee’s ridiculous refusal to subpoena Riley for the Green Means Go emails to the Senate’s repeated refusal to kick out Taxter. I still can’t believe he kept his seat. Pretty much the only time the guy came to Senate was to plead not to be kicked out. He didn’t even show up to his hearing with Rules and Ethics to defend himself.

I’m going to have to stop here in the interest of time, but rest assured I have witnessed more ridiculous occurrences during my time in Senate than I care to recall.



The Radikal: We all know you left Student Government, but no one really knows why. Could you please tell us, in your own words, why you stepped away from SG? Is the move permanent?



Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I must admit I’m at a bit of a loss as to why anyone would find it a mystery why I stepped away from SG. I’m graduating this May, so I wasn’t planning on running for reelection. Everyone I’ve spoken to was aware of this. I had moral qualms about running for an office that I knew ahead of time I would have to vacate within a few months. At the time I resigned, I had only a few Senate meetings left until my term was over. The opportunity arose for me to enroll in a first responder class as a precursor to Emergency Medical Technician training (it was only offered Tuesday nights 6 to 10 PM). I would have had to delay my plans by at least a semester in order to stay in Senate for three more meetings. With nothing pressing on the table, I decided to go the First Responder route. I’ll get the chance to actually save lives instead of just talking about doing it (paraphrased from Alan Yanuck).

As for my withdrawal itself, I’m still around for anyone that wants my help. The only call I received from anyone in SG during the elections was from Sam Miorelli, who needed a candidate to slate with Orange and Blue for my college. I found him one within 20 minutes. That said, I’m not a Senator anymore, so I am taking a step back. SG is draining, and I have to decide how best to direct my energies. During my time as a Senator, I would regularly spend entire days working on nothing but SG issues. I just can’t afford to keep doing that.

During the elections, I kept to myself mainly because I never decided who I wanted to support. On a case by case basis, the Progress party had more candidates I supported, but fundamentally I was opposed to the formation of a second party to begin with. I’d been saying since well before the election that any division would be our downfall. I tried hard to stop it; I wish I’d tried harder. To beat the force that is the United Swampy Gator Party, we have to be working as a unit.


The Radikal: If O&B and Progress were to join forces, would you consider returning to SG to work with Eric Conrad & Joe Trimboli?


Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: I will work with anyone that wants to improve SG. I’ve known Joe Trimboli since high school and have gotten on well with Eric Conrad since I first met him. I’m not sure why you chose those two people specifically, but yeah I’ll be around Gainesville until fall 2010 and I’m willing to help out.


The Radikal: Per my promise, there will be no questions regarding contentious matters as of 11/2008-03/2009, however, some of these issues have been marked in word association.


Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: Not sure what issues you’re referring to, but sounds good.


Ben Dictor: Charismatic. The Progress party was basically formed around Ben as a presidential candidate. A lot of the victories we had in the Senate during fall and early spring were due to his gaining of rapport with opposition senators.


Grasshopper: Experienced. No one’s been around longer than this guy. He makes damn good pizza rolls too.


Elizabeth Stinson: Angry. I have no idea if she is even sure what her own goals are. She shouts a lot and talks big but I’ve never really seen her do anything constructive.


Stacey Gray: Promising. One of the nicest people I’ve met. It will be a sad day for the student body if she ends up as jaded as the rest of the people in SG.


Joe Trimboli: Veteran. He’s been around SG for ages. I disagree with him on some issues and he knows that, but we get along well. That said, he works for an insurance company. You can never really trust an insurance salesman.


GMGo Emails: Pain in the ass. They basically highlight everything wrong with SG. In themselves they show how corrupt SG leadership was and is. The refusal of R&E to investigate them shows even more clearly how much Gator sucks. They were almost assuredly obtained illegally, also a problem. That said, they exposed corruption, and for that they were invaluable.


Mark McShera: Likeable. He was easy to rally around; reference his spontaneous appointment to the R&A committee. He got too hot headed at times, but he’s a good guy. I wish he’d stepped down to allow Ben to run for SG President, but then I also wish Ben had done the same thing for Mark.


Kyle Huey: Behind the scenes. Never saw much of him but apparently he does a lot.


12/11 Meeting/Scandal: I’m not great with dates, but I’m going to assume this is referring to the Orange and Blue open meeting where we called out the supposed cabal. Since then people have said the word “cabal” is too strong. Whatever. I don’t care what word you use; a large portion of the party was being lied to by our leadership and I called them out on it. I was personally the one that called them out on it, but for some reason in the weeks that followed a number of people chose to hold it against Ben Dictor, who actually had very little to do with it. That did not help the healing process.

By this point our party was tearing apart at the seams. A lot of people were pissed at one another; pretty much every person with good reason. We were headed for splitsville, and this was my last ditch effort to get our issues out into the open and keep everyone on the same page. It was a shitty situation, but we made the best of it. We got bylaws passed and new officers elected. I could go down the list and tell you the mistakes made by each person involved, but the bottom line is that we didn’t do what we needed to do to stay together. Divided we got conquered.


O&B 2009: Good luck. They’ve taken a big hit and they need to figure out where to go from here. My vote is to have O&B and Progress get back together.


Progress 2009: Best wishes. I’m happy for the grad seat wins, but I don’t like how people are viewing them. Winning eight seats means Unite got all the rest. It was a big step back from the success of the previous Fall. As far as I’m concerned, as long as Unite or Gator or whatever they call themselves are winning, everyone is losing. I hope they have more success in the future.


Keg 2009: Retarded. Leading up to the election we were concerned that Gator would form several parties to diffuse the anti-Greek vote. They didn’t go that route, so some genius decided to do it for them. Whoever’s idea it was to form this party should kick themselves in the balls/ovaries.



Unite 2009: U suck. Every time I see someone with that stupid U on a shirt or sticker I lose some respect for them. That U does not stand for Unite in my brain.


Frank Bracco: Overzealous. He’s got good ideas but has zero ability to build rapport with people that don’t already agree with him.


Charles Grapski: Activist. I don’t know anything about what the guy stands for, but I can’t help but admire anyone willing to sacrifice so much for what they believe. Whether he’s insane or just determined I don’t know.


Thomas Jardon: I don’t really know him well enough to comment.


Matt Martz: --- [Fmr. Sen. Bennett wrote in to state he in fact has not met Mr. Martz and to offer his apologies for the mix-up.




The Radikal: Any parting words?



Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett: SG’s main problem is that it’s populated by people that realize things are corrupt, but are unwilling to take a stand against it. They join Gator/Unite because they think they can make change from the inside. Pretty soon they find they value their resume lines too much to rock the boat. As always, it’s the sheep, not the wolves, that are the real problem. Dumbasses like JJ and Fager pose no threat at all until you add 60 Senators ready to blindly vote at their command.

Friday Is Joe Bennett Night!

The Q&A will be published at around 10pm tonight :)

Updates

I'll be speaking with Fmr. Progress Party Presidential candidate, Sen. Benjamin Dictor this weekend for an update on where the Progress Party is headed, continued negotiations with O&B, and SG-strategies. Dictor, whether remaining at UF or not (like Bruce Haupt), has made a lasting contribution to the modern day independent movement.

I'm also awaiting the Q&A from Fmr. Sen. Joe Bennett and working on some loose ends for the months of April & May, as well as hopefully getting more involvement from Joe Trimboli & Eric Conrad on the State of the Parties.

I'm also hoping to be able to have a Jordan Johnson Q&A up at some point during his administration - I consider this a top priority for the blog and would be ever-so-gracious to anyone that could help make this happen.

GDI v. Mainstream Indie

Mainstream Indies

GDI's

There's three types of Independents...yes more subcultures...but these three types have been around a lot longer than yours truly or this blog. The first type (which is a Greek-friendly version, e.g. "Swamp," "Impact") was not present in this election. The next garden variety is the Mainstream (or Moderate) Independent (ala Progress '05, Action, or Hernandez-UNITE!), which in this case would be the Orange & Blue Party. The smallest type - and contrary to this year's upset, the worst performing faction - are the GDI's (see Student Alliance '03, Keg '04, Voice '05, and arguably, ARGUABLY Keg '09.

In the featured videos, you see Mainstream GDI's using the same influences as their elder-GDI counterparts and while funny, the O&B version seems forced, whereas as the Pants version is very spontaneous, laid back, and naturally "WHATEVER!"

You decide for yourself. Put your film critic's hat on and comment!