Friday, April 9, 2010
Don't get no respect...
ASUN Senator Jessica Purney, a two-term representative for the College of Education, called out two-term ASUN President Eli O'Reilly in her status, writing: "Eli Reilly once again has no respect for the legislative body by vetoing an almost unanimous bill from the 77th session because of his opinion."
On one hand it seems like Sen. Purney's rationale completely misses the obvious point that the ASUN Constitution establishes a separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches, and that it is the President's prerogative to veto legislation just as it is the Senate's prerogative to override a veto.
Furthermore, the Senate is by far the more powerful branch of government. Sen. Purney complains that the executive pushed the Senate to pay for mascot uniforms for the athletic department, and that he created high-paying positions on his cabinet. However, those positions were funded by the consent of the Senate, and the Senate can destroy those positions at nearly any time (so long as they are not constitutional offices).
On the other hand, I think it says something about the ASUN advisors that even with two years of experience, ASUN government officials seem to have so many gaps in their institutional knowledge. As an undergrad I probably would pointed the finger at Sen. Purney and impugn her competence for complaining about problems that have constantly been within her domain to address and fix. Having developed a broader view of ASUN, I think it is more appropriate to ask why the faculty advisor to the Senate has not provided more guidance to the legislature to inform them of their legal powers.
Most senators end up serving only one term. That is not enough time for them to learn on their own what power they wield. They must rely on someone else for assistance. If that advisor is indifferent, or worse, calculating, there is a risk that ASUN will be less able to fulfill its mission to serve the needs of all students.
This raises the question… what portion of the ASUN budget goes to feed the salaries of ASUN professional faculty?
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I wonder what was vetoed?
ReplyDeleteLooks like he vetoed the Senate's pay raise. If I remember right, he was pretty open about his feelings on the issue, so it shouldn't come as a surprise he vetoed it. What's even more interesting is this:
ReplyDelete"Jessica Purney: It was passed almost a month ago but the secretary was slow getting him the paperwork. It's a pay raise for senators."
So apparently this was completely preventable, but again the secretary and the Senators failed to do their paperwork. It's actually pretty ironic. If they had their shit together, they could have easily overrode the President's veto. But instead, they were lazy or just incompetent and it cost them a nice hefty pay raise.
Kudos to President Reilly for using his CONSTITUTIONAL powers, and I'm not sure you could find a better way to end this session. The irony is just too much...
Guess they didn't learn anything even after the judicial council warned them.
ReplyDeleteit wasn't unanimous there were various abstentions and one nay.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone claimed it was unanimous...Quoting Purney, "almost unanimous."
ReplyDeleteThis is amusing--no, sad--for a few reasons. First, this was entirely within the Senate's control. The ASUN Constitution sets out clear deadlines for presidential consideration of bills. He gets five days to sign, veto, or do nothing. The reason the clock expired here is because the Senate once again didn't ensure its officers (i.e. the Secretary and the Speaker) kept the paper flowing in a timely fashion.
ReplyDeleteSecond, haven't we been here before? Failure to timely present bills was an issue in one of your cases, Corinna, and the Judicial Council found in your favor in all of the cases. With six cases all challenging on some level the adequacy of the Senate's recordkeeping, the Senate was on notice to fix its faulty practices. That obviously hasn't happened, but I suspect it's mostly for the reason of the advisors not knowing how to correct the faults, with the secondary reason being the student officers either don't care or don't take the Council's decisions seriously.
Lastly, what makes this most sad for me is this mistake comes at the end of their terms of office, at what should be the peak of their understanding of ASUN's institutions and mechanics. Unfortunately, it appears the peak isn't much higher than sea level.
I'd have more sympathy for them if they weren't so asleep at the switch. I was going to sum up their session, but this folly works quite nicely.
This is amusing-no, sad- for a few reasons... Mainly because YOU BOTH EFFING GRADUATED. WHO THE EFF CARES?!
ReplyDeleteNo matter what you people say about the job at hand, this is a learning process in which mistakes WILL be made. Get over it.
I sense a feeling of inadequacy amongst yourselves... like ASUN was the only thing you were successful in, thus why you cling to it in such a way.
Grow up, and move the tuck (hehehe) on with your lives like everyone else after their stint with the STUDENT GOVERNMENT ends.