The Concordian

Student Government Association Elections are upon us. There have been very few surprises about who is running for what position. The biggest surprise possibly may be to all the critics of my senatorial resignation article who felt I was resigning in order to run for office on some kind of “reform” ticket. I guess the joke is on you. However, I made several accusations within my resignation, even stating that if the right people get elected things possibly could get better. But the question becomes, “Who are the right people for the job?” Before I proceed, let me assure you, I have not spoken to any of these individuals to see if they even want my endorsements; therefore there is no political affiliation between myself and any of these candidates.  These are just the people I feel will do the best job with the positions for which they are running.

First of all, there is one candidate who either feels he is the most qualified person for every position in the SGA, or as I feel it is more correctly read, he feels he can play the role of antagonist during debate in all the fields. For those of you who do not know, Robert Elsaid is running for every office within the SGA. So, I pose a question.  Robert, why are you running a campaign such as this? Do you feel as though you can act as the “Bryan Henderson candidate” in this election? I’m sure all of us who were at Concord last year remember the “epic” debate between Henderson, Hicks, Seay, and Prince. I’m also pretty sure that no one wants to see the same utter disregard for integrity again that was shown between certain candidates in last year’s race. I apologize if Mr. Elsaid views this as a serious campaign, but I can only view this campaign as a joke.

As for the office of President, this election finds three excellent candidates. Ashley Hicks has an excellent track record of service at the university as she has served both as Business Manager and Vice President. Bill Lewis has been an excellent student advocate as the Sigma Tau Gamma Rep., serving on many committees and passing several key legislations within the senate, such as a much-needed ethics reform. Finally, current Attorney General Jeffrey Yeager is also running for president. He has, by far, been the most efficient and hardworking executive this year. Personally, I have seen him stand up for what he believes even when it went against the views of the rest of the executives. Although all three are good candidates, my pick is Jeffrey Yeager because he is a man of great integrity who has given his all to working for the students and will continue to do so.

The Vice Presidential race is far easier to decide. The candidates are Joshua Lawson, presently Public Defender, and Akeya Carter-Bosman, the current Board of Governors Rep. These two individuals are both fantastic people, but I feel for the position of Vice President, Akeya is better qualified. She has shown that she intends to work diligently for students on campus and will bring a certain transparency to the executive board with her candid nature. Akeya has worked with several organizations around campus and has helped organize several events.

Business Manager is a three-way race between John Dunn, Ashley Hicks, and Matthew Belcher. All three have some good prior experience with the SGA, but this past year the business affairs of the SGA were run excellently. For this position, I say we go with what has worked: Ashley Hicks for Business Manager.

Considering I have endorsed both Ashley Hicks and Akeya for other positions, for Board of Governors Representative, I fully support Curtis Kearns. He and I disagree on many issues within the SGA, but Curtis has great experience and good relations with the board. He is the best for the job.

Attorney General has become a very interesting race indeed this year, as there is a new face who was appointed to justice last year. Jonathan Lester, Senator Ashley Green, Public Defender Joshua Lawson, and STG Rep. Bill Lewis are the choices. This was possibly the hardest race to find an endorsement. I don’t feel that Justice Lester is quite ready to take on this role; neither do I feel that Senator Ashley Green should assume this position. Senator Green is a good student advocate, but I’m not sure that it is time for her to take on such a demanding role. Although one would consider Joshua Lawson to have the most experience in this race, my endorsement falls with Bill Lewis. He has been involved with many of the reforms within the SGA and has the experience to truly understand what the role of the Attorney General is within our government.

The final race is Public Defender between John Dunn and Joshua Lawson. This race does not have a clear favorite publicly. I admit that I do not know the past of John Dunn as I am a sophomore; therefore I cannot say that he will not do a good job. But I can speak of what I do know, and that is that although Joshua Lawson has had his faults as Public Defender this past year, he does have the experience necessary to continue to produce positive results.

These are my picks for the campaign. Once again, the students of Concord are hearing these endorsements at the same time as the candidates. No matter whom you vote for in this election, just get out and vote. I challenge you to prove me wrong. Prove to me that if we do elect the correct people for the jobs, progress can be made and success can be achieved.

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