by Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
The proposed ASUNM constitutional amendment is poorly represented on Wednesday's ballot and in an advertisement published today in the Daily Lobo, said Matt Gallegos, chairman of ASUNM's Steering and Rules Committee.
The advertisement and ballot state that the amendment is "to increase the level of fiscal responsibility by requiring a financial memorandum from the Student Publication Board with the annual budget."
Gallegos said the questionable wording of the ballot and advertisement, which will run Tuesday and Wednesday as well, was brought to his attention at a meeting of the Student Publications Board on Friday.
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Brittany Jaeger, ASUNM president, said the amendment is intended to help the student government account for the $20 student activity fee allocated to ASUNM by the University.
"ASUNM instituted a reporting act so we can, from year to year, put together a binder of exactly what we spent that money on," she said. "In order to complete that report, we would need a report from the Lobo (Student Publications Board)."
The board, which oversees Conceptions Southwest, Best Student Essays and the Daily Lobo, receives 8.5 percent of the activity fee.
Jim Fisher, business manager of the board, said he supports anything that makes UNM more accountable, but the presentation on the ballot and advertisement is misleading.
"I object to the wording I assume is going to be on the ballot," he said. "That does not reflect, I think, the spirit of the amendment at all."
Leslie Donovan, chairwoman of the board, said the wording on the advertisement and ballot contrasts with the intent of the amendment.
"The ad is worded in such a way that some people might misconstrue or misunderstand it and get the implication that ASUNM feels that student publications has not been responsible fiscally," she said.
Jaeger said student government requires all organizations that receive funding to present their budgets to ASUNM for approval, because it is responsible for the organizations.
The board does not present an annual report of the budget to ASUNM, because it is a separate entity, she said.
Fisher said the memorandum will be redundant with the monthly budget ASUNM members receive from being on the board. The board has three seats for student government members, but only two have been filled, he said.
"It would seem there's plenty of information provided to ASUNM members on board to fulfill that request," he said. "If they want it in that format, we can do it in that format. It's not a big deal."
Nas Manole, chairman of the Elections Commission, said ASUNM will print a clarification for the advertisement in the Daily Lobo and post it at the polling locations.
He said about 50 students who voted early did not have the benefit of the clarification.
"The voters should have a clear representation of what it is about," he said.
Manole said he will look at the results of the election to see if the vote was close enough to be affected by the early voters.
The commission will determine if there needs to be a recall, he said.
Even if the 50 votes had no impact on the results of the election, Manole is going to address the issue with the commission, because those students should have been informed about the amendment when they voted, he said.
"It's not something I'm just going to let go under the bridge," he said.
Manole said he received the information for the ballot from ASUNM Vice President Andrea Roussel.
He took the information as it was given to him and put it on the ballot, he said.
Roussel could not be reached Sunday.
ITS helped Manole format the ballot for the elections, because they are being done electronically this year, he said.
"I never took the time to look at this stuff, because I just put it on there," Manole said. "It's out of character for ASUNM's Elections Commission to make changes to the ballot."
Gallegos said he is working with ITS to change the wording on the ballot, but he doesn't know if there is enough time to change it.
