punditry.ca — uncovering DSU elections

This is the first year in DSU Elections history that every candidate is offering a web presence outside of Facebook.  (Technically debogorski.ca isn’t fully up and running yet, but I have faith).  As someone who has been hoping for this for a long time, basically since online campaigning was first banned in 01-02, I’m pretty happy.  For the most part candidate websites are searchable, accessible, informative, and nicely done.  Most have useful and relevant domain names.  Many offer blog-like updates, and they all offer some type of platform.  With candidate sites being available to voters during the polling period for the first time since 2001, I feel comfortable saying there will be an unprecedented level of candidate-supplied information available online during this election.

Speaking of information available, CKDU interviews with the candidates are up (thanks for the tip, Henry)

• President
• VP Internal
• VP Education and VP Student Life
• Senate

My first punditry post of the new year.

First off, I have a video for you:

Candidate Breakfast – March 15th, 2010

So today was the Candidate Breakfast, the first event of the real start to the campaign season.  The few luxury days the candidates had to find their feet are now behind us, and from now until next Monday they will be in a tooth and nail fight for the attention and love of the student population. Friends will be sacrificed, unlikely alliances will be formed, and guys like Eric Snow will ask annoyingly specific questions about the inner workings of the DSU that you won’t have a chance in hell of answering if your name isn’t Chris Saulnier.

I’ll let the video do most of the talking, but I do have a few thoughts based off of what I’ve seen thus far:

-    VPE is a real race. Evan Price must have talked to 150 people in the SUB this morning. He is a natural. He also has a fancy suit. I thought it was going to be a walk at first glance, but this is going to go down to the wire.
-    Everyone has a theory about VPI, and every theory is drastically different. I get the feeling it will get bloody quick – it’s already started.
-    President is more open than anyone expected. Bailey is a lot more serious than I’d originally thought, and Debogorski is a serious threat, for the first time ever. This one isn’t necessarily the write-off it seemed originally.
-    Wait, let me repeat that: DEBOGORSKI is a LEGITIMATE THREAT to WIN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. I thought perhaps I was alone in thinking this, but everyone I talked to seemed to agree that the way he is positioned at this point, Debogorski has a great shot at winning over the populist vote. He has toned down the crazy about 800%, and seems to be trying. If the rumors of him doing class talks are true, I would follow his poster’s advice and “Beware of Debogorski” if I were Saulnier or Bailey.

The race is on. Tomorrow’s Studley Debate should give us a good look at the candidates in action, provided they show up.  I’ll be there, camera in hand. Until then, enjoy the video, be sure to get a good sleep tonight candidates, and I’ll see you all tomorrow!

(Note: For the record, many candidates, particularly Chris Saulnier, provided me with particularly long and competent sounding platform pitches. Youtube has a ten minute limit. If anyone really wants to see them, I’ll post them online, but I’ll be uploading the debate footage soon, so I’m sure you can wait.)

(Note #2: For those who are twitch reloading punditry every three seconds, you’ll need to give the video a few minutes  for youtube to properly process it, otherwise it will look like crap. Check above the video to see if the processing message is still there.)

There has been quite some conjecture made about VPI in the last few days. The pundits have made a few predictions and the people commenting on this website have said a few things. There have been scandalous rumors surrounding one candidate in particular and in my opinion this is THE race this year.

Really the presidential race is sweet Sexton candidate with the cute smile vs sweet Sexton candidate with the cute smile vs the legend of Debo. It’s a little boring. I don’t have to restate the VPSL race being a snore and the VP Ed race seems to be a case of the juggernaut the underdog and the mystery man. It could almost be a Scooby- Doo episode really.  The Senate race is a good one to watch but seems to be pretty devoid of drama or scandal so I feel if you really want some entertainment or shock value out of this campaign you should turn your attention to VPI. Not to say that the other candidates, their platforms and their issues should be ignored, I am simply saying this one will be the most interesting in my opinion.

Not only that but I feel I want to break down these candidates and this portion of the campaign personally since I have had quite a year with the current VPI. I worked on half of the committees Mark chaired and I drafted and noticed the motion for his re-call, which I will explain briefly later.

Tim Hiltz- Current societies commissioner. Mark was a commissioner when he ran as well. That does give a person experience but really it is in one area of the job. His platform has a lot to do with Societies and ratification; probably because he has a lot of experience there and really that is the bulk of the job. Even with all his experience in that area his improvements to SRC seem to be the same old thing every VPI candidate ever says and they are completely vague. Scheduling regular meetings? Yeah I hope you would do that as it is what you are supposed to do. I hate when candidates use parts of the job description to campaign. Believe me if it’s in the constitution I know whoever wins will be doing it or they will get a lot of backlash. I agree with what he says about grants but realistically meeting more than the committee currently does(which when I was on it, it was once a week) is excessive and will likely not solve the problems that have been popping up this year. Handbook, Handbook, Handbook…that word gets thrown around every year. There weren’t enough this year and there was an issue with ads. I don’t actually think it warrants a whole point in the platform. Maybe a sub point of societies and groups. Foodbank: good to have, good program again maybe not enough for a whole main point.   CAMPUS RELATIONS – First of all the current gap between Sexton and Studley is not the only gap. Carlton feels disconnected too. Don’t forget about the whole section of voters. They rallied around Adam Harris last year and he won a spot on BOG.  Next problem with this is I find it hard to believe he knows anything about the gap between Studley and Sexton. As the current Sexton Campus Director in all the times I have seen him around the SUB not once have we had a conversation about it and really the gap has become a lot less of a problem than it had been maybe even as little as 3 years ago. I think now it would be a good thing to promise maintaining and building on the bridge that has been constructed. Many people don’t know this but there has been a surge in DSU involvement from Sexton in the past few years. A prime example of that very fact is the presidential race. Not to say there aren’t problems I just hate when people vaguely bring up Sexton just to get Sexton votes. I do however appreciate that he is trying and may genuinely want to try to work with Sexton. He just needs more research and needs to include Carlton.

Kayla Kurin- I have seriously seen this girl everywhere. She is a lady about town like no other. The thing is I haven’t heard her talking to anyone. Her platform has three key points and she has sub points and promises under each. This particular one  is huge though and I am surprised no one has brought it up on this site yet:

I will support the new contracts policy that is currently being drafted regarding student consultation when enterting into new contracts. As VP Internal I will ensure that this policy is enforced and the lines of communication between the student body and the executive stay open.

I believe her. She has had something to do with an alternative motion that was put forward and is concerned about the issue. My problem with this is while I believe it does fall under communication she is treading dangerously on VPFO territory and should maybe not rely to heavily on this during her campaign.  I’m not sure it’s a promise that should be in the VPI portfolio. I do have to applaud her for taking a stance and direction on this although I did say I didn’t think it was a solid thing for anyone to campaign on. If she could spell entering correctly it would be better though.

Work with DSUSO to create a sustainability policy for societies to be inculded in the society policy

Sorry Kayla the DSU VPI is no longer on DSUSO and we tried to make their part smaller simply because it has it’s own policy person, it is more of an operation of the DSU and the DSU VPI portfolio is too heavy as is. Again she is kind of creeping on the DSU VPFO portfolio. Her promise does connect societies and sustainability but I am not quite sure how that would work. I guess I am curious as to what that would entail and how she would enforce sustainability policies in society policy.

Use Tiger Patrol vans to shuttle between Studley and Sexton several times a day

That’s not sustainable considering we have a Metro-Transit….She has a whole block of ideas for communication and DOES NOT have anything about communication between campuses, I am afraid I have to say as a student from Sexton I am pretty disappointed.  At least Tim tried. The Tiger Patrol thing would be good especially with the big move of 300 second years supposedly coming down to Sexton and the refusal of DUES to amalgamate with DSEUS thus creating several society issues. However I think the tiger patrol thing is just another small grab at Sexton votes.

Ok so you have Communication, Leadership and Accessibility/Campus Relations however a lot of it seems to be a little redundant and you seem to be crossing over portfolios a bit with the VPFO which is fine (and realistic) however I think you need to expand on this as the portfolio is the largest one.

Glenn Blake-He  has had a run of bad luck with his website but it is now up. I read through his platform. Diversity, Communication, Website, Societies, Food. Yup he has it all covered. Categories with specific ideas! Get out of town! I will admit I am friends with Glenn and I have a hard time saying mean things about him especially with his Old School Nintendo themed platform, but that won’t stop me. Seriously I think he has some good ideas but some are unrealistic. Only meeting once to talk about insurance probably won’t happen. They will be beating that dead horse all year. More inter society events  sounds a little VPSL ish. Food on Sexton-legitimate problem but alas there is not much the DSU can do as they actually own no property at Sexton. I am glad he went out and obviously found a legitimate Sexton problem but related it to everyone. There are some students who have days where they have at most a half hour for lunch and there is one place to get food and sometimes the “Good Stuff” from Cafe Connects is just all gone. Plus it closes at 4:30. All in all I actually think Glenn is underselling himself a bit and it reminds me of Craig Jennex last year. I felt like Craig was a likable all around great candidate but he wasn’t campaigning enough and that may have been his only downfall.

Henry Whitfield- So the drama.  Reminds me of the day we met, when he beaned me in the back of the head with a dodge ball. After I was already out Henry! Seriously! This guy has been working really hard. I have personally met with him a few times at his request. He is definitely genuinely concerned about connecting with Sexton. He is definitely trying to identify issues and connect with students. He is personable and he is the one who is getting a lot of flack on the campaign trail. He was apparently dinged for pre-campaigning but he has been fined from what I hear and it’s in the past. Honestly the whole pre-campaigning rules make it difficult for students who have not been involved before specifically with the DSU and council to go and find out issues but I digress. Henry’s platform is quite frankly too short though. Again I think this is a case of another candidate underselling himself. There are two points in the platform on your website, there are 16000 students at Dal with varying issues. You do the math. Again there are a few specific ideas which I like for a VPI candidate since you have to let me know how you are going to handle the gong show that is DSU VPI’s portfolio. DSUtube is pretty solid. I find there are a lot of mixed reviews when it comes to Henry. I think however if he doesn’t win we may see him again in the future.

Now, here’s the deal. I tried to impeach the current VPI. I sat on Grants, Sexton Campus Advisory Committee and DSU Sustainability Office Board with Mark last semester. Mark came into the job and I feel he had tunnel vision towards one topic which was the website and communication. I did not feel Mark was fulfilling the obligations listed in all parts of the portfolio. That being said, I do think  this position is the most work of them all. If anyone were able to do it all I have not seen it. I think both Dan Boyle and Rosalie Hanlon who I personally saw do the job first hand, did great things but there are those who would disagree I’m sure, as you can not please everyone in this position. The job is too big. That being said don’t ever admit that you can’t do it and don’t cut things out because it’s overwhelming. VPI candidates should understand that taking this job makes you responsible to the students as outlined in the constitution. They must understand all the work they will be doing and they must be organized and find the time to have meetings with all 7 committees they chair plus the board of ops plus the exec. That is a lot of work. I would never take away from what Mark  has done. The impeachment motion topic comes up now and then but Mark and I have both worked through it. Just be aware this is not a joke and this position is immensely important. It’s the glue that holds the societies and campuses together and should be taken very seriously.

How odd!  I’ve been out of the loop while in Ottawa at the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations Lobbycon.  I’ve been doing my best to follow what’s going on, and now I’m playing catch-up.  Here are my random thoughts (from a distance) to date:

Neil Bailey is an impressive outsider candidate without a real insider opponent (yes, there’s Saulnier, but he’s not a sitting executive or much of a symbol of the old).  He seems to have enough “stick it to the man” to be impressive to an outsider with enough relevant experience to impress insiders.  Keep your eyes on this one, ladies and gents.  It will be interesting to see where he stands on issues and how much he knows about the specifics of the job.

Chris Saulnier is showing off how organized he has been about this run, and has some good humour in his video (and Hannah Dahn’s, anyone catch that?).  An 8 page platform is impressive, as well.  As one of the few candidates I’ve been able to look at thoroughly, though, the resemblance to Shannon’s campaign site last year is overwhelming, and while I admire “Strong External Advocacy” as a key platform plank, I’m underwhelmed at its specificity.  Still, I’ll reserve judgement there until I see the other platforms in full.  In any case, Saulnier still gets two big thumbs up from me for his reference to graduate student issues in not one, but two areas of his platform.

A real poster, a video that (while frightening) speaks to real issues, a point form platform… Gregory Debogorski is easily running his most impressive campaign to date.   I have to hand it to him, he actually sounds both coherent and competitive.  If it wasn’t for Bailey (who I expect to mop up the outsider vote), I’d say he has a real shot.  Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if he doubled his vote tally compared to the last election.

Rob Leforte is the guy to beat in the VP (Ed) race.  Still, he’s going to have to play catch-up after a week at CASA, though he was at least able to launch his online presence from Ottawa.  Outsiders won’t fault him for doing his job for two days of the campaign, but those are two days without class talks; how hard is Price hitting the campaign trail?  Also, he has no video, which could hurt him badly among voters who aren’t familiar with the candidates.  The video issue, I suspect, could create a very interesting dynamic if certain candidates don’t get them…

Speaking of Evan Price, he lays out his platform with very specific ideas (which Mike has covered here), though I’m not terribly impressed by them.  Mike forgot to mention that we also already have a policy on uniform grading that doesn’t get snagged by the Faculty problem.  On top of that, “proposing” 24 hour study space will get a prompt “no” before we move on.  I’m also intrigued by 1) the lack of external issues, especially for a candidate with buckets of political experience, and 2) the fact that two of his issues are ones that Leforte is promoting as areas where he has made huge progress.  Just some food for thought.

I still don’t know much about Karl Dempsey.  His platform looks reasonable (albeit confusing at points) on the internal, but there’s nothing external, which is a huge part of the job.  Beyond that, I’m not sure what to say.  Sorry, guys.

The Vice President (Internal) race is still too much of a clusterfuck (pardon my french) for me to make anything of it.  From what I’ve seen and heard so far, Kurin has a great platform but is still too quiet, Whitfield is a stellar campaigner if he doesn’t get himself disqualified, Blake is completely unremarkable in his online presence, and Hiltz should hire a new graphic designer.  I’ll get more into this one later.

Hannah Dahn‘s race is still boring.  Yes, despite the cameo in her video.

Two Senate candidates (both Ben Wedge and Carly Nicholson) have five point platforms.  They’re well considered, and even seem to be relevant to the Senate.  In Wedge’s case, he has a video that does an impressive job at making him look awkward (which he’s really not in person, oddly enough).  Maggie Lovett appears to be taking the approach of teaching students about the Senate, which is a pretty reasonable approach for an obscure and meaningless (okay, slightly exaggerating) university body.  Christian Browne looks impressively professional in advertisement (I’d say he beats any other candidate), but is less impressive in content.

That’s all for now.  See you at the breakfast!