Independent A.S. presidential candidate Bryan Barton has been forbidden to continue any form of campaigning for the last two days of the elections period. The decision made by the elections committee came as a result of a grievance brought against Barton by Michael Zank, John Muir College representative to the elections committee, who accused Barton of handing out campaign flyers in a classroom.
Guardian
The elections committee report given on April 8 found Barton guilty of campaigning in the classroom, which is in direct violation of A.S. election bylaws.
Zank’s evidence of a People’s Parking Party flyer containing Barton’s name was deemed by the committee as campaign literature, constituting campaigning that would give the defendant “”an unfair, albeit small”” advantage in the elections.
The committee’s findings also argued that Barton, who has filed a police report against Zank for theft, had not tried to retrieve the flyer in class, and that the exchange of the flyer was “”not as much as a taking as it was a giving.””
“”If Mr. Barton felt that it was taken or stolen, it is reasonable to believe that the respondent would have made some attempt, verbal or otherwise, to retrieve it at the time,”” the report stated.
UCSD police are not following the charges against Zank criminally and have instead referred the case to a student conduct coordinator, according to detective Douglas O’Dell.
Barton said that he would campaign until his Wednesday 11:59 p.m. deadline.
“”I’m going to try to get my message out as much as I possibly can, and on Thursday and Friday I’ll just be trying to get people to get out the vote,”” Barton said. “”And for the concern of the people, I’ll encourage them to vote for parking-friendly candidates.””
According to Barton, he is also looking into appealing the decision and “”impeaching every single member of the committee for political cronyism,”” with the exception of elections manager Robin Shelton.
The report also found Barton’s claims of the proceedings being tainted by Zank’s position on the elections committee as unfounded.
Zank, who removed himself from the committee’s proceedings, declined to comment.
