A.S. presidential candidate Daniel Watts was close to receiving this election year’s first grievance, which could have potentially meant his disqualification from a race that both candidates hoped would be free of bureaucratic snags.
Thurgood Marshall College Student Council Chair Denis Shmidt filed the complaint against Watts with the A.S. Elections Committee on April 10, bypassing a truce Watts and competitor Harry Khanna struck earlier this year. The accord between the two was meant to settle disagreements outside of campus judicial bodies, so that students could “exercise democracy without the interference of stupid little problems,” Khanna said.
The grievance, however, did not reach an official hearing, as Watts and Shmidt settled their disagreement unofficially.
Watts’ alleged violations are anything but small, according to Shmidt, who claims that Watts’ More Truth About UCSD publication libeled several members of the A.S. Council, including Khanna.
In the newspaper, Watts published pictures of Khanna in his A.S. office with bottles of alcohol, an apparent violation of university policy. Khanna currently serves on the council as vice president of academic affairs.
“If you have to be in your office, student-funded, partying and getting a free parking pass (Khanna gets one) and $1,500 a year (A.S. pays themselves), Bacardi’s not a bad way to go,” Watts wrote in the publication.
In addition, Watts accused A.S. councilmembers of misusing student funds. Receipts Watts obtained through the California Public Records Act show that former Vice President External Kevin Mann, a supporter of Khanna’s campaign, purchased shot glasses with A.S. funds on a council-sponsored lobbying trip.
“A.S. will not fund student-run events with alcohol, but they will apparently buy alcohol paraphernalia for themselves, with YOUR student fees,” Watts wrote in his publication.
In the issue, Watts also said Matt Corrales, an independent candidate for vice president external, of being involved in the purchase.
Currently, there is no confirmation that the purchases were reimbursed by the council.
According to Shmidt, the implications that Watts made in his newspaper were not only irresponsible, but libelous. Libel, according to the Student Press Law Center, is a form of defamation printed in a publication made up of false statements that harm another’s reputation.
Cases of libel against “public figures,” such as Khanna, Corrales and Mann, have historically been harder to prove, as the accuser must show that the act was malicious in nature.
Watts said his statements cannot be proven as libel, since all implicated parties were public figures. Tritons United!, Watts’ campaign slate, will not retaliate with additional grievances, according to Watts.
According to Khanna, he had tried to convince Shmidt not to file his complaint.
“I didn’t want to see this election degenerate into a grievance war,” Khanna said.
Shmidt, however, filed the grievance despite Khanna’s misgivings, and said he was doing so independent of any slate. In their unofficial agreement, Watts is required to collect all of his issues, as well as cut off any furthur distribution of his newspapers.
In addition, Watts and his slate is required to stop all his campaigning at 12 p.m. on Friday, four hours earlier than the SV! slate, according to Watts.