Interspersed throughout Rizk’s rant were interjections by Speaker of the Senate Sophia Wilson to prevent emotionally charged language. Rizk also pounded his fist in anger on the executive table throughout his rant. | Jordan Navarijo/The Cougar
During last night’s Student Government Association meeting, President Benjamin Rizk erupted in rage while introducing legislation that would remove the SGA chief election commissioner and associate election commissioner.
The first reading of the bill, titled Removal of Cessabella Astraquillo and Omar Castanon as Chief and Associate Election Commission, will be voted on during the next SGA senate meeting — a half-week before their tenure ends as commissioner and associate commissioner.
“I am getting emotional because it is not my job to hold the election commissioner accountable,” Rizk said. “I did that because I did not want this year’s election to end up like last year’s.”
Among many complaints, Rizk accused Astraquillo, who was appointed under his administration, of neglecting her duties as SGA election commissioner by not being familiar with the Election Code, insisting on using a first-past-the-post voting system and not being active with other SGA members. Rizk also claimed that Astraquillo did not properly spend any money in the election commission’s budget to advertise or promote the election .
“The previous election commissioner made banners, booked a room for the vice presidential debates, and ordered election items to go out,” Rizk said. “In the four months of election preparations, Astraquillo hadn’t done any of that.”
Rizk questioned if the Senate believed that Astraquillo accurately presented information within the Election Code during the candidate seminar. Of the senators present in the meeting, approximately five raised their hands.
“I was correcting her half the time during the meeting,” Rizk said. “She got spending caps wrong, she got times people were allowed to campaign wrong and she had four months to look through the election code and specify its rules.”
Another point of frustration Rizk addressed was Astraquillo and Castanon’s insistence on preventing Rizk from campaigning for the Students Unite party during the election.
“Castanon blatantly lied to me about what I’m allowed and not allowed to do,” Rizk claimed. “Both Cessabella and Castanon specifically targeted me throughout the campaign by trying to tell me that I was not allowed to campaign. I know that this is false.”
Interspersed throughout Rizk’s rant were interjections by Speaker of the Senate Sophia Wilson to prevent emotionally charged language. Rizk also pounded his fist in anger on the executive table throughout his rant.
While introducing another piece of legislation entitled Corrective Action for SGA Election Commission Advisor, Rizk also criticized Katy Kaesebier, director of the Center for Student Involvement and the SGA Election Commission’s advisor, for not communicating the rules within the Election Code to Astraquillo and Castanon.
“Katy was no better than Cessabella or Omar. I don’t want to use charged language, but she did not do a good job being an advisor,” Rizk said.
Prior to the meeting, Rizk also called Astraquillo “the worst election commissioner in the last ten years” and claimed that the election commission was “compromised.”
The bill that requested the removal of both the assistant and primary election commissioner had it’s first read last night and will be voted on during the senate meeting next week.
