ASUA race for Senate yields only a handful of competent candidates

Consider: Only Derick Kurdy and Rosanna Savone have read completely the new ASUA Constitution, the document by which the new Senators are supposed to govern.

Because of the substandard qualifications of this year's senatorial candidates, the Arizona Daily Wildcat has chosen to endorse only four candidates; Derick Kurdy, Morgan Long, Rosanna Savone, and Mary Peterson.

Kurdy, a member of the ASUA presidential Freshman Council, feels that being a senator would give him the opportunity to work directly with students. The only candidate to attend both the ASUA Constitutional Convention and to read the new constitution, Ku rdy has shown an interest for the job for which he is running and has actually done the research. His platform concerns student input and involvement. One of his ideas, student polling, involves the distribution of short questionnaires to residence halls, Greek houses, and other campus areas, and putting them on the UA Info site. He has spoken with the Center for Computing and Information Technology about this. After collecting the data, Kurdy would like to publish it in an advertisement. With the resear ch for his ideas, and his experience in ASUA, Kurdy shows an understanding of the issues and a concern for the students.

Although Peterson did not research her positions as well as she should have, the Wildcat feels she would be an asset to the ASUA Senate. Of her three issues, the one with the greatest potential for the whole campus is her leadership workshops. With the wo rkshops, the campus leaders would gain skills needed to motivate participation in other facets on campus and would strengthen ties between all areas on campus. Fundraising efforts and the senate discretionary funds would fund them, Peterson said. She will be the workhorse every Senate needs to be in ASUA every free minute.

Long is the candidate with a backbone. She has read more than half of the constitution and was a senate aide this year for Senator Maile Weigele. In that position, she was responsible for fundraising for the ASUA/University Learning Center basketball lea gue. When questioned about the costs of the league and what purpose it serves for the university, she deftly answered that the league is a recruitment tool for possible future students. As fundraising chair, Long raised $2,000 for the league. As a senator she would like to begin fundraising earlier to lessen the costs to ASUA. Long's other issue is Campus Acquaintance Rape Education. Although not involved in CARE this year, she would like to boost programming and make it more interactive for the students.

Savone is the other candidate who has read entirely the new ASUA constitution and is one of the few to research her projects fully. Savone, active in ASUA since 1995, has been both a senate aide and a chief of staff for a senator. As the chief of staff, she brought together deans from the different colleges to show student appreciation and to voice student concerns. As an aide, she worked on the survey to find out what students think of the Student Union and the Integrated Instructional Facility. Savone would like to implement a whistle safety program, and idea which both ASUA Escort Service and the UAPD support. She also wants to improve residence hall security. Although she had not contacted any person in Residence Life as of last week, she did speak t o the UAPD.

Savone and Long will be a strong senators, able to take over if the executive vice president does not do his job. They diligently research their issues and are able to handle pressure well.

We have also chosen four other candidates whom we feel won't harm ASUA and might actually do some good. They are Jonathon Fine, Jared Green, Leslie Hunter and Alejandro Rios.

Fine's main issue is the placement of ATMs in key locations near the residence halls. At first, the idea sounds silly, but Fine was able to outline a strategy and cost/benefit analysis on how such an idea may be implemented.

Green will be another work horse for the Senate- he is the guy who will lick the envelopes. He has an obvious concern for students and a desire to work; he would be the senator who would do the work no one else wants to do.

Hunter made an effort to do the research; she just talked to the wrong people. She is the candidate who would go out and recruit people for ASUA.

Rios brings a different perspective to the Senate. Besides his work experience outside the university, he is involved on campus and would be able to represent the campus as a whole.

By Editorial Staff (Senate Endorsements)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 3, 1997