By
Laura Winsky
ASUA has power - much more than the student body realizes. It has control. It has President Likins' ear. It has a gargantuan budget.
And most of all, it has potential.
When I first arrived at the university, we had a student body president named Tara Taylor. She was tall, thin, blond and beautiful. And she was extremely intelligent. The last I heard, she headed to Stanford for law school.
I had developed my first jealousy complex.
Years have passed, and her policies and politics are fuzzy in my mind. But I do remember one very important thing: She took the time one late night in April to visit my dorm, to ask us if we had any last-minute needs or wishes that she might be able to fulfill in the waning hours of her presidency.
She took the time to explain what ASUA was, and what it could be. She listened until all our questions were answered. Ah, visibility. It was nice to see an official after they had been elected.
That spring, the student body elected Cisco Aguilar. At the time, I remember his presidency perhaps being a long shot - that he wasn't the favored candidate. So it was exciting when the underdog (and a minority) took the presidency.
Perhaps looking back, ASUA wasn't dynamic that year. Not many radical changes took place, and it was business as usual, but Cisco made every person feel important. During the Residence Hall crisis, he turned over the reins of control to the dorm dwellers who felt so passionately about staying in the halls, even though space was quickly becoming limited. Cisco was willing to let others shine, to retire into the background when he felt the timing was right.
And then came Ben Graff. He was a shoo-in. I don't believe there was ever truly a doubt that his campaign for the presidency wouldn't be successful, and this year has been a year of visibility. He's been at clubs, he's probably sent out a bajillion e-mails, and it's possible that he's met the entire campus delivering pizza in his little golf cart to his hard-working election officials. He's brought a sense of duty to ASUA.
A standard has been set by the former presidential leadership of ASUA. At times, the rest of the governing body - Senate - has struggled to meet this standard. The future of ASUA lies within the unity between the presidency and the Senate.
I have seen two men in action who embody the qualities needed to maintain the standard the last three presidents have set forth. Ray Quintero gets things done. That's not an easy thing to achieve in government. During his time as a senator, I watched him locate a concern from the student body, plan a project to help alleviate the concern and then follow through and complete the project.
Josh Maxwell has gained experience through hall government, the Residence Hall Association and the Appropriations Board. He's a diamond in the rough. He can be ruthless, he can be forceful, but when push comes to shove, he'll defend your concern to the end. And he's willing to take the unpopular route if that's what the situation demands. He's the voice you want in your corner when it looks like no one else is interested in your student issue.
Tomorrow and Wednesday, take a few moments and hit the ASUA Web site.
Read over the biographies. Make a choice. And vote.
Laura Winsky is a political science and Spanish senior. She can be reached at perspectives@wildcat.arizona.edu.
