Salar Abdul-Baki was officially instated as a 2012-2013 public affairs councillor and Sarah McCue was disqualified from her council position April 7 at a Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) constitutional board meeting.
Abdul-Baki was originally disqualified by chief electoral officer (CEO) Sean Finn after failing to hand in his budget on time; however, the decision was reversed by the electoral board and upheld by the constitutional board.
In its official ruling, the constitutional board said Abdul-Baki’s disqualification was overturned because his failure to submit his budget on time wasn’t intentional. The fact that it was late “was no fault of his own and beyond his control,” according to the ruling.
“The CEO failed to make himself available on the day that [Abdul-Baki] called repeatedly to discuss the status of his expenditure report,” the ruling reads.
Finn said every effort was made to accommodate Abdul-Baki.
“Even if he had submitted his budget [on time] . . . it was a zero dollar budget. It doesn’t make sense because he forgot that tape was set at market value, so he didn’t submit a budget for tape yet he had posters up,” Finn said. “We were unsure and it was almost too late for us to act accordingly.”
Abdul-Baki said he found the amount of effort required to have his position acknowledged “frustrating.” Moving forward, he said he’d like to see the electoral code refined to make it easier to understand.
“Simplicity in the electoral code is key in making sure candidates abide [by] and understand the rules during an election,” he said via email.
As a result, public affairs councilllor-elect Gabrielle Castilloux will lose her seat.
Fellow public affairs councilor-elect McCue lost her seat at the same meeting after facing allegations of running in a slate with other councillors, which is forbidden in the electoral code.
Former CUSA presidential candidate Bruce Kyereh-Addo brought the allegations to the CEO. Kyereh-Addo said McCue was running in a slate because she helped other councillor candidates with their budget.
Finn said whether to investigate was at the discretion of his office. They investigated and found no need for a warning, he said.
“We didn’t find any conclusive evidence that she was on a slate other than she was passing a budget off to another individual,” Finn said. “Within the electoral code, it states that you can’t have the same type of campaign materials or you can’t be campaigning together which in my opinion I didn’t see happen, therefore I didn’t take any action.”
Unhappy with Finn’s decision, Kyereh-Addo brought the allegations to the constitutional board, where three of five members voted in favour of disqualification.
“[Finn] is required to investigate, which he didn’t,” said constitutional board chair Michael De Luca. “He never put [his decision] in writing.”
Putting the decision in writing would have given Kyereh-Addo the option to appeal to the electoral board, De Luca said.
Although Finn was present at the meeting and argued that even if the allegations were true, only a warning, not a disqualification was warranted, De Luca said the constitutional board has discretionary power.
“When it’s brought to [Finn’s] attention, he has discretionary power to read the policies and interpret them and say this is a violation you’ve been warned or this warrants disqualification, so does the constitutional board,” De Luca said.
Despite the constitutional board’s ruling, McCue continues to deny any involvement in a councillor slate. She argued against the decision in a Facebook note published April 15.
McCue said she assisted two friends with the election process because she had experience with a budget and they didn’t. She maintains it wasn’t a slate and that neither of her friends were successful in their bid for election, meaning there wasn’t any advantage.
“I find it disheartening that a board that is trusted with being the highest decision making body [of] CUSA, and therefore responsible in honoring the CUSA constitution, is punishing me and every student who voted for me for something I did not do,” she said. “The constitutional board is meant to be honest, transparent and truthful and this constitutional board has been everything but that.”
All decisions made by the constitutional board are final with no opportunities for appeal.
