Student Government investigating Senate elections held : two disputed

Student Government investigating Senate elections held: two disputed by Tim Trainer and John DiCola The S tuden t Senate survived a n a l le g a t io n o f fraud in Cavanaugh Hall, and Keenan hall’s refusal to subm it its ballot b o x t o S t u d e n t S e n a t e inspection to elect forty-five members to this year’s edit ion of the Senate. Included among those elected were Free University head Rick L ib o w itz , along with Mark Z im m e rm a n and James De Sapio, the bro thers of two p r o m i n a n t cam pus political figures. Libowitz headed a list of s e v e n off-campus candidates contending for the five senate seats. L ibowitz collected 85 votes or abou t 17% o f the total v o t e . R u n n e r -u p Carl Rak received 68 ou t of the total 395 votes. In an upset, write-in candidate Dave Loring received 56 votes to jo in Jam es De Sapio as K eenan’s hall senators. Loring received fifty-six votes, seventy-five less than De Sapio but sixteen more than write-in Jo h n Kahl and eighteen more than the next candidate on the ballot, Dick O’Connor. Keenan hall president Tim Mahoney refused, however, to subm it the results of the election t o t h e S e n a t e e l e c t i o n comm ittee. In striking a blow f o r what he te rm ed “ hall au to n o m y ,” Mahoney replaced the s tudent governm ent lock with one of the hall’s. He refused to allow the ballot box to be opened, bu t he did re tu rn it with the Keenan Hall lock still on it to the election com m ittee . C o m m i t t e e h e a d J o h n Z im m erm an broke the lock with a hamm er, then coun ted and validated the result. Mahoney was unavailable for com m ent on the election co m m it tee ’s action. Z im m erm an’s b ro th e r Mark handily won a seat from Dillon Hall. Z im m erm an collected 85 t o Sam R um ore’s 84 and write-in candidate Ed G a th e r’s 14. Tw o are elected from Dillon. Write-in Phil White nearly pulled o ff a similar upset in Alumni Hall. He came within three votes o f topping vote l e a d e r Richard Tarrier and within two votes of edging Don Mooney and winning a post on the Senate. The vote in an ex trem ely close race was Tarrier 78, Mooney 77, and White 76. T h e w i n n i n g c a n d id a te s blamed White’s high vote on the n a t u r e o f the ir campaign. Alumni hall, which has tw o s e n a t o r s , h a d o n l y t w o candidates on the ballot. Tarrier and Mooney characterized their campaigns as “ low-key,” and explained that low-key campaign in terms o f lack o f visible opposition. According to Tarrier, White did no t actively court votes until W e d n e s d a y . Mooney called White’s candidacy a “jo k e ,” and said tha t his apparen t success was a result o f voters “ no t taking the elections seriously.” W h i t e w a s unavailable for com m ent. One of the most controversial elections was held in Cavanaugh H a l l , w h e r e w r i t e i n Ed C r a w f o r d soun d ly defeated balloted o pp on en ts Jo h n L.