Despite winning their appeal, more violations filed against Unite Party

On Feb. 21, 2018, the same night that the Florida State University Student Government election results were announced in the Senate Chambers, the FSU Supreme Court heard a case that could have disqualified the Unite Party.

The Elections Commission ruled on Feb. 18, that the Unite Party owed $11,088 in election code fines which was appealed by both parties.

Taylor Ney, Campaign Manager for Independent Candidate John Walker's campaign, appealed the decision because the Commission incorrectly announced the fine amount, which should have totaled in excess of $12,000. This would have immediately disqualified Unite, since statutes mandate that political parties can only raise $12,000. The fine would have to be paid with the campaign money.

The Unite Party appealed the decision, claiming that they were not registered as a political organization at the time that the social media posts were made, which were under question whether it should be considered “early campaigning.”

The Supreme Court released an opinion in which they ruled in favor of the Unite party because the election code is vague. They argued that in some instances the election code violations regulate the freedom of speech promised in the first amendment. They called upon the senate to work on cleaning up the language.

Taylor Ney and John Walker decided to not pursue appealing to the highest authority, Dr. Amy Hecht, Vice President of Student Affairs. Walker explained why they didn’t pursue it further:

"We chose not to appeal the decision of the Supreme Court simply because we agreed with it. The rules that were deemed unconstitutional were never rules that we supported or believed to be fair. In fact, they were rules we always thought had disenfranchised both the candidates and the student body. Nonetheless, we — and every other independent candidate — followed them, because that was what we promised to do when we filed to run for office and signed an affidavit stating that we would abide by the Ethics Code and Elections Code.

The Unite Party, on the other hand, admitted to being aware of the rules and breaking them despite that fact (see Elections Commission Decision: Final Ney v Unite Party Opinion). That, along with the countless other violations currently alleged against the party, goes to show their blatant disregard for student body statutes and the elections process as a whole, as well as their disrespect for the offices they seek to hold and the students they seek to represent.

That is why I decided to run, because this sort of behavior is not new. [AL5] These are the same tricks that the party has been playing since they called themselves Advance (see FSView article "Ney: Advance and Unite: One Party, Two Names), and Ignite before that. There is a history of not only acting against statutes, but also of acting against their own promises to the student body. That's why they keep changing their name: to disassociate themselves from their own lies, scandals, and failures.

What I'd like the student body to know is this: Where there exists power, there will always exist the means to abuse power. As students at FSU, and as citizens of this great country, we owe it to ourselves and to those that follow to educate one another about the corruption and absence of ethics that currently exist within student government and within the Unite Party. We owe it to ourselves and to those that follow to hold our elected officials accountable, and to demand more from those in office. And we owe it to ourselves and to those that follow to get involved and to be the change we hope to see in Student Government."

The official inauguration is supposed to be held on Mar. 7. However, the results have still not been certified because all violations must be settled before the results can be announced. Generally, the results must be certified within two weeks of the election, but in this case, it may take much longer.

Walker and Ney have brought new charges against the party for violations incurred during election week. Some of these violations include violations against Unite Party members passing out information by the Integration Statue. Student Body statutes confine the areas that information can be given out to the Traditions walkway. There are also three counts being filed for the party posting signs near Landis Green and Strozier Library.

Two violations are also being filed against specific Unite members for violating waiting 24 hours after approval from the Elections Commission to post on social media. Other violations include not filing a full expense report as mandated in statutes, and also missing the filing deadline.

The Elections Commission will announce the date of the hearing, which is expected to be this week. Be sure to check out the SGA website for the announcement.