Comments on: Tapes reveal Unite vote-rigging scheme

By: Alan Martin

Alan Martin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:39:13 +0000

Iceman, you remind me of the Unite Party senator (I can’t remember who right now) who said in response to the Kofi bill that most of the campus is apathetic so the most representative thing for the student government to do would be nothing.

By: iceman

iceman — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:57:16 +0000

And in a dramatic turn of events, the social rejects learned: no matter how much they cry and scream about Greeks, the rest of campus just doesn’t care

but in all serious, if i ever caught someone with a tape recorder in my house, i’d old-school beat the shit out of them and throw them down the stairs

By: Graham Clark

Graham Clark — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:51:03 +0000

I’m sorry if I rubbed you the wrong way back then, Alan. The split was a very frustrating thing to go through knowing what we could have accomplished had we stuck together. I won’t pretend I wasn’t furious at those who seemingly allowed personal rivalries to destroy all our hard work. I’m sure that frustration was easily misinterpreted as animosity toward the Progress party as a whole (and it might have even manifested itself as such in my weaker moments), but I hope you understand that I never intended to be unfriendly toward those of you who joined up after the split. I know everything you’ve done has been grounded in the best of intentions, and I respect that quite a bit.

By: unite> SA

unite> SA — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:14:33 +0000

Graham,
There is over 150 girls in my house alone, and a few of them do run for office every semester. House reps are there to keep the rest of the house informed, as their title implies. Do they offer rides to voting sites? Yes. It is their JOB to make sure that everyone knows where to vote and how to do it while making it as painless as possible. Yes, if people don’t vote they take the heat for it during these meetings. But coericion? Thats a little bit extreme. Be rational. Our houses tell us to vote so we can support our sisters/brothers. Thats what a good house relies upon- support between members whenever we need it. I don’t claim that some houses aren’t above doing stupid things to attain this (as the tapes prove) but we’re talking about 2 houses out of more than 30. And once again, thats not unite thats dphie and theta. Independent organizations doing stupid things shouldn’t screw over the whole party. Unite expects these organizations to want to support their members. They are disappointed when they don’t show up. Thats it. There is no clear punishment from unite for not voting besides the fear of losing (as the tapes prove) and perhaps being replaced by a different house rep, if that.

And as a member of a baby pledge class in a sorority, I can tell you right now that whole not eating/bottle thing is the biggest joke ever. I eat when I want where I want, voting has no effect on that. And I assure you, if anyone tried to tell any sane 18 year old girl she could not eat until she voted there would be panhellenic intervention on the spot. Hazing is strictly prohibited with the girls, it is not tolerated. The whole bottle thing sounds stupid to me, if it happened it once again happened through THETA not through unite. That is an important distinction to keep in mind. It was the night inbetween elections, things were intense and people were fired up. The end.
As far as the legacy positions go, I’m not sure what to tell you. Welcome to politics. Dirty and nasty it may be, but networking is how people get the edge among 50,000 other competitiors. There are plenty of greeks in positions that deserve them as well. I’d like to consider myself one of them.
And there is NO proof that this tape was not recorded by someone from SA. Thats why it isn’t marked in this article- the line between scandal and slander can be a thin one. Kudos to the fine print for staying on it.

As long as I’m on here anyway, this article is far superior to the alligators. Just sayin. And thats coming from a greek whose party is getting bashed, so be proud.

By: Alan Martin

Alan Martin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:28:23 +0000

Graham, I just saw this follow up article and you seem to be right. When I met you on the campaign trail last fall, I thought you were a complete jerk, but know I know what you were fighting against: http://www.thefineprintuf.org/2010/03/04/unite-party-recordings-why-they-matter/

By: Graham Clark

Graham Clark — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:09:51 +0000

It’s been going on for eighty years, Alan.

By: Alan Martin

Alan Martin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:13:48 +0000

I am a newly elected senator with the Student Alliance. If I came across evidence that my party was doing something like this, I would disclose it too. I just wonder how long this has been going on.

By: Graham Clark

Graham Clark — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:34:54 +0000

Nobody snuck into your meeting. You’ve got one of your own people to thank for leaking this. I guess that’s what happens when you run a party based on coercion and harassment.

Also, door-to-door campaigning is NOT illegal, as confirmed by the Elections Commission last week when they dismissed Unite’s complaint.

Finally, if it’s just individual houses requiring people to vote, then what are the Unite Party’s house reps for? It doesn’t matter whether you force people to vote a certain way or not. People also have the freedom to decide whether to vote at all, and violating that freedom is coercion plain and simple.

By: Travis Pillow

Travis Pillow — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:56:52 +0000

And your people accuse us of slander?

Many of those election laws you zealously cite (limiting campaign season, barring door-to-door campaigning) are created by Unite predecessors to prevent opposition parties from every building a base. And in the tapes themselves, one speaker advocates for campaigning in the dorms, also a known violation.

And you know the tapes reveal more than some innocent smack-talking. A followup post documenting their true significance is on the way.

Thank you for reading the Fine Print.

By: unite > SA

unite > SA — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:05:54 +0000

These people are retarded? Really student alliance? You went to the other party’s meeting to spy on them. Wow. And thats providing that this whole thing isn’t fake, which no one can truly promise anyone.
Further more, SA had just as many “dirty tricks’, if you want to call them that, during the election. I personally watched one call another girl a dick for campaigning with the unite party outside Matherly. They had canidates going door to door, a known violation, in order to try to get votes. I understand it must be beyond annoying to have to sit back and watch your party lose every time, but find a different way to vent that doesn’t make you look like a sore loser. Be proactive.
Honestly, i don’t see the big deal with this transcript. All it does is confirm that smack talking does happen during elections (shocking…) and that greeks are required to vote by THEIR PERSONAL HOUSES, not by Unite. Once again.. common knowledge. They are not, however, forced to vote a certain way… Thats all that matters.

By: Mike Jones

Mike Jones — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:10:57 +0000

Wow, these people are retarded….

By: Henry Hollingsworth

Henry Hollingsworth — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:46:08 +0000

Holy sh-t, awesome.

By: Melanie Richards

Melanie Richards — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:39:56 +0000

Gross. If I were Greek I’d vote for Student Alliance, turn in my stupid sticker, and then stuff my face full of food.

By: » Don’t Haze Me, Bro! Ken Is Speaking

» Don’t Haze Me, Bro! Ken Is Speaking — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:06:02 +0000

[...] the story has been picked up by The Fine Print and The Gainesville Sun. And just a few hours ago, NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd tweeted [...]