Board keeps Ingram on SBP ballot

The Board of Elections voted not to disqualify student body president candidate Rick Ingram for campaigning in a “malicious and harmful” manner following a hearing Monday night.

The board instead voted to punish the junior by fining him $25, or 10 percent of his allotted campaign funds, and handing down another punishment, the specifics of which were not available at press time. Ingram will appear on the ballot in today’s election, which closes at 10 p.m.

“The consensus of the board is that the evidence presented does not meet a clear and convincing standard of harmful and malicious actions that would warrant disqualification,” said Andrew Phillips, chairman of the board.

The $25 fine was levied in response to an incident in which one of Ingram’s campaign managers, Billy Kluttz, solicited petition signatures in a classroom building, which is prohibited by election law. He and Ingram then reportedly attempted to persuade the witness not to tell Phillips.

The undetermined punishment was in response to an incident that involved Kluttz reportedly thanking candidate Mary Cooper sarcastically in the Pit for removing sexist language from her Facebook profile page.

Ingram said he felt vindicated by the ruling.

“I’m glad to see that the board made the logical decision,” he said, adding that he “couldn’t possibly imagine how they could disqualify” him after hearing the testimony.

Ingram said he will likely appeal his punishment to the Student Supreme Court. He said the fine doesn’t force him to exceed the $250 campaign fund limit, which would break another rule.

The decision followed a two-and-a-half-hour disqualification hearing that took on a bizarre character and served as a fitting climax for a particularly nasty campaign season.

From the very beginning, candidates and campaign members peppered each other with leading questions, fell into fits of laughter and vehemently accused each other of lying and playing politics.

Phillips moderated the proceedings, the frustration visible on his face from the meeting’s lack of order.

Cooper and candidate Ian Lee last week presented evidence — accounts of several in-person incidents — that Ingram had campaigned in a manner that violated election law.

Witnesses to each incident stood up before the board, recalled their accounts and took questions from members of other campaigns. Ingram and members of his campaign then stood up and responded to the accusations.

Ingram questioned Cooper and Lee’s motivations for presenting the evidence against him in his closing statement.

“You chose to try and embarrass me,” he said.

“You chose to try and embarrass my campaign manager. And that’s wrong, and you should not have done that.”

Many of the accusations were directed toward Kluttz.

Ingram’s campaign manager was accused of using profane and sexually offensive language to members of Cooper and Lee’s campaign. He responded to these allegations by citing several times his own commitment to avoiding sexist language.

“That is not something I do,” he said, referencing an accusation from members of Cooper’s campaign that he addressed them with a sexually offensive term.

“It’s one of my biggest core values on this campus.”

The topic made up much of the hearing’s discussion.

Ingram received the most petition signatures of any of the candidates — 1,368 more than Cooper, who gathered the second-most.

He is also the only candidate to have been punished by the board this year, having been previously fined $12.50 for dorm-storming before it was permitted under the board’s policy.

In his closing statement, Lee said he regretted having to hold the hearing.

“We made sure only to mention the things we felt most confident about,” he said.

Cooper was less apologetic.

“To me, this is a very serious issue,” she said.

“Everyone on this campus needs to know what was said and what has been done,” she added.

Cooper said in an interview after the punishment was announced that she was looking forward to getting past the allegations and moving to election day.

“Tomorrow’s going to be a great day,” she said.

“And it’s a new day.”

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