CAA Race Hinges on Board's Decision

After a three-hour hearing Thursday night, Board of Elections members delayed making a decision on charges that Chaney and his campaign staff slandered opponent Michael Songer and violated student government elections laws.

Charges were brought to the Board of Elections on Thursday night after Chairman Jeremy Tuchmayer declared Chaney the winner of the race when 27 write-in votes were invalidated, giving Chaney the majority by five votes.

Before Tuchmayer, Board of Elections Vice Chairman Fred Hill and four board members, Songer and his campaign staff charged that an e-mail sent by the Chaney campaign caused irreparable damage to Songer's campaign, costing him the five or more votes that won Chaney the election.

The e-mail, received by students Monday, allegedly was sent by former UNC student and Carolina Fever President Davin McGinnis to a Songer-camp estimate of 15,000 UNC students.

The e-mail portrayed Songer as dishonest and untrustworthy and said Songer unfairly claimed responsibility for the student risers in the Smith Center when meeting minutes show that he never went to a meeting.

But Songer and his campaign members say Chaney and his staff violated elections laws by not following guidelines about the e-mail's composition, slandering Songer and reporting incorrect information. "I urge you to read this again and again. It is vicious and unsupportive in the accusations it puts out there," said Chris Brook, Songer's representative in the hearing.

But Chaney said he never saw the e-mail nor approved its contents. "We're very disappointed, very appalled. We don't know where these allegations came from and hate that it looks so bad for the CAA and our campaign," Chaney said. "We pretty much know nothing about this e-mail. I had no prior knowledge of it. ... We don't know where it came from."

McGinnis, the supposed author of the e-mail, did not attend the hearing and could not be reached for comment.

But Brook said he questions whether McGinnis was used as a cover by another of Chaney's staff members.

The e-mail was signed by McGinnis and the reply address, vote_reid_tommorrow@email.unc.edu -- was a nonexistent account. "Michael Songer was drug through the mud with this," Brook told the Board of Elections. "In the interest of making sure all the bases are covered, I encourage you to get in touch with (Academic Technology & Networks) and find out who did this."

Brook also cited an e-mail -- printed out and slipped under Songer's door --that was sent from Fever President Eric Ellis to CAA President Tee Pruitt and former CAA Vice President Bryan Hart, who resigned from his post last week to join Chaney's campaign. The e-mail was a precursor to Monday's mass e-mail sent to students, reading, "Here is another copy of that e-mail we came up with for Reid. Should make sure we keep Songer out of office. Just make sure he can't prove anything with ACTUAL minutes."

Songer contends that the e-mail links Chaney's campaign staff to McGinnis, Pruitt and Ellis, although Hart is the only one listed as a Chaney staff member.

Brook said this e-mail -- or "smoking gun" -- is proof that Chaney's staff was intent on smearing Songer's campaign.

"I think a large part of the evidence showed there was a conspiracy within Chaney's campaign to send out an e-mail that was not only illegally formatted, but also maliciously intended," Brook said after the hearing.

But Hart offered to open his e-mail log to ATN officials to prove that he never received the e-mail and said the e-mail is not legitimate. "Other than this 'smoking gun' there's nothing that ties us to (the Monday) e-mail," he said.

Chaney said he hopes the Board of Elections' decisions will clear misconceptions about his victory. "I'm glad things are out in the open right now and people can see the truth. I don't want to win looking like a weasel or like I had to cheat to win."

Brook and Songer say the board's decision will be critical in determining the future integrity of student elections.

Another e-mail encouraging the election of Chaney, written by Pruitt to a personal friend and forwarded to a sorority listserv, was introduced by Brook as evidence that Pruitt discourages Songer's election.

Last year the Board of Elections had to take punitive action against Pruitt, who sent out a mass e-mail slandering Songer in last February's elections. Pruitt was forced to print a public apology.

And Brook said the fact that Pruitt, who has had tense relations with Songer all year, and some of his Cabinet members are again involved in elections controversy is proof that stronger action must be taken. "You'd be setting a terrible precedent for terrible, slanderous remarks that can be said about anyone (in elections)."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.