NEC hearing clears Dubler, disqualifies Chivil

Two Undergraduate Assembly candidates answered charges leveled against them by the Nominations and Elections Committee Sunday afternoon at a Fair Practices Code hearing.

Each was given eight minutes to respond to his or her charge before the floor was opened for questions from NEC members and the general public.

College sophomore Ariella Chivil confronted allegations of having submitted her petition for UA SAS representative candidacy after the deadline.

Chivil, who also ran uncontested for 2012 Class Board Vice President of Finances and won the position, initially submitted her petition March 15, the petition deadline date. She had a sufficient number of signatures to qualify her for Class Board — but not UA — candidacy.

She then collected additional signatures and re-submitted her petition for UA candidacy about 40 minutes after the 7 p.m. deadline.

After entering her petition, Chivil was told she would be granted permission to run for a UA position but that charges against her would be filed later.

She contended that health issues, a delayed flight and jetlag all contributed to her inability to obtain the requisite number of signatures by Monday evening.

In addition, she was not aware that extensions could be granted under extenuating circumstances.

During questioning, Vice Chair of Elections and Wharton senior Patricia Liu said the NEC granted two extensions to candidates who contacted her in advance of the deadline about a family matter and travel complications, respectively.

The second charge was

brought against UA presidential candidate and College junior Grant Dubler, who allegedly violated the codes by making his campaign website public prior to the start of the “monetary campaigning” period, during which candidates can spend up to $50 on their campaigns.

This year, the monetary campaigning period began at 7 a.m. on March 17.

Screenshots submitted anonymously to the NEC at 6:45 a.m. that morning revealed that Dubler’s site — which required nine dollars in funding — had been up at least 15 minutes before the designated start time.

In answering the charge, Dubler said his surrogate, Engineering junior Sam Oldak, who helped construct and manage the site, was responsible for launching it ahead of schedule.

Oldak was present at the hearing and said he may have thought the site could be launched March 17 at any time.

Dubler said he has long been aware that the “cardinal rule of the FPC” is to avoid spending before the campaign spending period begins and that the offense occurred without his knowledge or consent.

After lengthy deliberation, the NEC found that Chivil’s offense constituted an FPC violation, disqualifying her from UA representative candidacy.

It maintained, however, that Dubler had not violated the FPC and upheld his candidacy for the position of UA president.

Dubler won a seat as a UA SAS representative with the third-highest number of votes.

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