Charges filed against nine UA candidates

Nine freshman Undergraduate Assembly candidates were charged with violating Nominations and Elections Committee Fair Practices Code regulations in this year's elections. Eight candidates were charged directly by the NEC and one candidate was charged by two fellow candidates. Last year, only three people were charged by the UA in the freshman elections. Two candidates, College freshmen Steven Schorr and Cheryl Harmelin, were charged with violating Article 5, Section D of the code. According to part three of the aforementioned section, "a candidate may only be quoted as an unidentified source in any media publication" during the entirety of the campaign period up to the last day of polling. Both Schorr and Harmelin were interviewed and quoted by name in an article that appeared in yesterday's edition of The Daily Pennsylvanian. Several other candidates were also quoted but asked to remain anonymous, preventing any violation on their part, according to FPC regulations. Anyone, including NEC members, candidates and members of the student body, can file charges against the candidates, NEC Elections Chairperson Molly Duncan said. Two students filed complaints against Schorr, claiming he had more of an opportunity to advertise himself than other candidates. "We've all spent the last eight days campaigning and vying for name recognition -- [Schorr] did it in one fell swoop," said UA candidate and College freshman Larry Kamin."I think what he did very clearly violated the FPC ? it was cut and dry." Kamin and fellow candidate Adam Plotkin said the motivation to file a charge against Schorr was not "a personal vendetta." "We are not in any way saying that anyone biased the elections -- that is up to the NEC to decide," Plotkin said. Plotkin said he was also asked to comment for yesterday's article, but along with several other candidates, asked the reporter to quote him as an anonymous source. "The rest of us went to some sort of length to prevent being in the same situation," the Engineering freshman said. Candidates who were charged can produce witnesses, evidence or written statements, "like in a government court," at tomorrow night's Fair Practices Code hearing, Duncan said. At that time, the results of the election will also be announced.