College Republicans expel chairman early

A motion to remove College junior Dan Gomez as chairman of the College Republicans was passed by 57 votes to 20 last night in Houston Hall.

Gomez was accused of several infractions, including not organizing or attending events, ineffective fundraising and nepotism for appointing his girlfriend to one of the group's vital positions.

"I don't feel he accurately reflects the state of Republicans at Penn and I am happy he will be removed," said a Wharton sophomore who did not want his name published. "There was a lot of emotion in that room but it's pretty obvious people wanted to get him out."

However, several group members had concerns about the legitimacy of the vote. Last night's meeting had a far higher turnout than most, and the College Republican constitution states that only members who attend regularly and are in good standing can vote on any motion.

"There were a lot of people there that had never attended a College Republican meeting before," Executive Secretary Rushil Rao said. "Most of the people in the room were not Republicans at all."

Rao admitted that he had neglected to take attendance, so he could not be sure who was a member in good standing.

Group members said that Gomez's ouster is likely a result of a dispute with the group's former chairman, Wharton junior David Copley, who is now the chairman of the Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans.

Gomez said that he was running for the first vice chairmanship of the federation this coming March, on a ticket that opposes Copley and his supporters statewide.

Those against Gomez viewed this move as acting against the group for his own benefit.

In an e-mail to the College Republican listserv yesterday afternoon, Gomez said there was corruption and mismanagement at the state level. He added that leaders of the federation had been "squandering state money for personal gain."

Copley denied the charges, and when Gomez was questioned at the meeting last night, group members said that he was unable to provide any evidence to back up his claims.

Copley added that although he said he has taken several trips to New York and Washington on behalf of the Republicans, he has not used the state's funds.

"I never reimbursed myself a single penny," Copley said. "I have records that can show that. I'm in the hole for more than $2,000."

"There was some gossip and rumor going around about dirty politics about Dave," Rao said. But Gomez "didn't have proof of the allegations."

"Dan has directly hindered the efforts of the extremely successful state College Republican leadership," said Wharton senior Alex Hardin, the group's social chairman.

Gomez said he was running because of the ongoing corruption within the federation, and denied all other charges.

"The charges against me were and are absolutely false, as all the legitimate members can agree on," Gomez said. "I followed the party line the people bringing charges against me followed."

"There were people who were brought in to vote against me," Gomez said. "They had no ties to the Republican party except a personal connection to people bringing charges."

A consensus on the effectiveness of Gomez's leadership does not seem to exist. Several voters said they were not completely aware of the full background of the charges.

Rao, however, said that both Copley and Gomez "did great jobs ... these two guys put in more work than anyone else."

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