Originally written for publishing on March 22, 2013.
Candidates for this spring’s Associated Students general election met Thursday in Room 229 for orientation and photos.
About 11 candidates showed, introducing themselves and listening to a thorough review of election procedures and guidelines. After orientation, the candidates filed downstairs to pose for pictures in front of the Student Center.
One candidate, Christopher Fantom, has been attending Fullerton College for 10 years. Fantom is studying kinesiology.
“I guess I’ve been coming here for such a long time I decided to start giving back,” he said. “I was inspired to run by my fiancée, who ran last year.”
Joshua Kleinbergs, a political science major, was motivated by his own zeal for student affairs.
“I just think it’s really important to get involved,” he said. “I hope to continue to see the school move in a positive direction.”
Don Lundy, the current A.S. Treasurer, said he’s running for Student Trustee. If elected, Lundy would sit on the District Board of Trustees, replacing current Student Trustee Gabael Botello. At the photo shoot, Lundy expressed confidence in his abilities.
“I know for a fact that I have the verbal skills required to be the student’s voice,” he said. “I’ve been on the debate team; I’ve been Treasurer for two terms; I’ve been a natural communicator.”
“My hope is to be able to put more of an emphasis on the needs of the student,” he added.
A.S. presidential candidate Nora Matti articulated her vision for the future.
“I want to make sure that when comes to student government we have a cohesive environment,” she said, adding that the each person in the A.S. office would have a project of some kind.
The orientation lasted an hour and a half. A.S. advisor Darlene Jensen read out the meticulous and detailed rules to the candidates, pausing briefly in the middle for a Q-and-A session. The proceedings were taped. All candidates were required to either attend the meeting or listen to the recording.
Jenson reminded candidates that they would have to maintain a GPA of at least 2.0. The minimum requirement varies among different seats, increasing slightly depending on the prominence of the position.
Each candidate is only allowed to spend $100 on his or her campaign, according to Jenson, unless it happens that two candidates are running as partners. In that case the ticket would be allowed to spend $200. All expenditures are tallied after the election. Candidates who exceed the $100-200 threshold could be bumped from the race.
Jenson said that “word of mouth is the most effective” form of publicity.
She then dived into a review of the publicity code, which encompassed an entirely separate brochure. The code is a comprehensive guide for outdoor publicity. It specifies everything from the measurement of posters to the type of string used to hang banners.
Stephanie Rodriguez, the Election Committee Chair and current A.S. Vice President, attended the proceedings to clarify issues and answer questions.
The official campaign begins April 1.
