The Associated Students Judicial Committee have agreed to approve the impeachment motion against A.S. President John Ahn. At Tuesday’s A.S. Senate meeting it was decided to suspend Ahn’s powers as president until this matter is resolved.
“It was a smooth process, the meeting was straightforward and [we] discussed the impeachment based on the evidence and approved the withdrawal,” said Joshua Kleinbergs, A.S. pro tem and member of the Judicial Committee.
The complaint letter was first presented by student Sen. Wayne Bergman on Tuesday. It was accompanied by an e-mail Ahn allegedly sent to another senator requiring the senator’s commitment to attend weekly church services.
“[We] followed the by-laws and felt it was in A.S. best interest to request [his] removal, [he] violated district policies,” said Kleinbergs.
The A.S. Judicial Committee is made up of Vice-President Joey Victor, Treasurer Alex Trigueros, Kleinbergs, and Bergman. Director of student affairs and A.S. advisor Darlene Jensen was present as a parliamentary guest to ensure the committee was following the process properly.
“[We] got the okay by the legislation process, we’re trying to be as fair as possible with this situation,” said Bergman.
They held a closed door meeting on Wednesday where they reviewed the issue. They discussed the process for removal of office and came to the decision to act on the motion of impeachment.
“My intentions [were] to make a decision for the best of the A.S. organization. It is unfortunate, how my attempt to unify (legally and ethically) the team had caused turmoil into the Senate,” said Ahn.
The A.S. Senate plans to vote on a motion to impeach Ahn at this Tuesday’s Senate meeting. They will need a vote of two-thirds of the present Senators to pass the motion. If it passes, Ahn will be unable to hold any A.S. government position. Ahn will have a chance to make a comment before the vote on impeachment.
ICC Trustee Don Lundy said, “I am proud of the executives, they are handling things professionally, I feel more comfortable with these [executives] being in front of the train.”