Funding at question: Student Court says candidates' spending didn't violate rules

The Student Court found a grievance filed by Adrian Cain and Nicole Nelson against Bill Walker and Cory Dennison invalid Monday night.

Student Government Association President Brandi Jacobs said, "In order to act in a timely fashion, members of the Student Court, myself and one of the SGA advisers met with both candidates and listened to both sides.

"The Student Court members did not find any discrepancies. As of now, the elections are still going on fine and everything should run smoothly," she said.

Cain-Nelson campaign commissioner Jacob Comer said Cain and Nelson made an inquiry into whether Team Walker-Dennison had spent more than the $600 allotted in the election rules.

"Having put together a campaign on our own, we have become aware of costs," Comer said. "Because of the quality and quantity of material used by the Walker-Dennison campaign, we thought it was very possible the spending limit had been broken."

The Cain-Nelson campaign submitted a letter of complaint to Election Commissioner Shannon Dean based on estimates they had made.

"We appreciate the efficiency with which the election commissioner and Student Court operated and we respect their authority to deliver a decision.

"However, we feel strongly about the campaign spending limits, so we plan to appeal the court's decision to the Dean of Student Affairs and we'll stand by whatever determination she makes," Comer said.

Walker and Dennison provided the court with a detailed expense publication that they said proved they were under the $600 election spending cap.

"We have laid it all out, the court has ruled in our favor and we have done nothing wrong," Dennison said.

Walker said the entire process could have been avoided.

"If the candidate who had the complaint had approached us for the receipts, he would have seen that there was no violation, but he chose to take the other approach and obviously didn't get what he wanted," Walker said.

Jacobs said the candidates could have spent the two hours of the court proceedings out campaigning.

"We have excellent candidates to choose from and situations like this could distract voters from the real issues," she said.

"I encourage all students out there to look beyond flashy boards and colored posters and really know who they're voting for," Jacobs said.