CUSG Legislative Council fails to censure the Election Commissioner after intense debate.
CU Student Government (CUSG) Legislative Council met on Thursday, Mar. 2 where a proposal to censure the Election Commissioner, Poornima Ramesh, weeks before the election is set to take place, was intensely discussed, and ultimately failed to pass council.
The resolution was debated in the Legislative Council for over 2 hours, evoking impassioned and emotional testimony from both sides of the censure argument.
CUSG Senators and Representatives, who were in favor of the censure, implored their colleagues to “document” the alleged missteps and failures of duty of Election Commissioner Ramesh in bringing proposed election code changes to Legislative Council in a timely manner.
Graduate School Senator, Kayli Plotner, who is one of the prime sponsors of the resolution said, “[It is] not done out of anger. We wanted to have [the missteps] documented. We’re not trying to impeach anyone.”
Despite the Senator’s purported intentions in writing the censure, the resolution was met with ire and disdain for its intensity, alleged personally focused language, and the divisive precedent set forth for future Election Commissioners.
The case for censuring the Election Commissioner was laid out multiple times over the night’s debate and was directly communicated by Graduate School Senator Jake Carias. “The neglect of one individual, the Election Commissioner,” and her alleged, “[Use of] the deadline excuse to push Legislative Council into changing election rules.”
Carias continued his proponent speech of the censure by voicing disapproval of the Election Commissioner’s conduct in regards to the proposed election rule changing process, “You don’t come to Rules Committee [within the Legislative Branch] with a half-baked legislation and I think most people on this council know if you come to Rules Committee with half-baked legislation, you’re gonna get torn to shreds because Rules Committee is a real rough den.”
Evoking multiple reactions across legislators in the room, Carias said, “Maybe the Election Commissioner enjoyed her winter break a lot more than I did. But the problem is, we still have a job to do.”
Election Commissioner Ramesh responded to Senator Carias’ allegations, stating, “I have done everything to make myself available for discussions and meetings, and I wished we discussed this,” Ramesh said in an emotional speech.
“This was, and still is, a slap in the face.”
The back-and-forth debate over the censure of Election Commissioner Poornima Ramesh reflects a trend of infighting and parliamentary struggle that has been noticeable more recently in the Legislative Council.
After confusion over the legitimate parliamentary procedure for passing the resolution, the legislation, a Resolution to Censure Poornima Ramesh, was finally brought to a vote.
Six members voted in favor of the censure, seven voted against and one abstained, thus failing to pass the legislation to second reading.
Election Commissioner Ramesh remains uncensured, narrowly defeating a stark opposition coalition to her parliamentary actions, in a council already fraught with political tensions. It is hard to say there has been nights more tense than this one in Legislative Council and with election season and budget hearings near, it is hard to say the burden of the office will lift soon.
