Undergraduate Student Government politicking has started already. Once again, it is that time of the year when some members of USG resign from their positions to prepare for the March USG presidential elections.

Student leaders must not let their aspirations for power affect their work as representatives of the student body.

Every year, a pattern seems to form -- rumored presidential candidates resign from their posts as student leaders for personal reasons. Vague answers such as those lead to one question: What personal reasons?

Early campaigning is not allowed according to the USG Apportionment & Elections Code Act which states, "Candidates shall be forbidden to campaign prior to their filing for candidacy...furthermore no candidates may campaign prior to the Monday of the ninth week of the spring semester." Of course, resigning from positions cannot be totally connected to making stickers and buttons early, but years of that same behavior have shown a consistent pattern of early politicking.

The indefinite absence of USG Supreme Court Chief Justice Corey O'Brien recently continued the pattern of early politicking. The Supreme Court Procedures Act states that justices "shall serve unless removed from office by impeachment and conviction, resignation from the Court, graduation, or separation from the University." O'Brien's vague personal reasons and his leave of absence do not fit into any of those categories.

In response to O'Brien's decision, USG President Mike King decided to promote an associate justice as acting chief justice. King also informed two people in the USG Senate of the promotion, and the senators failed to inform the rest of the group immediately.

Now King is under investigation for allegedly violating the USG constitution because he did not have the nomination reviewed by the Senate Appointments and Review Board Committee and approved by the Senate. Watching fellow student leaders leave the HUB nest early, King has gotten caught in the middle of a sticker-and-button-making frenzy.