Students put Desmond-Polk first

The leading pair claim a landslide win in the nine-ticket USG presidential race

Almost a year ago, Jaime Desmond stood by and cheered when the campaign she managed won the Undergraduate Student Government elections.

Of the 5,150 ballots cast, Desmond (junior-Spanish) and her running mate John Polk (junior-finance) secured 1,807 of them in the USG presidential and vice presidential elections last night.

"We are excited and thankful for all the many people that stayed with us through the past three weeks," Desmond said among her screaming supporters.

The election has been a good race, she said. The new and different ideas presented will help her in the next year, she added.

The next year should bring continued success and increased student input, Polk said.

Some of the platform issues upon which Desmond and Polk campaigned that they feel will benefit the student body under their administration are:

• Improving relations between the University and the State College Borough Council.
  

• Looking into lowering the price of food on campus.
  

• Extending the shelf life of general education textbooks.
  

• Improving the quality of professors hired at the University.

One of Desmond's supporters had a special stake in the elections.

"Jaime and John deserve this more than anyone," said USG President Sharon Entenberg. "I am very confident I can come back to Penn State next year as a very proud ex-president."

After embracing Entenberg for more than five minutes, USG Vice President Ed Kilpela also expressed his hope for next year's administration.

"If there are two people in the world who I trust to run an organization that Sharon and I have helped build up . . . I trust them more than anybody," Kilpela said.

The closest ticket behind Desmond and Polk was Blaine Rummel (junior-public relations) and Kendra Ciesla (sophomore-communications) with 930 of the votes.

"We obviously were disappointed we lost," Rummel said. "I have absolutely no regrets we ran a clean, fair, honest campaign based on the issues. I hope that they do follow through in form we would be more that willing to assist them in any way."

Michael Landsberg (junior-history) and running mate Brent Barbe (junior-nutrition science) received 739 votes.

"It just goes to show that sleazy campaign tactics always pay off," Landsberg said, adding that he will be graduating in a month.

Hank Saur (senior-health policy administration) and running mate Christina Robbins (junior-political science) received 466 votes.

"We are going to start a new government, one that's actually in touch with the student body," Saur said referring to his plans after this defeat. "We just elected a president that thinks she's above the law."

And Robbins expressed concern about the newly elected pair.

"It's a shame that the president and vice president really don't represent the majority of students on campus," she said.

Darin Loccarini (junior-sociology) and Christopher Pirrotta (junior-integrative arts) received 289 votes with the write-in ticket of David Lubkemann (junior-international politics) and Eryn Kramer (junior-advertising and administration of justice) close behind with 287 votes.

"All the minority organizations and 'HUB club' turned out and voted for them," Loccarini said. "I took a big chance trying to represent the other 30,000 students and I paid the price. I'll do more as president of STRAIGHT than anyone in USG will do."

Pirrotta said he could not believe the results.

"This is a very sad day for Penn State," he said. "It just shows that status quo will always stay and change will never come to Penn State."

But Lubkemann was not surprised by the announcement of the Desmond-Polk victory.

"This is not unexpected," Lubkemann said. "The person with the most resources won."

He added that the race had been tough, exacting and demanding.

Jason Covener (junior-international politics) and Jeremy Nightingale (sophomore-computer engineering) received 216 votes.

Covener refused to comment on the results of the election and left the HUB Ballroom after the winners were announced.

Thane Fake (senior-public service) and Blythe Barron (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies) received 135 votes.

"I think it's great to see so many outside tickets," Fake said. "It's a shame one of the outside tickets didn't win, and I predict much of the same exclusion of students from the USG as in the past."

Wesley Bowser (junior-secondary education and social studies) and Mark Wilders (sophomore-chemical engineering) received 101 votes.

"It was a good experience," Wilders said. "I learned a lot from it." He added that he was happy for the winning ticket.

The null votes counted and discarded totaled 55.

"I can definitely say it was one of the most interesting experiences of my life," said USG Head Elections Commissioner Angelo Annese. "Obviously things will come up that you don't expect as you go along. I think all the candidates conducted themselves very professionally, at least that I was aware of."