Anti-endorsement benefited USG winners

The Undergraduate Student Government presidential campaign of Jaime Desmond and John Polk discovered the true meaning of a blessing in disguise last night when they won the USG elections by a landslide after an anti-endorsement.

The pair was anti-endorsed by The Daily Collegian Board of Opinion on Tuesday in an editorial stating the ticket had "the secret society and insider votes wrapped up in one nice little package."

That editorial encouraged many people who had been trying to stay neutral in the elections to help the Desmond-Polk ticket on election day, Desmond said.

"As of Tuesday morning, when that (editorial) came out, that all happened," USG President-elect Desmond said sitting in front of Old Main two days later and much more relaxed. "It came to the point on Tuesday when instead of us calling people . . . they were calling us saying 'This is getting crazy. What can I do to help you?' "

Aside from the throngs of volunteers who have been working with Desmond and Polk since the beginning of the campaign, several well-known students openly supported the pair yesterday.

"These are friends first, and who they are at Penn State second," Desmond said.

Desmond's supporters included: Kerry McCoy, Penn State wrestler and NCAA heavyweight champion; Angie Potthoff, former Lady Lion basketball player; Joanne Connelly, former Lady Lion soccer and lacrosse player; Sharon Entenberg, USG president; Alyssa Cherkin, overall chair for the 1997 Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon and members from the Penn State Blue Band, the Penn State men's volleyball, wrestling, gymnastics and swimming teams, the Penn State women's lacrosse and soccer teams, Latino Caucus, Asian American Student Coalition, National Pan-Hellenic Council and the Penn State cheerleading team.

Entenberg, who donned a Desmond/Polk button and stood in front of the HUB urging students to vote for the pair, said she switched from her decision not to endorse any ticket because she had been hoping all the tickets would have a fair chance. The ticket was not being treated fairly by the press or the other candidates, she said.

"Yesterday, when I was handing out (handbills), I was doing so as a student who supported her," Entenberg said.

Despite the belief that the Collegian's editorial turned the race around, Editor in Chief Jason Alt said the ticket already had the support of the groups and the mobilization on election day is the same action that occurs every year.

"Anyone that's watched USG elections for the past four years pretty much knows that the general pattern is that someone with a good number of connections with student leaders and student organizations tends to win USG elections," Alt said. "It's much more status quo than turned around."

But Mark Sosnowsky, USG senate president and campaign adviser to Desmond and Polk, stated the editorial brought together average students and student leaders alike.

"It was people who believed in Jaime and John, whether they are in a society or not," Sosnowsky said.

Alt questioned Sosnowsky's assertions that the editorial did more than just rile up members of senior honor societies, such as Skull and Bones and Parmi Nous.

"It seems odd that these 'social clubs' would mobilize to try to secure a fellow members' election victory and still want to maintain that they don't have influence over University politics," Alt said.

While Desmond and Polk had enough support to win almost twice as many votes as their nearest competition, members of the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments and the Association of Residence Halls Students showed their frustration with the results in a unique way.

Hanging on bulletin boards outside the groups' offices were fliers that read:

The Student Voice

Rest in Peace

Born: 1855

Died: 12:20 a.m. April 3, 1997

USG Vice President Ed Kilpela and Sosnowsky asked ARHS Vice President Larry Paseornek and CCSG Director of Student Affairs Greg Bednarski respectively to remove the fliers because it was childish, Kilpela and Sosnowsky said, and the groups should work together.

The fliers were removed although Bednarski, CCSG President Tim Daniels and ARHS President Brian Youngblood said they had no knowledge of who put up the fliers and were not involved. Paseornek, who hung up two of the fliers, refused to comment.