Chief justice resigns from Elections Court

The chief justice of the Undergraduate Student Government Elections Court, Duane Gildea, resigned yesterday after a petition for his removal was presented before the USG Supreme Court on Sunday.

Mario Ciabarra, who is running for USG president with Allison Szabaga, filed the petition in response to a secret meeting he said took place Friday at 2:30 a.m. between he and Gildea.

Gildea admitted he met with Ciabarra in his resignation letter to USG President Jaime Desmond yesterday, but said he had good reason to do so.

Ciabarra claimed that during the meeting Gildea said he worked last year on the campaign of Desmond and Vice President John Polk while serving on the elections court, thereby violating the elections code during the campaign last year.

"I am insulted by the insinuation," Gildea said in response, pointing out that the elections court had found the Desmond/Polk campaign guilty of numerous campaign violations last year.

Desmond also said Gildea was not involved in her campaign.

Ciabarra said Gildea appeared to hold the meeting Friday for Gildea's personal gain, possibly to obtain an appointed position if Ciabarra were elected to office.

Gildea wrote in the resignation letter to Desmond that he initiated the meeting with Ciabarra to help make a more informed decision about a campaign violation case for Ciabarra's ticket, not for personal benefit.

"I apologize to the court, USG and the students of Penn State for violating the code," Gildea wrote. "I did it knowingly. I did not, however, violate the code for my own personal gain and resent such implications. I was trying to be fair to the Ciabarra/Szabaga ticket and to my fellow students."

Gildea's resignation came the same day the elections court released its decision that Ciabarra violated the elections code by campaigning early on a World Wide Web site that indicated his candidacy.

The four remaining elections court justices unanimously found the Ciabarra/Szabaga ticket guilty, but were hung on the penalty the ticket should face. Two justices wanted the ticket fined, while the other two wanted the ticket disqualified, said Tracy Greca, head elections commissioner.

Gildea, the fifth justice, wrote that he voted to fine the Ciabarra/Szabaga ticket, but his decision does not apply since his resignation.

When he filed the petition before the Supreme Court, Ciabarra presented an audio tape of the meeting he said was recorded without Gildea's knowledge.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Josh Snyder said the court listened to part of the tape and found it inconclusive.

The elections court elected Samantha Woolf, one of the four remaining justices, to be the interim chief justice of the elections court to replace Gildea.

The elections court will function as a four-member body until the USG Senate appoints a fifth member, which could happen as early as tonight's senate meeting, Greca said.

Woolf said she does not know what the next step will be to resolve the hung verdict in Ciabarra's campaign violation case.

Gildea said the case will probably go before the Supreme Court for a final decision.