The Undergraduate Student Government treasurer says that Town Sen. Jason Covener promised her an open seat in senate without her going through the application process.
Covener's offer to Ashley King, who is a member of USG's executive branch, preceded the announcement of the vacancy in The Daily Collegian and would allow King to apply for senate with the confidence that she would most likely bypass other candidates.
King said she never actually had intentions of becoming a senator, but asked for the support of the Coalition, senate's conservative majority, to prove her theory that the group premeditatively lines up their own members to fill vacancies.
"Senate is just a bunch of power hungry individuals who are only looking out for their best interests," King said. "I never wanted to be a senator. I just wanted to prove that senate is undermining the entire USG system and has been all year."
Of the 11 senate resignations this year, 10 vacancies have been filled, nine by members of the Coalition.
Currently 16 out of 27 members of senate are in both The College Republicans and the Coalition.
Senate President Sean Clark is also a member of the Coalition.
King has since told Covener she is no longer interested in senate, citing academic commitments as her reason.
On Feb. 5, King said that she notified Covener she wanted to fill the most recent town vacancy. He said he did not have any other applicants lined up and would discuss her interest with the Coalition.
"We had a couple of conversations about this and he kept telling me that I was in," King said. "I tried to get some others (Coalition members) to say that they supported me but none of them would."
The next day King says Covener sent her an e-mail confirming she could have the open seat.
It reads, "I talked to everyone, and the Coalition will support you to fill the town vacancy provided that you resign your position in Exec. Treasurer will be amended into the bylaws as a senate position, and you will take that position."
At this time, the application process had not begun yet.
Senate President Sean Clark did not advertise the open seat in The Daily Collegian until Monday, Feb. 11, five days after the e-mail was allegedly sent. Town Caucus Chair Matt Allen said he has not received any applications yet.
"I'd have to check my sent e-mail to be sure (I sent it)," Covener said regarding the e-mail.
Still, Covener acknowledges that he and King discussed her being a senator.
"I told Ashley I would support her if she was interested but never promised anything," he said. "I did talk about it to the Coalition and we ultimately agreed it would be a good idea to have Ashley involved since she has tremendous expertise with finance and could help us."
King said Covener told her Monday he wants the position of treasurer to be in senate, rather than a member of the executive branch.
"He wants all the power to go to senate," King said. "There would be no checks and balances if that happened."
However, Covener maintains that it was King who approached him first expressing concern that if she joined senate she still wanted to remain involved in the financial aspect of USG.
Covener admitted that he did not expect King to express interest in senate.
"I was a little surprised that she wanted to get involved so late in the game, but I try not to look too deeply into personal motives," Covener said.
King's instance is not the first time senate has had discrepancies in the way it fills vacant seats.
Last month, the Senate Appointments Review Board did not advertise seat openings in The Daily Collegian, closed the interview process after receiving the minimum of three applications and allegedly filled a still-occupied senate seat. The new senator is another member of the Coalition.
"I did not know she (King) was doing this," said USG President Justin Zartman. "But I think anyone paying attention could see that senate selects its own members."
