The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) 2004 Elections Commission filed two new complaints Thursday against two pairs of executive candidates for violating the elections code.

The commission filed a complaint against Sandip Trivedi and Monica Constantino for violating university policy by reserving a room without authorization and another against Mariel Gniewoz and Cameron Lefevre for violating campaign-financing rules. The Trivedi/
Constantino ticket also had two complaints filed against it last week for campaign-finance violations.

Head Elections Commissioner Tim Dorman said a Trivedi/Constantino campaign worker reserved the room under the name of the South Halls Residence Association (SHRA) to hold a campaign-related documentary film series but did not have the permission of the SHRA president.

According to the university's Policies and Rules for Student Organizations, registered student organizations can reserve university facilities for events related to the purposes of those organizations. No person or group other than the reserving sponsor may use the reserved space.

Trivedi said he and Constantino meant to reserve the room under Savior Faire, a registered organization that co-sponsored the film series.

Constantino, Savoir Faire business manager, said all group members agreed to co-sponsor the event.

However, a campaign worker accidentally reserved the room under SHRA because she is involved with the organization, and she often reserves rooms under that name, Trivedi said.

Trivedi said reserving the room under SHRA was a clerical mistake.

"There needs to be a forgiving attitude," Trivedi said. "It's not like we intentionally went out to do this."

The commission recommended the USG Supreme Court fine the campaign $132, which is 24 percent of the total spending limit of $550.

In two separate complaints filed against the Trivedi/Constantino campaign for violating campaign financing rules, the commission recommended the Court fine the ticket a total of $176.

The ticket is charged with using a special agreement between Patrick McCool, the owner of PAMP Screen Printing and USG Vice President Takkeem Morgan to acquire campaign T-shirts and copies of flyers at a discounted rate.

The elections code states that if the real price paid by the candidates is not available to the general public at the time of purchase, the fair market value will be charged against their spending limit.

McCool said Morgan received a rate not available to the general public because he is an established customer and has referred many other customers to PAMP.

Trivedi and Constantino could be disqualified if the fines cause them to exceed the total spending limit.

Dorman said the commission filed a separate complaint against the Gniewoz/Lefevre campaign because the ticket purchased campaign T-shirts for a reduced price through a special agreement with McCool. The ticket purchased 66 campaign T-shirts for $3 each.

McCool told the elections commission he had a "prior relationship" with Gniewoz because she had met with him once before to discuss purchasing T-shirts and because she also referred a sorority to PAMP for T-shirts in the past.

However, Gniewoz said the complaint filed against her and Lefevre is the result of a misunderstanding. She said she did not have a special agreement with McCool or a "prior relationship."

She said she went to PAMP once before actually purchasing the T-shirts because she was trying to find the lowest price for T-shirts. During her first visit, McCool said T-shirts would cost $3 to $4 depending on what day she purchased them.

When she returned to PAMP, she said she was wearing her sorority letters, and she mentioned that she had worked on USG President Ian Rosenberger's campaign last year.

She added that she was just making conversation, not trying to get a reduced price.

McCool later said he might have misunderstood Gniewoz.