Sac City Express » Lee Weathers-Miguel

City College recall election results in limbo

Stephanie Rodriguez — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:15:38 +0000

A sign in the Quad draws a line for campaigners. Allison Valenzuela

The results of the recall election held against Associated Student Government President Steve Macias and Student Affairs Commissioner Monica Guzman are now in limbo.

The entire recall election has been found in violation of an open-meeting law known as the Brown Act, ASG Vice President Debby Dixon said on Monday.

“As of now, the recall election was invalid,” Dixon said. “I forgot to put the time on the agenda set for the special meeting — just that technicality. I will be going to see the chancellor about it.”

Macias reported the technicality to the Los Rios Community College District, which at this point is in favor of declaring the election void, according to Dixon.

“This discovery is not something that the administration simply discovered on their own; it was well known and ignored,” Macias said. “At the October 21st 2009, ASG meeting , the section of the Brown Act that the meeting was in violation of was read by myself and another ASG member only to be purposefully ignored by both the VP Dixon and ASG adviser Lee Weathers-Miguel. Luckily the district was able to catch on to this injustice before it progressed any further.”

For the recall election to have counted, 362 students needed to place their votes. According to Dixon, the minimum guidelines were met for student participation in the balloting.

“More students voted in this election than in the regular general election,” Dixon said. “We had 540 students vote in the general election, over 600 voted in this recall election; we topped the amount in the regular election.”

In an e-mail statement, Macias said Guzman, the other ASG candidate up for recall, accumulated absences after the recall petition for her seat had been started, so it is unclear to him why she was in fact recalled.

“The normal process would be for the board to simply vote to excuse an individual from their duties during a meeting,” Macias said. “This was known, but yet the recall moved forward for Ms. Guzman.”

Get the latest recall coverage by returning to SacCityExpress.com and read The Express on Nov. 10.

Recall results postponed until Monday

Stephanie Rodriguez — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:11:42 +0000

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Results of a recall election of Associated Student Government President Steve Macias and Student Affairs Commissioner Monica Guzman won’t be known until next week at the soonest, campus officials said on Friday.

City College Vice President Debby Dixon called the results “inconclusive,” adding that “we will know more on Monday.”

Dixon made the announcement on behalf of ASG and Student Leadership and Development Advisor Lee Weathers-Miguel.

Balloting took place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Far left of the voting booth, Macias and members of the Sac City Coalition of Free Speech along with representatives from the Tea Party Patriots organization set up camp.

“I have to make it clear, today’s recall is not about abortion,” Macias explains. “Today’s issue is free speech, two groups on campus are trying to limit what is displayed on a college campus. They’re trying to say these things are unacceptable from our point of view so you can’t say them at all and if you want to say them, we’re going to kick you out of office, and that’s wrong; and that’s why this recall is a joke.”

Members of the Queer Straight Alliance club on campus had set up a table to the far right side of the voting station where they handed out flyers to passing students encouraging them to vote and hear both sides of the controversy.

Waiting in line to vote along with her puppy, City College History major Ashley Valdez expressed why she felt the need to place her vote in the recall election.

“It’s not about the abortion display, everything developed from there,” Valdez explains. “It’s mostly about him [Macias] not doing his job, I’m voting yes on the recall. Ideals will change; people will be more educated on what this is about.”

Standing by the Queer Straight Alliance table, a teary-eyed La Donya Reed, City College’s ASG Inter-Club Council, gives her opinion.

“When you lie to the board and deceit the board, that’s a separate issue,” Reed explains speaking of Macias. “You’ve generated all this energy for yourself, we could have been doing something else for the good of the students, and we are all focused on him.”