As The Collegian reported on Friday, Fresno State students passed a referendum creating the position of Vice President of External Affairs by a vote of 268-202.
Consequently, the Senate failed to garner the necessary two-thirds majority vote to pass an updated election code, which would have provided guidelines for students campaigning for the position.
According to Associated Students, Inc. President Selena Farnesi, the new election code will pass anyway on a technicality, but she was still enraged enough to call the Senate an “embarrassment” for its obstruction.
We agree with Farnesi.
The senate should have passed the new election code. The three senators who voted no ”” Jose Luis Nava, Victoria Partida and Oscar Perez ”” and those who failed to show up to vote ”” Parmita Choudhury and Fernando Moreno, with Breannah Evans showing up late ”” shirked their senatorial responsibilities.
Those who failed to participate in the vote have no excuses. This is a paid position. The least they can do is show up for their job. If a state senator failed to show up for a necessary vote, there would be consequences. As it should be with the Senate.
Senators who failed to show up for a vote are committing an act that is dishonorable to the very students who voted them into office.
Those who voted against the measure, however, weren’t dishonorable ”” their misguided sense of activism only hampered their supposed causes.
For this was clearly a protest vote: these senators did not like the result of the referendum, so they aired their grievances in the Senate. Nava said as much to The Collegian. For him, the referendum results were not representative of the campus as a whole, and campaigns should be given more opportunity to advertise.
“I believe that here, at Fresno State, our elections are very limited,” Nava said. “Other CSU campuses are more, I guess you can say, democratic in the essence of campaigning.”
Besides the fact that all students are given the opportunity to vote, and that they are reminded of this fact by the university in several emails prior to each election, Nava’s no vote did nothing to advance any democratic ideal in ASI senatorial campaigning.
Had the new election code not passed on a technicality, the campaign for the new position would be the only one not regulated by the school.
For every other ASI position there are rules to which each candidate must adhere, such as how many campaign booths can be set up, where posters may be placed and whether the candidate can use vehicles to campaign. For this new position, there would be no rules. Indeed, the nominee would be able to freely flaunt the rules in his or her attempt to get elected.
There would be an inherent unfairness to such a situation. It has a ”” dare we say ”” undemocratic quality to it.
If these senators found this issue so pressing, they should have introduced a new election code that would change the rules for each position, not merely obstruct the passage of a new one.
While Farnesi’s language is undoubtedly harsh, in this case, it may be warranted.
Collegian editorials represent the views of the editorial staff, not necessarily those of the faculty or the university. For news updates, links to articles and more, follow The Collegian on Twitter @thecollegian.
In Response 3 • Feb 6, 2012 at 7:52 pm
Hello, is anybody in that hollow skull of yours?! You were accused of affiliating yourself with racists, and you didn’t deny it, plain and simple. Selena Farnesi is a known racist Tea Party supporter. She’s dating Neil O’Brien, a creator of racist hate websites, and she was key in fabricating complaints against an undocumented immigrant. Rumor has it, she may have even contributed to the hate mail and phone calls the undocumented immigrant received.
Joshua Stein • Feb 21, 2012 at 8:36 am
Alright, I deny being affiliated with racists. There we go.
I have no reason to believe that Selena is racist, nor do you. If you have any evidence to back any of this up, I’d love to see it.
Dan • Feb 2, 2012 at 9:50 am
There’s some question whether Selena’s off-campus efforts (using student fee money) are even legal. Evidently, state law generally prohibits the use of ASI funds for off-campus activities not directly related to students. It could be argued that spending ASI funds on National Night Out events at Wesley Methodist directly aimed at the El Dorado Park residents (virually none of whom are Fresno State students) or for a playground at the same church might not be a legal use of student monies. That’s the question the local ACLU chapter has been looking into since last fall.
Marc Cohn • Feb 2, 2012 at 8:07 am
Thanks Sean Kiernan whomever you are. But its not up to you to do Collegians job. The purpose of the previous comment was to put Collegian in fact-check and get them to do a story not an opinion.
Next time dont butt in where you were not asked. And since you are at it, where is the proof you say that ASI was in the free speech area passing out pamphlets? Did ASI take pics? how many days, hours and weeks did that happen they tabled? Where is the proof that outreach for the referendum was done on behalf of all ASI reps, specifcally those who get PAID to do it.
Selena doesnt sit in her office all day? What are you her lapdog? you are in the ASI office just drooling over her when she wears that yellow-banana suit dress keeping eye on her? Come’on get real and stop kissing up.
Allison • Feb 1, 2012 at 7:05 pm
It is an editorial, meaning all the editors at the Collegian agreed on the issue and worked on the column. If you would like to know who those people are, look it up.
Sean Kiernan • Feb 1, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Did ASI table in free speech area to pass out pamhplets and tell people to vote?
Yes.
Did Selena take part in any outreach?
Yes.
Does she sit in her office all day?
No.
I advise learning about ASI before criticizing it.
Response 3 • Feb 2, 2012 at 5:01 am
Sean, get real! What kind of outreach are you referring to? What parties did Selena focus her outreach on? It sure as hell wasn’t parties that represent the average student (lower to middle income and/or people of color). Selena is still too stuck in wonderland to show up to any average student events. She is too busy catering to her racist Tea Party constituency. Especially because the boyfriend she’s had for the past year, Neil O’Brien, is a Tea Party extremist. By “tabling”, I believe Marc is referring to the effort of actively seeking people as they pass by, not sitting on there birthday seat cushion playing footsie for several hours while they poke their noses for the camera. I have seen ASI representatives give themselves credit that’s never been earned, multiple times. I believe you are one of them. What the hell have you done for your constituency this year besides blow smoke up the people’s asses? Based on the articles that I have read, you seem to have done a complete 180 in ethics. Please, spare me the “I sat on this committee and that committee” bull. Sitting isn’t the same as ethical action. Sincerely, the average ASI constituent.
TeapartySelena • Feb 2, 2012 at 8:40 am
Those are false claims Sean. Selena didn’t do any outreach. She also didn’t table. You’re riding on the Farnesi wagon, their was a clear conflict of interest when you voted for that new position. You are running for this position and as a Senator you voted in favor of it because your personal interest not in the interest of the student body.
Marc Cohn • Jan 31, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Why are you all complaining? First off, Selena gets paid. thats what this whole argument is about the other Senators DO NOT repeat, DO NOT get paid. They are not accounatble to anyone or anything. That is the reality of this issue. And Selena wants to pass something where another Senator gets paid? Why not pass something where they ALL get paid and if they DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT show up, then there is grounds to remove them from not doing their job.
And as for COLLEGIAN, Why not post some investigative stories about such issues? Why hide like anonymous does? Dont be shady and secretive, show your names of who wrote such a story, Someone who favors Selena obviously wrote this story so its safe to assume Selena is at it again with her anonymous accusations towards ASI officers? Looks like she did it last year through anonymous senators, but maybe this time she is using friends in her favor to write Editorial Board stories to anonymously go after such Senators that disagree with her? She did the same crap last year with those Pedro and cezar idiots.
COllegian get your facts straight. Dont just point your finger at senators, Does collegian themselves understand what the Bylaws of ASI say? Did Collegian bother to do research on the election code and what ASI under Selena Farnesi’s so called leadership was supposed to do in order to make the referendum fair and visible to all students? How many students actually knew there was a referendum? Did they get emails? Did they hand out pamphlets? Did Sherri Fisk send out a listserv to all presidents of clubs and orgs to encourage them to vote?
Did ASI table in free speech area to pass out pamhplets and tell people to vote? Did Selena take part in any outreach? Does she sit in her office all day? Come clean collegian. Someone in that office favors her, we saw the video last semester. This sotry is Bias and you know it!!!!!
Come on Collegian you can do better than that. I just gave you all the tools necessary to get to the bottom of this. The Collegian editorial board needs to stop being opinionated and get some real hard facts down. Idiots!
In Responce • Jan 31, 2012 at 12:16 pm
@Joshua Stein – I agree with you somewhat, but I think its important to note that Farnesi didn’t fail as a leader, or at least she hasn’t yet.
She took care of the issue in the short term doing what was necessary to move the referendum forward and in the long term will be addressing the issue at the next Senate meeting.
For everyone who is all worked up about this, check ASI’s wall – she put it back on the agenda.
In Response 2 • Jan 31, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Selena’s leadership represents the ultimate failure. Not only has she allowed for student money to be used for retreats, $40K fountain renovations, music videos, and nice meals, but she’s also pushed for increases in faculty pay. While she was busy being a so called “leader”, students have been getting the short end through fee increases every semester. She is a contributor to the problems that students face a semesterly basis. With leadership like the one she offers, who needs a CSU Trustee to screw the students? We have her to do it! That girl doesn’t know how to do anything but spend somebody else’s money! She will make a excellent gold digger someday.
Joshua Stein • Feb 1, 2012 at 6:26 am
That’s all fair. She’s going to continue to advance the referendum until she’s applied enough pressure to the Senators to get the referendum passed. Of course, that’s not what I was talking about. My concern is that part of the leadership position means effective management. If she believes this is important, that means ensuring that all supporting Senators show up and vote on the measure, and convincing those who don’t support it to change their votes instead of being obstructionist, trying to undermine the creation of the position by blocking the referendum.
As far as ASI Senators not getting paid, that’s fair, but not exactly relevant. Firstly, they’re volunteering for a job with the assurance that there will be some positive trade-off, like the opportunity to list the job on resumés. Secondly, by virtue of holding the volunteer position, they have accepted the responsibilities that it entails. At a [very inadequate] minimum, that means showing up.
To lay it out there, I support Selena. I think she’s got good some good ideas regarding civic education and service learning. I think she’s a good person who cares about student advocacy. I also opposed the referendum, and think that the creation of this position is gratuitous and, ultimately, a waste of money; I also think that effective lobbying of the administration is more likely to accomplish our goals than lobbying Sacramento. I also think that, generally, bashing Selena, or Sean Kiernan, or the Collegian, is infantile, boring and ultimately useless.
That’s why I mentioned what I feel are the legitimate criticisms here. It isn’t because I think that their actions are indefensible. It is because I think it is important that *someone* point to some criticisms that are legitimate, besides just throwing baseless accusations of racism out there. (I don’t mean that the commenter I’m responding to is doing that. Obviously that’s not the case, and I appreciate the thoughtful response. Now I’m going to sit back and wait for someone to call me a moron or a racist.)
In Response 3 • Feb 1, 2012 at 7:03 pm
All I got from your rant was that you affiliate yourself with racists, like Selena. And you have no self integrity as a human being. You would sell your mother for a new car, and think that just because you’ve been told “your a prince/princess” for your entire life, that people will tell you how cute you are for doing it. How did I come to the aforementioned conclusion? Easy! You’re admiration of the supposed representation of the students, not legitimate representation, gives you benefits. Therefore, you are willing to screw over the student body to continue getting benefits. You have done this for so long that you have convinced yourself that you aren’t wrong! Anybody with half a brain would no that a freakin toad would run a better ship than racist Selena Farnesi and her posse of bonafide morons!
Joshua Stein • Feb 3, 2012 at 6:42 am
If that’s what you got from that comment, then I’m not sure how you have the reading comprehension skills to study at a University. Gotta love a good trolling in the morning.
I’m not sure what benefits I receive. Nor am I sure how selling my mother (may she rest in peace) for a new car makes much sense, given that I don’t drive. But I’m glad that you’ve been able to glean so much about my character from that comment.
In Response 3 • Feb 3, 2012 at 7:05 pm
You have proven my point. You don’t deny you affiliate yourself with racists like Selena Farnesi and Neil “Teabag” O’Brien. You do not deny your unethical behavior. I also never claimed to study at a university, but I am glad you have made that conclusion from my writing. Good day
Joshua Stein • Feb 6, 2012 at 6:36 am
… I made your point by not denying something of which I wasn’t accused? (a) I have never had any reason to believe Selena is a racist, (b) I have never met, much less discussed anything, with Neil O’Brien and so won’t comment on his character, (c) I hardly see how any of that is relevant and (d) under no standard does simple association qualify as a racist.
If you want to criticize Selena, do it for the right reasons. Don’t just throw out personal attacks hiding behind a keyboard. I write under my name; if people are interested in talking to me about my opinions on campus, I’m easy enough to find.
Also, there is enough racism in the world today that it would serve us all well to reserve that term for genuine instances.
W. Thomas Daly • Jan 31, 2012 at 11:10 am
One point of clarification, as Senators we receive no pay. It is strictly volunteer.
Joshua Stein • Jan 31, 2012 at 7:55 am
There are no good guys in this story. (Though, for the record, there also are no racists, insofar as I can tell.)
For Nava, voting to oppose a referendum in order to obstruct a policy that already passed is… well… obstructionist.
For Farnesi, failing to lead those senators to enforce a referendum is… well… a failure of leadership.
For those who failed to show up, there is no excuse. If you’re getting paid, especially if you’re not on an hourly wage, you show up to work. When there is something to be done, you do it.
It is disappointing to see the shortsightedness and self-righteousness on both sides, when those involved so clearly failed.
Ren • Jan 31, 2012 at 4:37 am
That’s jus t the thing… it takes a Mexican AMERICAN to criticize a Caucasian within the Collegian to make things impartial…. or else…. the collegian would DO NO SUCH THING!!!!! THEIR HEADS ARE TOO FAR UP THEIR EXTREMIST CONSERVATIVE BUT TO CARE ABOUT IMPARTIALITY!!!!!!
Student • Jan 31, 2012 at 12:49 am
I am Mexican and a Selena supporter – just wanted you all to know it was possible.
Ren • Jan 31, 2012 at 4:32 am
Of course it is possible you ignoramus… THERE ARE Mexicans who would be willing to deport themselves just to be ACCEPTED by Tea Party idiots!!!!!
Grow Up • Jan 31, 2012 at 12:41 am
Are we really going to call the Collegian racist and bias because they agreed with the ASI President on one thing? The same ASI President that the paper regularly writes all kinds of sh*t about. Look up all the collegian articles with the name “Selena” in them and you’ll find a lot of criticism… most of it coming from Anna Mendoza – but of course no one would dare call her a racist (oh wait, I just did).
Talking sh*t on Selena only proves how much power she has over you. She says one word, “embarrassment” and you all throw down like your children.
And I think Ms. Farnesi has done a great job as President. She has actually used ASI to do things for students like give them extra library hours and start a community revitalization project. God forbid she want to create a lobbying/leg position to fight fee increases and a decrease in state funding.
And I’m sick of hearing about how unfair ASI is to everyone, if you don’t like something ASI is doing take the office and their president up on her open door policy.
Mexican • Feb 2, 2012 at 8:13 am
OMG! There is a Mexican who supports Selena Farnesi? Let me guess the person who posted that wouldnt happen to be Gilbert Felix or Melissa Mata would it? The three undercover Republicans who claim to be Democrats!
Neil O'Brien • Jan 31, 2012 at 12:23 am
Why am I not surprised to read these inaccurate race baiting comments against Selena?
C'mon Maan • Jan 30, 2012 at 11:11 pm
Can we please stop resorting every argument and issue back to race? It would appear from reading this as well as the previous article that Farnesi’s issue is the fact that the vote of the three dissenting senators was misplaced and served a limited purpose in their protest as the position had been already been created and with the updated election code failing we could have conceivably seen banners hanging across buildings on campus and unrestricted campaigning for that position. While they were disappointed with the outcome as well as the turnout, in my time at Fresno State and from talking to the friends I have known that were Senators in the past, I have never heard of something that stated that a certain percentage of the student population had to turnout to vote for the election to be valid.
As far as the comments above including Fernando Moreno with the 3 dissenting senators based on his race and some presumed agenda due to that fact- what about Parmita Choudury and Breannah Evans? From reading the harsh response by Farnesi and the Collegian in this article, the frustration exhibited is directed at them as well. Not an expert on etymology but I would surmise, and confirming with looking at their pictures on the ASI website, that Choudury is of some type of Indian/ Bangladeshi ancestry and Evans is white. And for all we know the ones absent could have been sick, had car trouble, relative die, etc. How about we fall back to Dr. King’s words and judge each other by the content of their character and not the color of their skin and hopefully we can not think that just because they are different or disagree with us, they automatically hate us?
Gerry Mander • Jan 30, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Good to know that by voting NO and keeping their mouths shut they’re “representing the students”. And it’s always a good day when faced with no possible or logical explanation for their actions, we conclude with the only defense they have left, the race card. Clearly all other ASI Senators (several of which are minorities) are racist! And the Collegian of course. How dare they call out three Senators who 1) Never gave a reason on why they voted no, or tried to convince other Senators to do the same. 2) Claimed to be voting no because the election code is not permissive enough, but never moved to amend said election code despite the fact that the chair of the Senate reminded them several times that they could. Yeah, clearly getting 470 students out to vote is part of evil Selena Farnesi’s plan to do whatever she wants with ASI. As all crazy power hungry people tend to do, she did the most despicable thing.. SHE LEFT THE DECISION IN THE HANDS OF THE STUDENTS THAT COULD BE BOTHERED TO VOTE. Corruption at its worst..
Sean Kiernan • Jan 30, 2012 at 9:42 pm
The vote was to update our election code so campaigning regulations would apply to this position as well. Voting no so it fails does not “represent” those who voted against the referendum. The position was created, and it exists whether the election code is updated for it or not. If the code isn’t updated, then whoever runs for that position would not have to abide by campaign rules. Now it turns out the referendum passing updates the election code anyway, so it didn’t matter.
I believe the three senators who voted against this were only trying to sabotage the process because they opposed the new position, not understanding what failing to update the election code would actually do. Yes, they all happen to be Latino, but the collegian is not criticizing them for that. Clearly they voted the wrong way that morning, and this opinion article is well founded. If all you can do is accuse the collegian of being racist, then you lose. And yes, I think Neil is wrong about many things, but he’s allowed to ask a question during presidential debates, and he’s spot on about how weak it is for some to side step every criticism of anyone (who happens to be Mexican) by dropping the race card.
Stanley Ipkiss • Feb 5, 2012 at 8:50 pm
Sean Kiernan is a tea party radical claiming to be a liberal. He is part of a Neo-Nazi group and a Arian society.
Ren • Jan 30, 2012 at 6:05 pm
The collegian is trying to take off my comment… they can’t face the TRUTH!!!!
DH • Jan 31, 2012 at 1:06 am
I have a question for the Senators who voted no.
What specifically was wrong with the election code (not the vote, not the campaigning for the vote, just the election code) that caused you to vote no?
Again, I want specific items that were wrong with the election code.
Thank you.
Ren • Jan 30, 2012 at 6:04 pm
Waaaa Waaaa Waaaa… did little Farnesi not get her way? Did she cry to the COLLEGIAN…one of the most ANTI MEXICAN AMERICAN PAPERS ON THE PLANET…that the big bad mexicans were being mean? (Jose Nava, Oscar Perez, Fernando Moreno, Victoria Partida) Seriously..you have to wonder, is the COLLEGIAN RACIST? First off, one of their RACIST editors, TONY PETERSON allowed a Tea Party nut job to attack an ASI Presidential candidate over his affiliation with MECHA, a mexican-american based campus club. Does the COLLEGIAN ALLOW THAT TREATMENT for ANY OTHER GROUP ON CAMPUS???? Neil O’Brien IS another delusional RACIST who thinks Western society should dominate all other societies (www.therealpedro.com, http://www.westernyouth.org). THIS IS THE SAME RACIST WHO TAPED HIMSELF HARASSING A CHICANO LATINO STUDIES PROFESSOR AFTER HE WAS ASKED TO LEAVE TIME AND TIME AGAIN!!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khahXA1MKCg&list=UUdrHeZggciubL8QY4FU_cPg&index=1&feature=plcp)….THE COLLEGIAN PRINTED THIS NEO NAZI’S ARTICLES, ESPECIALLY AGAINST A CHICANO LATINO STUDES PROFESSOR!!!! ONCE AGAIN..DOES ANY OTHER ETHNIC GROUP GET THIS TREATMENT ON CAMPUS??? IT TOOK FRESNO STATE ADMINISTRATORS TO TELL COLLEGIAN EDITORS TO CORRECT THEIR BEHAVIOR BEFORE THEY STOPPED. ALL OF THIS KIND OF MAKES YOU WONDER IF WHETHER OR NOT ADMINISTRATORS ARE INVOVLED WITH THIS RACIST BEHAVIOR. IF THERE IS, MY BEST BET ITS THE VICE PRESIDENT OF STUDENT AFFAIRS… DR. OLIARO. LAST, THE COLLEGIAN WAS SURE THAT THEY DIDN’T MISS BASHING AN UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT LAST YEAR, ALONG WITH THE OTHER MEXICAN AMERICAN WHO SERVED IN OFFICE. THE SAME STORY ABOUT ACCUSATIONS, WHICH CAME FROM SELENA FARNESI BY THE WAY, WERE REPORTED OVER AND OVER AND OVER. EDITORIAL BOARD, STOP BEHAVING AS BLOGGERS, AND START BEHAVING AS REAL JOURNALISTS, WHO POST THEIR REAL NAMES. YOUR DISCLAIMER AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR ARTICLE MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A BUNCH OF COWARDS. EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT YOU DO INDEED AGREE WITH WHAT IS BEING WRITTEN!!! DOWN WITH RACISM AND EXTREME TEA PARTY THUGS!!!!!
mikeUSA • Jan 30, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Selena, it would be safe to say that you need to think and analyze things before you respond to any given situation or certain action. I as a student conclude that Mr. Nava, Ms. Partida and Mr. Perez where given their positions as senators to represent students at Fresno State. Therefore I do not have to tell you, but I well because clearly Ms. Farnesi you were very disrespectful and is blinded by a spoiled brat attitude. These three senators were representing the 202 students that voted ” NO” on the new position that was installed for a new senator. Though attendance is very important and I agree senators should be present at all meetings I would have to say that, your respond to these three Hispanic senators make me question what your true motives are. As for the collegian I am disappointed that your basis clearly show once again by publishing opinions based on one side of the stories. Makes me question where the real investigative journalism is.
Stanley Ipkiss • Jan 30, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Every time there are Latino students who speak out they are always attacked by the collegian and by ASI. The Collegian has a history of racism.
Ren • Jan 30, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Waaaa Waaaa Waaaa… did little Farnesi not get her way? Did she cry to the COLLEGIAN…one of the most ANTI MEXICAN AMERICAN PAPERS ON THE PLANET…that the big bad mexicans were being mean? (Jose Nava, Oscar Perez, Fernando Moreno, Victoria Partida) Seriously..you have to wonder, is the COLLEGIAN RACIST? First off, one of their RACIST editors, TONY PETERSON allowed a Tea Party nut job to attack an ASI Presidential candidate over his affiliation with MECHA, a mexican-american based campus club. Does the COLLEGIAN ALLOW THAT TREATMENT for ANY OTHER GROUP ON CAMPUS???? Neil O’Brien IS another delusional RACIST who thinks Western society should dominate all other societies (www.therealpedro.com, http://www.westernyouth.org). THIS IS THE SAME WACKO WHO TAPED HIMSELF HARASSING A CHICANO LATINO STUDIES PROFESSOR AFTER HE WAS ASKED TO LEAVE TIME AND TIME AGAIN!!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khahXA1MKCg&list=UUdrHeZggciubL8QY4FU_cPg&index=1&feature=plcp)….THE COLLEGIAN PRINTED THIS NEO NAZI’S ARTICLES, ESPECIALLY AGAINST A CHICANO LATINO STUDES PROFESSOR!!!! ONCE AGAIN..DOES ANY OTHER ETHNIC GROUP GET THIS TREATMENT ON CAMPUS??? IT TOOK FRESNO STATE ADMINISTRATORS TO TELL COLLEGIAN EDITORS TO CORRECT THEIR BEHAVIOR BEFORE THEY STOPPED. ALL OF THIS KIND OF MAKES YOU WONDER IF WHETHER OR NOT ADMINISTRATORS ARE INVOVLED WITH THIS RACIST BEHAVIOR. IF THERE IS, MY BEST BET ITS THE VICE PRESIDENT OF STUDENT AFFAIRS… DR. OLIARO. LAST, THE COLLEGIAN WAS SURE THAT THEY DIDN’T MISS BASHING AN UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT LAST YEAR, ALONG WITH THE OTHER MEXICAN AMERICAN WHO SERVED IN OFFICE. THE SAME STORY ABOUT ACCUSATIONS, WHICH CAME FROM SELENA FARNESI BY THE WAY, WERE REPORTED OVER AND OVER AND OVER. EDITORIAL BOARD, STOP BEHAVING AS BLOGGERS, AND START BEHAVING AS REAL JOURNALISTS, WHO POST THEIR REAL NAMES. YOUR DISCLAIMER AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR ARTICLE MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A BUNCH OF COWARDS. EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT YOU DO INDEED AGREE WITH WHAT IS BEING WRITTEN!!! DOWN WITH RACISM AND EXTREME TEA PARTY THUGS!!!!!
DH • Jan 30, 2012 at 12:14 pm
There aren’t any defined, legal consequences, but depending on the issue, not showing up to vote can cause a state senator (or any elected official) to lose favor with their party, which puts them at risk of losing reelection.
Dan • Jan 30, 2012 at 7:31 am
State senators don’t always show up to vote either, especially if they don’t want to publicly go on record as opposing a measure. And, there are absolutely NO consequences (except for the annual budget bill) for not showing up–be accurate in your statements Collegian!