The SJS removed Senator Brendon Murn Monday.  When the discussion became heated, two senators walked

By Alex Kurt

Senator Brendon Murn was removed from his position as next year’s Activities and Allocations Board Auditor in the closing minutes of Monday’s senate meeting.

A special election will be held in the fall to fill the vacant seat. Murn said he plans to run again.

His removal resulted when Judicial Board Chairman Barry Griffin challenged President Kevin May’s ruling that an ethics complaint which called for the special election was invalid. An earlier attempt to challenge the ruling by Regent Nicholas Truso did not receive the two-thirds vote of support required for a challenge.

Election misprocedure

Murn’s removal was the result of a formal ethics complaint filed by junior and former senator Luke Fischer at Monday’s meeting, the last of the current senate term.

Fischer’s complaint, which was backed by the signatures of 71 students, stated that Murn had not been rightfully elected to his post.

Murn, who ran for the judicial board, did not win a seat in the election April 12, but because his 151 votes were the most received by any losing candidate, the SJS election council appointed him to the Activities and Allocations Board.

“The elections board decided they could appoint someone to the senate who wasn’t elected to that board,” Fischer said. “There’s a way to do that and it’s called an election.”

 

“What the 71 students who signed this said is that they want it reversed, and they want an election,” he said.

The text of Fischer’s formal complaint stated that “Twice, the Saint John’s Senate has swindled elections to favor sitting members, instead of holding open and fair elections.”

Fischer made it clear that his complaint was with the electoral process and not with Murn personally.

“I hope he runs in the special election, and I hope he gets elected,” Fischer said.

Murn said that he does not object to Fischer’s protest, though he has reservations.

“I admire your motivation towards ethics,” he said. “But I think there’s a larger problem with the way the elections are held, and we should address that.”

Murn’s brother James, who serves on the Judicial Board, said that the Election Committee was being reasonable in appointing Brendon to the AAB.

“I think the election committee was thinking that they didn’t want to go through a special election, that they’d have a hard time getting people interested in running,” he said. “I won’t vote on it since he’s my brother. If it does go to special election, he’ll run vigorously and he’ll win.”

May overruled

May told Fischer that he would consider the ethics complaint.

“I need to look into the bylaws in regard to overturning a decision and whether there is a time limit on that,” he said.

After Fischer left the meeting during a recess, May motioned to negate the request for a special election, citing a two-week deadline for complaints to be filed after elections.

Truso objected, stating that election results had been released exactly two weeks prior to the meeting at which Fischer filed the complaint.

Truso was met with May’s gavel, promting the Regent to walk out of the meeting. He later returned.

May’s motion prevailed by a simple majority.

Later in the meeting, Griffin motioned for the senate to reconsider May’s motion, interrupting discussions of a student bill of rights and a 9% flat feee allocation for student activities as he spoke.

Griffin was met with the gavel, prompting James Murn to storm out of the meeting. He did not return.

Griffin challenged May a second time just prior to the meeting’s adjournment. His second attempt garnered the two-thirds support necessary to challenge May’s ruling, including a 12th and passing vote by Truso, who had just returned.

Vice President Mark Osborne’s motion to remove Murn from his seat and hold a special election passed in a voice vote. Murn remains eligilble to run for the seat in the fall.

Questionable conduct

Several senators expressed concern over May’s behavior in the meeting.

Though Truso, who will return as Regent next fall, returned to the meeting after walking out, the dramatic exit of he and James Murn, who did not win reelection, proved the most vivid expressions of senators’ discontent.

“I almost walked out myself,” said Activities and Allocation Board Auditor Kurt Sorensen after the meeting.

Sorensen, the SJS Vice President-elect, was candid about his feelings towards May and Osborne.

“Kevin May was a tyrant of the St. John’s Senate who used manipulation and coercion to achieve personal gain while also ignoring the constitution and our standing rules,” he said. “His tyrannical methods will not be missed now that his term is done.”

Sorensen said that, in light of Monday’s events, he looks forward to the next senate term.

“While we must learn from the dictatorship of Kevin May, we must also move on and begin the long healing process so that our scars will be minimal,” he said.

Filed under: News by Alex Kurt