ASG endorses city council candidates

BY PATRICK DEIGNAN
OCT. 30, 2007

They may not even know it, but Miami University students indirectly participated in Oxford politics Tuesday night. The university’s Associated Student Government (ASG) unanimously voted to endorse Betty Quantz and Greig Rutherford for Oxford City Council.

Quantz and Rutherford are competing against each other as well as against Kate Currie and Richard Keebler to fill three City Council seats in the Nov. 6 election.

Off-Campus Senators from the Oxford Tenants Organization (OTO) evaluated candidates for the election to help the ASG Senate decide who to endorse. Sen. Thaddeus Boggs evaluated each candidate by attending local debates. He believes that ASG should support candidates who will listen to student voices.

“We evaluated who might be most receptive to students,” Boggs said. “We’re not trying to be adversarial; we just want to have a voice.”

ASG Secretary for Off-Campus Affairs, Jen House, works with City Council and knows how important a student voice can be.

“This is something OTO should be doing every election,” House said. “Every decision City Council makes affects students.”

House said Quantz will be particularly interested in hearing students’ opinions because she now has a daughter enrolled in her first year at Miami. She said Quantz is also the creator of the Student Community Relations Committee.

“That was the committee that helped give us a voice on the beer pong table issue,” House said. “She wants to know what students think.”

Sen. Isaac Reynolds experienced Quantz’s interest in students firsthand. He puts Quantz high on his list after she purchased dozens of pumpkins for a recent Clawson Hall community event.

“Just by doing that for our hall she’s up there,” Reynolds said.

Sen. Mike Scott says that with the departure of a key student advocate, Oxford Mayor Jerome Conley, City Council will become even more important in representing student opinions.

“It’s going to be very important for us to have smiling faces up on that board,” Scott said.

OTO believes that Rutherford would also be “a smiling face.” He is also most interested in furthering Oxford’s economic development.

“He’s the only candidate running on an economic platform,” House said. “He wants to bring unique things uptown that will bring people from outside of Oxford in.”

While there are three open slots out of seven total City Council seats, ASG only endorsed two candidates. Boggs wanted ASG to fully support any candidate that it endorsed.

“We didn’t see a point in having a lukewarm endorsement,” Boggs said.

In addition to giving Quantz and Rutherford a leg up in the election, ASG also felt this legislation would help some residents recognize students’ role in the community.

“They just don’t think students vote,” House said. “They don’t campaign on campus. This bill is a step to make them think students’ opinions are important.”

Off-Campus Sen. Andrew Ferguson believes the legislation will also help students become more involved.

“Not only will it make the community aware that we’re involved in the community, but it will also make the students aware,” Ferguson said. “We have to show students that they are also members of the community.”

Sen. John McNabb said because students make up such a large portion of the community, a collective vote would have real impact.

“This could pave the way to elect a student in the future,” McNabb said.

ASG Secretary to the Executive Cabinet Melonia Bennett said this is not the first time ASG has endorsed candidates in Oxford elections.

“It is part of ASG’s role and we have done it in the past,” Bennett said.

Registered students and Oxford residents can vote in the upcoming election on Nov. 6.