When it meets today, the elections committee of the Associated Students of DVC should toss out the results of the recent ASDVC executive board election and order a special election before the end of this semester or when classes begin in the fall.

The committee should also remove current ASDVC President Bundit Kertbundit from office for the remainder of his term.

Both parties are guilty of a breach in ethics that makes maintaining their elected offices and titles untenable. 

The UAID coalition (Uniting ASDVC, ICC and DVC) dominated the recent election, winning nine of the 10 officer positions. Seven of the winning candidates were members of UAID and two were endorsed by UAID.

Kertbundit not only hand-picked candidates for the UAID ticket, his name and title appeared on their posters.  He also campaigned for UAID candidates across the campus and involved himself in the coalition’s financial transactions.  At every opportunity, Kertbundit used the power of his office to get “his people” elected.

It has also come to light that Kertbundit supplied UAID with 30 to 35 percent discounts he was able to obtain at Kinkos from a friend who worked there. And he paid in advance for UAID campaign materials which were never included in the slate’s financial report.

Such actions by UAID and Kertbundit clearly violate both the ASDVC constitution and the ASDVC elections code.

At the April 21 ASDVC meeting, UAID members passed notes and chuckled, at times erupting into laughter, as Young Jun Jang, a former presidential candidate for the Make It Happen coalition, presented allegations of election wrong-doing by Kertbundit and UAID.

Whether they deliberately violated the constitution and code, or were ignorant of the laws, neither is an acceptable explanation. It is their job to know.

The elections code explicitly states that all candidates must know the ins and outs of the code before beginning their campaign and cannot then later claim ignorance of the facts.

Elections code section 5 subsection 5.04 states: “Prior to campaigning, candidates must sign a statement indicating the candidates’ understanding of the Constitution, the Elections Code and other election material of the Associated Students of Diablo Valley College.”

The two other coalitions – BIG and Make It Happen – are asking for a simple apology to the student populations.

That would be a good start, but it is far from being enough.

These people control tens of thousands of dollars and determine what student activities will occur on campus. It is imperative that they are elected fairly and within the guidelines of school policy.

Whether it’s on the national level or here at our school, fair and legal elections must be assured. We already know what happens when an illegal election takes place. There is no recall, because it would be just too much of hassle.