Here at KnightNews.com, we thought long and hard as to whether or not we would endorse a candidate in the SGA Presidential Election this year. It’s a tough decision to make – everyone running is a great leader, and they all deserve a great deal of respect. They’ve worked hard in their respective offices, and they all have more accomplishments than you can count on a porcupine with split ends.
That being said, we ultimately decided to make an endorsement for the following reason: both campaign tickets have candidates who have been involved in SGA over the past several years, and we have heavily covered stories involving all of them. This gives us the unique perspective and ability to compare their current platforms to the way they’ve actually behaved in office. It’s been said that past behavior is the best indicator of future performance; if that’s the case, then we have all their past behaviors – a lot of it on video.
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Our editorial board has extensive experience with SGA, and we know exactly what it takes to be a great president and vice president. It’s that simple. They need to be able to stand up against the administration to help students, they must have policies of openness and transparency and they sure as heck better be incredibly experienced and fluent with fiscal policies and the Activity and Service Fee.
We interviewed all the candidates, read their platforms thoroughly and have made the decision to endorse Nicholas Gurney and Fernando Gonzales.
The Fight for Students
These candidates are being elected, first and foremost, to fight for students. What happens when students want one thing, but the UCF Board of Trustees wants the opposite? Gurney and Gonzales have a strong history of making decisions benefitting the students – even when their “bosses” disapproved or when it upset the administration. Most recently, when SGA President Mike Kilbride shut out public access to the Knightmare database, which gives a breakdown of how SGA is spending a $15 million budget of student money, Gurney wrote an opinion as Attorney General interpreting relevant statutes and rules in a way that gives student leaders access to see how money is spent, while Gonzales was the senator who stood up to Kilbride – and much of his fellow senators – fighting for the same thing.
McCann, on the other hand, in his most important test in standing up to the administration to fight for students – parking decal hikes – he voted in favor of raising the cost of decals to students. This begs the question; will he vote in favor of other fee increases when he is sitting on the Board of Trustees? We’d rather not have to cross our fingers and find out. As for Brock, well, he has never sat on a committee where he had to make a controversial and public vote directly against the administration, but while sitting on the Kilbride cabinet, not once did he speak out publicly against Kilbride’s policies. Students don’t need more of the same. They have spoken, and it’s quite the opposite.
Transparency
As the primary news outlet for many UCF students, we take this one personally.
The bottom line is that if the President runs an administration where budgets are hidden, decisions are not justified and doors are constantly closed, students are left out of the loop and leaders are unable to be held accountable.
This year, despite Kilbride’s strict internal policies of his staff’s having to send everything through his “spin doctors” before talking to media, Gurney consistently provided us with information when we asked, whether it was objective statutory information or his official opinion. He was timely, didn’t give us a runaround and consistently supported students openly. And the same goes for Gonzales – when students wanted answers, he pushed as hard as he could and took it to the public eye.
As for McCann, he did a great job this year as Chief Justice. Although he has not directly been involved in a situation where he was not transparent, we would have liked to see the Judicial Council have encouraged senators to file a complaint so it could have stepped in and issued a ruling to force Kilbride’s decisions of secrecy to be overturned. The best example of this would have been the Judicial Council striking the illegal SGA statute allowing secret meetings. Brock was part of an administration where transparency was treated like a four letter word. Granted, he was open with general information regarding the KnightDrive and KnightLynx programs, but who wouldn’t be open about their positive projects when they wanted to garner publicity? These guys were somewhere between opaque and translucent – this is why our decision is so clear. Pun intended.
Fiscal Responsibility
With a budget of nearly $17 million dollars next year, the students you elect had better be prepared to know their stuff. They can read up all they want on the SGA website to be able to talk intelligently during debates, but at the end of the day, there is no substitute for experience.
It is common knowledge within SGA that the primary means of gaining valuable insight to the workings of the budget is in Senate. Gurney and Gonzales have a combined fives years of experience in senate, which allocates student money throughout the year. Additionally, Gonzales is the chairman of the CRT committee, which shows that even his fellow senators have further entrusted him to handle funds. Going beyond basic fiscal understandings, we believe that Gurney’s legal expertise as Attorney General and Gonzales’ proven passion for helping students are exactly what students need in the coming year.
With all due respect to McCann and Brock, these two have absolutely zero experience in dealing with the budget in the capacity of their positions aside from minor pockets of money put aside for their respective departments. Sure, they’ve sat in on meetings and have a general familiarity, but just like an avid Orlando Magic fan has been to every game and knows a lot about basketball, it doesn’t mean that coach Van Gundy will sign them to the roster.
The Bottom Line
There are no bad candidates. McCann and Brock, throughout the election process, have been incredibly professional, friendly and insightful. They’ve shown they can be great leaders, inside and outside of SGA. Heck, I’d love to hang out with them both and go grab a beer with them anytime. But that’s not what this is about.
Nick Gurney said it best at the Greek Town Hall Debate last week: “Students don’t need a best friend president and best friend vice president; students need the best president and the best vice president.” In our opinion, Gurney and Gonzales have solid, proven experience in the key areas of being a president. McCann and Brock also have tons of experience, but in areas that are not as crucial to this position. Sure they have great marketing, a beautiful website and they dress like Robert Downey, Jr. in ‘Iron Man.,’ but does that mean they can hold the highest office of a UCF student?
Imagine if Bill Gates applied for a job at McDonalds flipping burgers. Although it may seem like a no-brainer to hire him since he is incredibly brilliant and successful, it still begs the question: does having experience making computer software make him qualified to make me an Egg McMuffin? I doubt it. If anything, I would love to see Gurney hire these individuals on his executive cabinet, because I would sure hate to see their talents go to waste.
The overwhelming majority of individuals rallying for either side are there because they are friends with Gurney or friends with McCann. I know this because I have managed six elections, and it’s the same every year. We know the individuals in the McCann and Brock camp will read this story and be upset and think we are crazy, just as Gurney’s and Gonzales’ people would do if it were reversed.
But we believe, in this situation, it was our duty as a news organization which just won an award for exposing Kilbride’s questionable spending, to lay our stance out for our readers. I hope everyone can read this opinion and take it for what it’s worth – an opinion of someone who has seen it all, but doesn’t know it all.
Andrew Stein
Founder, KnightNews.com
Former Student Body Presidential Candidate
Former Director of Public Relations // Student Government Association
