Clarification: This is a response to a letter that was originally attributed to UF student Josh Winegar. Winegar informed the Alligator that he believes the letters were sent falsely under his name by members of the Unite Party, who currently hold the Student Government majority. The Alligator does not currently know the identity of the senders.
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In Tuesday’s Alligator, I was disappointed to read Josh Winegar’s letter, which tried to question the qualifications of the Student Alliance party’s executive slate. Winegar’s letter was littered with inaccuracies, and I am upset the other side had to result to unfair attacks this early in the campaign. While Winegar’s letter somehow failed to mention his membership in the Unite Party, I will clearly state that I am part of the Student Alliance party, and will do my best to set the record straight.
Ben Cavataro, our candidate for Student Body president, has served for two years in the Student Senate. In this position, he authored dozens of bills, many of which have been passed into law. His record surpasses that of every other student senator at this university, and people on both sides of the aisle have long respected Cavataro as a leader in Student Government.
Cavataro is the president of the statewide Florida College Democrats. In this role, he manages constituent groups from 20 campuses across the state and presiding over an organization with thousands of members.
Sagar Sane, our candidate for Student Body vice president, is a UF graduate student with a strong record of leadership experience. At The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sane both founded and led the Distinguished Speakers Series, an agency equivalent to Accent. In this position, he managed a full-time staff and was an integral part of SG programming. Not only did he run one of the largest parts of the UNC cabinet, but he also started a multimillion dollar endowment to fund their speakers at no cost to students.
Rafael Yaniz, who is running for Student Body treasurer, is also immensely qualified for office. As treasurer and then president of Gators for Israel, Yaniz managed more than $39,000 and managed more than $20,000 in fundraising for a successful congressional campaign. He also served within the executive branch as the Student Body president’s external chief of staff (not “assistant,” as Winegar would like you to believe). In this role, Yaniz has already worked with UF’s administration, taking a stand on key issues.
The majority party likes to talk about “experience,” and looking in from the outside, their candidates do indeed look qualified. Ashton Charles is president of the Senate. Marcus Dixon works in Cabinet. Virlany Taboada is the budget chair. But what have they really done in these roles? Charles wrote and sponsored the resolution that endorsed creating a Reitz Union fee without a student vote. Dixon was a part of SG’s wasteful and bloated bureaucracy, which contains almost three times more positions than the entire U.S. Cabinet. Taboada led the least effective budget committee since I’ve been a student at UF, authoring budgets containing tens of thousands in unnecessary perks and $1 million in wasteful spending.
