Last week in Student Senate, Swamp Party treasurer and Student Government Budget and Appropriations Committee chairman Joey Michaels was publicly asked to step down from one of those positions for the sake of the students.
Students have a right to support whoever they choose in the upcoming SG election without being afraid their organizations will lose money because of it.
When the person in charge of distributing roughly $17 million also happens to have his name on every Facebook post, shirt and flier for the Swamp Party, that right disappears.
Michaels has made no effort to resign from either position and has yet to address this unethical situation, which could mean any of three things.
1) Joey Michaels may be completely ignorant of the situation he puts student organizations in when he tells them how they can spend their money while also telling everyone on campus who they should support in the election.
He may be so incredibly out of touch with the average student organization he does not see this blatant problem, and if that’s the case, he should either resign, or the Senate should relieve him of the responsibilities he is showing he cannot handle.
Student organizations deserve a budget chairman they can turn to, who actually understands their needs and concerns, not one so far removed he doesn’t see basics.
2) On the other hand, Michaels may understand the tight spot he puts students in, but he’s so hungry for resume lines he does not care about how uncomfortable he makes the students feel.
It is well known that SG positions are a springboard into Florida Blue Key, and maybe Michaels just isn’t willing to wait another semester for that coveted “tap” and wants to get it out of the way now.
Students deserve better than a budget chairman who is only concerned with himself and his own selfish ambitions; if he won’t step down, the Senate should impeach him and put someone in charge who actually makes students a priority.
3) Then again, Joey Michaels goes to UF, so he’s probably a smart guy.
This means he knows exactly what’s going on here.
In that case, he’s using this position for the sole purpose of intimidating student organizations into voting for his party.
Like any tyrannical leader, he’s using his power to hold the students’ money hostage in exchange for votes, and unfortunately for the students, it’s already working.
A student organization that, for obvious reasons, wants to remain nameless admitted they were afraid of the power Michaels held over the budget and, as a result, is not participating in the campaigning process.
But Joey Michaels is just one corrupt and uninformed man in a party full of hundreds more just like him.
Elliot Grasso is currently in the exact same situation, serving as the Swamp Party spokesman and as the auditor (treasurer) in the Inter-Residence Hall Association, blatantly ignoring IRHA’s own rules against showing preference toward a political party and likely making other residence hall leaders afraid for their own funding.
Clearly, blurring the lines between ethical and unethical is not unique to Michaels and his fellow party members.
The Swamp Party knew who they were putting in charge of their thousands of dollars of unreported funding.
They knew how it would be perceived.
They knew the anxiety it would cause student organizations.
They knew the effect it would have on free speech.
They just didn’t care.
The Swamp Party wants you to feel afraid to go to the polls.
They want you to think that if you don’t support them, they will come after you.
Don’t give in to their oppression, don’t let UF SG become a pack of self-serving, self-righteous, underhanded Tammany Hall wannabes.
We are 50,000 Florida Gators, and we deserve better student representatives than Joey Michaels and those like him.
Carly Wilson is a first-year law student at UF. You can contact her via opinions@alligator.org.
