First Charges Filed Against Zach Liberman
[I say first, because I strongly suspect there will be many more to come.] Mike Davis, former member of the judicial council has filed charges against (quasi-Bears United candidate) Liberman for illegal campaigning via the facebook. Here is the entire explanation from the charge sheet that was filed:

On the 22nd of March I received an e-mail sent to me by Zach Liberman via TheFacebook.com inviting me to join his group.

I assert this group is used “to campaign”, and as such any e-mail is an extension of that campaigning. I also assert that: Zach Liberman has no pre-existing relationship with me and that the next two criteria do not apply to the service TheFacebook.com provides.

The remedy for violating 13.5 violations is one censure, which falls under the Council jurisdiction.

I have no idea how the judicial council will rule on this, but if Liberman gets dinged, expect a whole slew of charges against other candidates. [And maybe that will stop all those fucking annoying campaign facebook groups... p.s. for the record, I'm a SQUELCH! candidate, please stop asking me to join your SA and CS groups.] Also, this case could begin to test the electoral status of the Bears United Party.

Here is my understanding of their status: A party registration form was filed for the Bears United Party. At the election council candidate meeting, another form needed to be filed in order for candidates to affiliate themselves with BU for purposes of the election, and that second form was never filed. That means that BU still exists as a party, and should theoretically be allowed to receive party censures. What that means is if someone commits a campaign violation, whoever brings the charges against them can try to prove that the person is acting as part of the BU party. I have no idea what the standard of evidence necessary to prove that would be (although wearing a BU shirt at the time, is probably a rather effective way to make the link).

If BU receives enough party censures then they could be disqualified, as I understand it, which could then require individual suits against all the candidates that someone wanted to claim were linked to BU. All in all, a very messy, unclear process. On the other hand, maybe the judicial council will rule that because none of the candidates are listed on the ballot as being part of the Bears United party, then they can't be held responsible for violations that occur under the BU name, which could allow a substantial amount of illegal campaigning on behalf of the "Bears United" party, that no one would get in trouble for.Email This Post!