Editor’s Note: Ben Bowman was the Emerald’s Opinion Editor earlier this year. He no longer works for the Emerald.
Following the grievance that was filed by ASUO presidential candidate Thomas Tullis against fellow candidate Ben Bowman earlier today, the ASUO Elections Board held its first set of hearings to discuss the grievance with all of the parties involved.
The entire elections board was present at the meeting, including MacGregor Ehlen, Drew Spainhower, Alex Davis, Rujun Cao and Madison Berger. The board spent approximately an hour each with Bowman, and Marshall Kosloff and Alex Titus, Bowman’s two Greek coordinators.
All parties were asked a standard set of questions pertaining to the allegations of bribery and intimidation that allegedly occurred during a phone conversation and a face-to-face meeting between Kosloff and Tullis.
According to Tullis’ grievance, the discussion quickly became heated.
“I told him outright that he was a joke candidate because his number one platform was defunding OSPRIG,” Kosloff said in reference to the dorm room conversation. “He didn’t have a slate, he misunderstood the funding on the only issue he’s passionate about and he has zero tangible experience in the ASUO.”
In regards to the phone call referenced by Tullis as evidence for the grievance, Kosloff said in the hearing that he approached the phone call as Tullis’ friend. In his role as a peer, Kosloff felt that he was in the right to be blunt with the ASUO electoral hopeful.
“When I found out he was trying to entrap me on the phone I knew I couldn’t work with him,” Kosloff said in the hearing. “No one wants to work with someone who records their friends and entraps them.”
During the hearing, Ben Bowman was asked to recall what happened during the dorm room conversation. Bowman said that Tullis wasn’t focused on listening to what he, Kosloff or Titus had to say.
“The whole conversation was him asking questions,” Bowman said. “I didn’t feel like he was listening during the conversation.”
The elections board will decide whether or not to acknowledge the grievance by Monday. Until then, the board plans on having additional hearings with people such as Tullis and ASUO Freshman Representative Emily Wu.