Focus Party Seeks To Postpone Filing Deadline

When the Focus Party was cited last week for not turning in its campaign finance disclosures on time, representatives for the party argued that they should not have to turn in their receipts until the end of the election.

Because only two parties are running in this year's Associated Students of the University of Utah election, the primary election, which is meant to cut the number of parties in the race down to two, was eliminated. Normally, there is a corresponding primary election deadline for the party's financial disclosures, which Dave Martini, the elections registrar, decided to keep despite eliminating the primary election.

Members of the Focus Party argued that their receipts shouldn't be due until the end of the election, and said that because there is no primary election this year, there shouldn't be a corresponding deadline. However, Martini gave the party campaign managers a written copy of the revised schedule that included the primary election deadline. The ASUU Elections Committee ruled that the due date is binding and fined the party $20.

Three Focus candidates were also fined $20 each for misrepresenting the price of their posters in their disclosures. The Focus Party questioned whether the spoken authority of the elections registrar supersedes the written authority of Redbook, the U's student constitution.

The candidates' posters were listed as $0 everyday retail expenditures. Martini told the party that the actual price of the movie posters must be listed. The party argued that Redbook says the registrar's decisions must be made in writing.

"Nothing ever, ever supersedes Redbook. It is our constitution, and we must support it," said Andy Murphy, the Focus Party's representative.

The Elections Committee ruled that the election packet and the elections registrar, including his spoken word, count as extensions of Redbook and thus are binding.

The Focus Party also had a grievance filed against it for using contributions to the senior class president's campaign account to buy orange juice for the whole party on posting day. However, the committee decided funds won't have to be reallocated because the orange juice dispenser the party used had a label that said Madison Warren, Focus' senior class presidential candidate, paid for the beverage.

The Spork Party was also fined $14 for being 28 minutes late in turning in its financial disclosures.

March 10, 2008