Koczon '04 cleared of USG elections violations

When Cameron Koczon '04 opened up The Daily Princetonian this week he was both shocked and surprised.

"Hey, I'm not running for president. That was news to me!" he thought as he searched for his name under the list USG presidential candidates.

Koczon said his flight back from California after Thanksgiving was delayed a day because of inclement weather. Koczon said he attempted to scan and email appropriate candidacy forms and petitions to USG treasurer Michael Kimberly '03 from across the country.

But not all the emails went through, leaving Koczon off the approved list of candidates for USG president.

Koczon was given 36 demerit points, severely restricting his campaign venues. He was not able to post a website, send campaign emails or post fliers.

"It seems like there's a big hindrance for me to run," Koczon said of the rules and regulations to which the USG adhered. "I hadn't done anything wrong, just a victim of circumstances."

Koczon obtained a record of the emails he sent, and Kimberly went forward with the usual USG procedure for appeals.

"I spent a ton of time going back and forth with Kimberly," Koczon said, criticizing the efficiency of the USG.

He said its policy of first writing up a report about the violations and then voting on each appeal took away from his valuable campaign time.

But Kimberly said the USG Senate was as efficient as possible during the appeal and defends the process.

"Cameron's situation is a paradigm case for why we have an appeals process," he said, "and that the points were removed is evidence that the process works."

Overall, Kimberly said, he was just following USG protocol.

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"I followed the rules and did what I was supposed to do," he said. "These are necessary rules that I will defend to anyone, rules to which we cannot arbitrarily grant personal exceptions no matter how compelling an excuse."

Koczon has been making up for lost time, and because of this experience, has devised more plans for a more effectual USG.

"They're so fettered by regulations," he said. "I gave them all this proof and it's amazing they couldn't act faster. I've decided to incorporate this into my campaign."