Just so you know, I don’t wonder why you don’t vote. I’m not going to sound like public radio and act dumbfounded because you have bigger fish to fry than to vote on what idiot controls $160 or so of your folks’ cash. Who gives a shit?

I know; I’ve never voted. Nope.

But I’ve decided to start this year, my third at UB. Not because I’m head over heels to get my student activity fee back, though I guess it’d buy me a lot of Ramen, but because I don’t want it to become the budget for Visions’ business cards. I don’t want it to pay for the gas in the vans I paid for to help the president move. I don’t want to pay to see music that I hate, and I don’t want to pay for the SA-only VIP backstage buffet.

Those things happened because I didn’t vote. I was too busy feeling like my own problems were more important than the student body’s. I didn’t show up, so, instead, SA clubs voted for me. They chose, as they have for years, the guy with the most experience—the hand-picked, inside man. Now, for a promising change, we have a choice.

There are now four distinct tickets running for president and vice president, and three candidates for treasurer. We sat down with (most of) them this week for interviews and presentations on individual platforms. As we do each year, we’ve provided a guide to getting to know the candidates, as well as our own endorsements. But don’t take our word for it.

SA Treasurer Mazin Kased, in his “Letter from the Treasurer” in the March 8 issue of Visions, suggested that “the intentions of the candidates should always be foremost in the minds of the voters.”

He’s exactly right. The great part about the SA is that so much of it has to do with the type of person you are and making ethical decisions, plain and simple. I’ll vote for the first person to look me in the eye and tell me that he loves this school and wants to help his fellow students make it better. I want all of my faith to go behind the candidate who isn’t looking to boost his resume as much as he’s trying to treat the student body like his primary responsibility.

But where Kased stands behind endorsing the SA insider, I’m too afraid to give away a position so carelessly. His letter was offensive and disappointing, encouraging students to vote away from fresh faces and ideas to support the candidate with his head the farthest up the collective bowels of the current SA system.

My favorite line in Kased’s rant, actually, was also the funniest. I’m so glad that Kased was “congratulated by so many students” for weaseling his way out of bribery allegations.

The guy who wrote this and is urging you to vote tried to bribe the other party out of the election so that his own party would win. Do you really want to vote for anybody who even knows this guy?

I think it’s safe to say that without you, nothing will change. People who have voted in the past will continue to do so, and they’ll vote for the people they know. They don’t need you.

But everyone else does. If you’re adamant about the rights of your fellow classmates, you’ll get every friend that you have drunk and drag them to the Union in a long line. Get them involved, get them interested, and do everything in your power to stop $2.8 million from being spent on absolutely indulgent impulse buys.

Don’t play me, because you’ll play with fire,

Peter Scheck

Pulse Editor