Posters tell us about candidates, but what do they know about us?

Why does it seem that the only time ASUA members behave in a serious manner is when their election season starts?  

I was recently plagued with having to listen to candidates for the Associated Students of the University of Arizona complain about how little free time they had because they were so focused on their campaign. Simultaneously, another candidate was ranting about how his campaign posters were being torn down, and how a member of his campaign actually watched as the event occurred and then attempted to chase down the culprit. The candidate suggested stricter punishments for those caught doing so as a way to make people afraid of pulling down ASUA campaign posters.  

To be fair, who knows if the person removing campaign flyers is even affiliated with another campaign? (And if that were the case, I hate to say it, but Elections Commissioner Michael Colletti is powerless to do much of anything). Is it possible that they just wanted to remove a meaningless ASUA campaign poster with an even more meaningless slogan so that they could put up their club meeting flyer?

ASUA certainly works hard, and having worked alongside many people in the office I can attest to their strong will. But ASUA tends to focus all its diligence in the wrong arenas. Instead of just ignoring that someone out there is removing campaign flyers, this candidate focused his energy on punishing other candidates who might be trying to sabotage him.  

It does not matter how many people get to see your groovy colored flyers. The truly relevant issues are not how early you got up or how tired you are from doing things that in no way affect your knowledge of the student body and your ability to serve it.

Use the elections to make students believe that you’re truly a unique candidate and break away from the typical ASUA mold. Believe me, there are reasons why so many people are not involved in ASUA, and the cause is not only because people don’t know about ASUA or how much work they do.  

— Storm Byrd is a political science sophomore.