Let’s start by saying congratulations to James Allen. Allen once again demolished the competition in the race for ASUA student body president. Allen once again gave us a humorous emotional photo with an even funnier facial expression (seriously, kudos to Wildcat photographer Ernie Somoza; frame those babies); and Allen once again left us with a statement that leaves us asking, “”Did you think that through before you said it?””  

Upon his disqualification from the original election for president of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona on March 9, Allen responded to his violations by stating, “”That was just the nature of the election this year.””  

Then, on Thursday, after winning the presidential seat by a whopping 66 percent in the special election, Allen said, “”I ask the students to trust me … I ask them to give me the opportunity to prove myself.””

So in essence, you broke the rules because … “”everybody else was doing it.”” What are you, 5 years old? Then you win the election again and just nonchalantly throw out requests for trust and opportunities?  

Mr. Allen, you got your opportunity. It was that first election where you showed an utter disregard for the agreed-upon rules of the game. Now, you can argue that the rules are unfair or unclear, but those are the rules you agreed to play by when you turned in your candidacy application, which was no doubt signed chiefly by your Greek brothers and ASUA cronies.  

You also got your opportunity to just shoulder and admit the guilt, yet you appealed the decision. Now, you have every right to appeal, and that’s not really what the issue is. The issue is the absolute pompous display you made by bringing actual legal counsel to your ASUA Supreme Court hearing.  

If bringing a bona fide attorney to a student government election appeal hearing by a student government court isn’t the utmost definition of pretentious, I don’t know what is. I would venture to say it’s downright pretentiocity. For the record, I’m coining the word “”pretentiocity”” now, if it hasn’t already been done.

Furthermore, how dare you ask for our trust? What exactly have you done thus far to deserve it? You violated the simple rules of a student government election and have since refused to just admit fault and move on.  

Can we acknowledge the serious character flaws you have to have in order cheat in a student government election? You would probably be the person to cheat in an elementary school game of M.A.S.H or something. In that regard, you showed incredible determination. You truly wouldn’t let those “”rules”” get in the way of your victory.

At least you came back for a second election and managed to win it all by the rules. That doesn’t, however, just wipe the slate clean. You still broke the rules in the first go-around and then had to win an election with a much smaller voting pool, thus equating to a much less representative victory.  

You want to make things better? You want trust? You want us to believe in you? Apologize and admit your guilt. What planet do you live on where you think everything is cool now?

Never mind putting an ASUA staff together, you better fix that tarnished reputation of yours before you ask for trust and an opportunity. Chances are you already have the usual ASUA suspects lined up to fill those vacancies. Don’t pretend like anything has changed, Mr. Allen. ASUA kept it in the family and will continue to perpetuate and regurgitate its people throughout. Nothing will change. The same low turnouts will continue, airhead statements will be supplied in abundance and, dare I say, we’ll see another Jay-Z concert failure.  

Hang on, I’m getting a premonition here; we may get that on dead day this year. Congratulations again, James Allen. You earned it?

— Storm Byrd is a political science sophomore. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.