May 2 - Attorney General Nathan Royer files charges of chalking within 100 feet of six separate polling stations against the Student action slate, six violations per candidate. Each violation carries a maximum penalty of 3 censures.
May 9 - AG Royer v. Gabriel et al is heard by the Judicial Council. In it, Vakil obviously perjures himself by stating that chalking is done for the purpose of being seen chalking (despite being performed in the dead of night) and that he believed chalk did not last more than a day.
May 12 - The Judicial Council rules on AG Royer v. Gabriel et al and issues three censures to each candidate, not enough to disqualify. There were several opinions on the matter, and the "Marks" rule was used to enforce the narrowest opinion.
May 19 - Rain washes away the remaining mostly legible chalk, 25 days after the last day the chalk was allowed to be in the improper location.
May 24 - Elections Council reveals the results in 166 Barrows, preliminarily declaring Oren Gabriel, Vishal Gupta, Joyce Liou, and Jason Chu the winners of the Presidency, Executive Vice-Presidency, Academic Affairs Vice-Presidency, and External Affairs Vice-Presidency, respectively.
May 31 - Andy Ratto files charges against Suken Vakil for knowingly providing untruthful witness testimony to the Judicial Council as the spokesperson for Student Action in AG Royer v. Gabriel et al.
June 7 - The Judicial Council with
June 14 - The Judicial Council rules unanimously by 4-0 in Ratto v. Vakil that Suken Vakil knowingly provided false statements to the Judicial Council in testimony to it. This results in Judicial Rules of Procedure Article 4 Section 15.3.2 -- “Individuals found in contempt may be asked to leave the proceedings, may be forcibly removed from proceedings, may be disallowed from appearing again before the Council, and a default judgment issued against the party the participant sought to benefit." -- being activated. A default judgement was thus issued in AG Royer v. Gabriel et al and 18 censures per candidate was the penalty, resulting in disqualifications for the entire slate.
June 21 - Disqualified Executive Vice-Presidential candidate Vishal Gupta, on behalf of the Student Action Executive Slate files an appeal on the Ratto v. Vakil decision. The hearing is tentatively scheduled for July 15.
June 27 - ASUC President Manny Buenrostro issues Executive Order #7 that orders the Student Action slate into office, overruling the Judicial Council disqualification. As a result, "President" Oren Gabriel issues Executive Orders #1 and #2 appointing Alan Lightfeld as Attorney General until fall and re-appointing Chai Desai as finance officer. Additionally, Vishal Gupta attempts to withdraw his appeal of Ratto v. Vakil, refusing to recognize the decision in that case.
The same night, SQUELCH! Executive Vice-President Ben Narodick files charge sheets against Manny's order and both of Oren's orders on the basis that Manny Buenrostro has no authority to overrule the Judicial Council and that because Oren Gabriel is not President, he has no authority to issue executive orders. The Judicial Council accepts the charges and issues preliminary injunctions barring Oren Gabriel et al from taking office.
June 28 - Vishal Gupta publically declares that the Judicial Council hearings are no longer legitimite and that Student Action will not be participating in further Judicial Council proceedings.
June 30 - Seeking to head off Judicial Council action, ASUC President Manuel Buenrostro issues Executive Order #8 that rescinds Executive Order #7 and declares Oren Gabriel's "Executive" Orders #1 and #2 null and void. It additionally appoints the Student Action Executive Slate into "acting" executive office that is restricted to carrying out the daily business of the ASUC.
July 1 - Grad student Justin Azadivar files a charge sheet seeking to rescind Executive Order #8 on similar grounds to that of Ben Narodick's regarding Executive Order #7. A preliminary injunction is issued preventing Executive Order #8 from taking effect.
July 6 - Oren Gabriel et al files suit against the ASUC and the individual members of the Judicial Council who voted for the ruling that disqualified the Student Action Executive Slate in the Superior Court of Alameda County. The group seeks to be instated as the executive officers for the 2006-07 school year.
July 7 - Manuel Buenrostro makes clear he will not be participating in the July 9 hearing of Azadivar v. Buenrostro.
July 9 - President Buenrostro fails to appear for the hearing of Azadivar v. Buenrostro. The Judicial Council accepts this as a "no contest" plea. Following a 90-minute discussion, the Judicial Council rules that all of Executive Order #8 is stricken except for installing Oren Gabriel as acting President, defining "daily business" as the Consitutional obligation to sign checks greater than $1,000, and maintains the provisions that rescind Executive Order #7 and voiding Gabriel's Orders #1 and #2.
July 10 - Two motions regarding Gabriel, et al v. ASUC, et al are denied by Judge Winifred Y. Smith in ex parte hearings in Superior Court. The first motion was to force the Judicial Council to allow Oren Gabriel to act in the full capacity of the Presidency beyond his check signing ability. The second motion was to temporarily restrain the Judicial Council from certifying the election results in any manner except in favor of the Student Action Executive Slate. Both motions were denied as all remedies within the ASUC had not been exhausted, as the appeal to Ratto v. Vakil was still scheduled July 15.
July 15 to 16 - In a marathon hearing, the appeal to Ratto v. Vakil is heard with all parties participating, including 6 of 7 Justices. Katie Feng recused herself for personal reasons.
July 22 - Student Action takes their grievances to the Berkeley City Council where District 8 Councilman Gordon Wozniak sponsors Action Item 42, a resolution that shows incomplete knowledge of the situation that seems heavily skewed by Student Action logic.
July 24 - Action Item 42 is considered only after Gordon Wozniak's gets a rather pregnant pause in the call for a second for the consideration of the resolution. The other councilmembers laugh off the resolution. The resolution fails 1-5-3 with Councilman Wozniak the lone aye vote.
July 29 - The Judicial Council rules to overturn itself on the appeal of Ratto v. Vakil in a 4-2 vote. It declares it will soon meet to certify the remaining election results.
October 10 - A resolution to authorize the payment of $22,679 is introduced into the ASUC Senate co-authored (co-sponsored) by 14 Senators, including 12 members of the SA/AE/UG slate.
Great credit to Beetle Beat and CalStuff for your awesome coverage and involvement in the case. No credit to the Daily Cal, whose website I did not look at once for this timeline.
1 comments:
very good summary! one thing: I believe that 4 of 7 sitting justices heard Ratto v. Vakil (meeting the majority requirement for quorum), whereas the appeal hearing had 6 of 7 (after flying two of the Justices into berkeley). If I remember correctly, in both cases Kate Feng was recused.
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