Timothy Kelly, the Ascension Party's candidate for SA President, came under fire on two fronts this weekend as he was removed from the SA Assembly and scolded by members of the Men's Crew Club for falsely claiming membership in the group.
In response, Kelly said he was the victim of a political alliance between Adam Sherlip, the Assembly's speaker and Elevation Party candidate Anthony Burgio's campaign.
Sherlip notified Kelly of his removal by e-mail on Friday. Kelly missed Assembly meetings on Feb. 16 and March 8, and Sherlip said Kelly had weak attendance at committee meetings.
Any member of the SA legislature who misses two meetings "shall cease to be a member of the Senate/Assembly," according to the SA Constitution.
"Two (missed) meetings is all that's necessary, and he was removed," Sherlip said.
Kelly is one of about 100 members that have been dropped from the Assembly since August for poor attendance, according to Sherlip. Today, about 40 students remain official members of the body.
Questions of Bias
While Kelly agrees his attendance at Assembly meetings "lapsed," he accused Sherlip for timing the removal to affect the SA elections, which began today and run through Wednesday.
"I think it's definitely politically motivated," Kelly said. "I think Sherlip is on the committee to elect Burgio."
Sherlip confirmed that he attends informal meetings for students who support Burgio's campaign, but denied that he belongs to any official committee.
In addition to his criticism of Sherlip, Kelly alleged other students in SA have been trying to sabotage his campaign. At the People of Color Council endorsement, he said students were planted in the audience to ask him misleading questions.
Both Sherlip and Kelly agree that a friendly relationship between the two turned sour over the course of the past month. Kelly said Sherlip begin giving him the cold shoulder when he declared his candidacy - and points to it as evidence of Sherlip's bias.
"Sherlip was really nice to me up until I started running," Kelly said. "Now I say hello to him, and he just walks off."
Sherlip disputed that the end of their friendship was related to Kelly's campaign.
"My style changed when (Kelly) started to give a lack of consideration to the Assembly and the Rules Committee," Sherlip said.
Members of the Assembly who are removed have the chance to appeal at the next Rules Committee meeting. Kelly said he plans to attend the group's meeting on Wednesday to appeal the decision to remove him.
"I will be there (at the meeting) because I want to stay in the Assembly," he said.
A Troubled Committee
Sherlip blasted Kelly's record in the Assembly, calling Kelly's work as chairman of the Diversity Committee "unenthusiastic" and "incomplete."
But the Diversity Committee was a flawed idea, Kelly said, and because of problems with one of his classes, he could not commit time to it.
Kelly joined the Rules Committee when he came to the Assembly. In October 2003, he was elected Chairman of the Diversity Committee.
However, the Diversity Committee rarely met and accomplished little, according to Sherlip. While most Assembly committees meet weekly, the Diversity Committee met a total of "two or three times," Sherlip said.
"They didn't get anything accomplished," said Sherlip. "That was one of my main problems with it."
Kelly resigned as committee chairman on Feb. 21. Poor performance on a Roman Civilization test spurred him to make the decision, he said.
"When I started failing my Roman Civilization class, I didn't feel I could devote proper time to myself on the committee," he said. "I didn't want to screw my GPA."
While Kelly does not dispute the Diversity Committee's problems, he said the committee - proposed by Sherlip - was flawed from the start.
"There was a lot of confusion about what (the committee) was for," Kelly said. "I would agree that it didn't accomplish much."
On the Team?
A second campus group blasted Kelly's campaign claims this weekend as members of the men's crew club - which Kelly has claimed involvement with - said they do not consider him a teammate.
Kelly rowed for the club for less than one week and has not attended practice recently, according to Anthony Clarke, the club's president.
Each spring, about 50 or 60 people come out for the club, Clarke said. About half do not stay involved past the first couple of weeks.
"He attended spring training and was at a few other practices," Clarke said. "We weren't pleased with him saying that he was a member of the team."
Kelly said that his claims are true because he trained in Georgia with the club and he always notes his involvement with it in the past tense.
"Personally, I loved my time with the men's crew team," Kelly said. "But right now I'm really angry at the team."
Kelly alleged that the sports clubs do not support his candidacy because of his involvement with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Alliance.
Clarke said that Kelly's work with LGBTA was never an issue on the men's crew club.
"That has nothing to do with any of this," he said. "He had nothing to base that on."
Questions about Kelly's record will not officially affect his standing as a candidate, according to Nicholas Dunford, SA's elections and credentials chairman.
While Dunford would not speculate as to whether Kelly would be hurt by removal from the Assembly or the crew team's allegations, he said Kelly will remain a candidate in the SA elections, which begin today.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
