Overturn of veto, impeachment out of line

On Feb. 18, there was a petition to impeach USG Comptroller Jason Ortiz after he tried to veto a $12,000 funding request from the paintball club. Mary Lorenz, a multicultural and diversity senator, strongly advocated for impeachment, then later decided that she could settle her concern through a different medium, according to a March 3 article in The Daily Campus.

Lorenz was concerned that Ortiz had a bias against non-academic student clubs because he thought it unjust to provide the paintball club with funding, while other academic or charitable groups did not receive such funding. He also highlighted that current economic troubles factored into his decision to not provide funding to the paintball club.

Lorenz was entirely out of line to even consider impeaching Ortiz. His veto was sound, in light of the current state of the economy and otherwise. Lorenz argued that Ortiz had a bias that fell under the definition of discrimination, which is against USG policy; however, there is a difference between bias and favoring one thing over another because of the pros and cons of the situation. In this case, Ortiz had the right idea. $12,000 is a large amount of money that many other student organizations aren't granted. This isn't to say that the paintball club isn't deserving of this amount of money in any way. But if other student organizations aren't getting money in such large amounts - organizations that are charitable, like the ones that plan alternative spring break trips - then the paintball club shouldn't receive that kind of money either.

Ken Rusterholz, the paintball club's chief operating officer, explained that about $10,000 of the funding goes toward practice paintballs. It is great to have a plethora of organizations on campus and the paintball club should be supported. But $10,000 worth of paintballs aren't a priority.

Even with the supporting evidence of a bad economy, Ortiz was faced with more conflict than just the senator's suggestion of impeachment. According to a Feb. 19 article in The Daily Campus, USG President Meredith Zaritheny said that the comptroller was acting outside his role.

"Because the same funding was passed last semester, it would be overturning a precedent to take it away," she said.

Perhaps it was overlooked last semester, or there were more pressing issues facing USG was focused on. Whatever the reason, it should have been vetoed last semester as well. The economy has changed since last semester, as well as other circumstances that may have affected the veto. Ortiz was right in his actions and should not have been reprimanded for them, let alone impeached. Lorenz made a wise choice in withdrawing her impeachment. The grounds of the suggested impeachment made no sense. In fact, the reasoning seemed contrary to the best choice. In this time of budget cuts, the paintball team shouldn't be a priority. This is currently a difficult time to decide where money should be allocated among student groups, and it might have been a non-issue if the economy weren't as tight. But the economy is bad and budget cuts are imminent. USG needs to seriously consider where students' money is going, especially such large sums of it.

"[USG] is in very bad shape. They are going down a poor path when making decisions about other people's money," said Ortiz. He is considering running for USG President next year, but hopes that whatever happens, USG fundamentally changes. His ideas revolve around curbing gratuitous spending and thinking in terms of what is best for the university and the groups in it. He said that he highly encourages every student who is angered about USG to run for office. Forms will be available March 23 in the USG office.