Sen. Peake Seeks Reelection

It is becoming more apparent that Andrew Peake is running for reelection to the ASUCD Senate in the Fall 2007 Election. It is unusual for a Senator to run for reelection, I cannot recall a time when a Senator successfully ran for reelection. George Ajlouny may have broken some historic ground by running for reelection in the Winter of 2007, one year after he had been elected to the Senate in the Winter of 2006.

Andrew Peake is either a summer advisor or he likes to hang out with new freshmen. In any case he is campaigning among them in order to create higher visibility for himself. Being a summer advisor is an old but effective campaign trick to get freshmen on one’s side for an election. Freshmen don’t forget who their summer advisors are, except for maybe me.

Which begs the question as to whether it is entirely ethical to be campaigning while a summer advisor. I would say that it is as long as it doesn’t interfere with your job. The same goes for being an RA, there are perks for every occupation in society. A cop has a better chance of winning the Police association’s endorsement for Sheriff then someone who isn’t.

But what has Mr. Peake done in Senate that is of considerable significance that he should be allowed a reelection? There is the gender-neutral bathrooms resolution he had passed which pandered to the LGBT base of the LEAD party. Then there was the resolution calling for an independent investigation on a TASERing incident at UCLA. The independent investigation has not formed and nothing happened. Then there was the resolution in support of Sodexho which ultimately proved to be unwise as Sodexho employees decided to declare war on the campus.

I also remember Mr. Peake voting down a carefully crafted resolution authored by Senator Friedman which would allow UC Davis students to visit places like Israel and still get university credit. Then Mr. Peake voted down a small spending bill of $180 towards the Hillel House retreat, a bill also authored by Senator Friedman. Suffice to say Mr. Peake’s voting record is not all that friendly towards the political objectives of the vocal Jewish community.

Mr. Peake also made enemies among friends when he vocally slammed the Newman Center Tijuana House spending bill decrying the fact that it was a religious organization asking for funds. Due to Mr. Peake’s antics the meeting lasted over two hours and was finally passed when the Senate unanimously decided to give the Newman Center a grant and a loan. Mr. Peake is such great palls with the Hispanic community during the May 1^st march but couldn’t give the Newman Center a dime to assist poverty stricken Mexican families in Tijuana.

All of these things cause me great frustration but the Aggie also should be blamed for its biased reporting. Every time there is an incident concerning a conservative it’s Mr. Peake with a solution or a comment. He commented about me several times even when he was not directly involved and he had loads of fun with Pete Markevich who was involved in the DCR demonstration on May 1^st. According to the Aggie, Peake is a saint who also happened to promote civil disobedience and Markevich is the lowest of the lows for participating in a street theater that didn’t even get started.

But once school starts up again in September the Aggie will be recharged and ready to go. With Peake announcing his intentions to run now it provides some very interesting opportunities. As such I have developed a game plan as to how to move in this election game. By the time the ASUCD elections have started up I will be in a much greater position to influence the game. The students need to know about Mr. Peake and I am all too delighted to be their teacher.