Endorsing the winners

Editor's note: Starting today, The Crimson White will begin endorsing candidates in this year's SGA elections. Today, the editorial board will address those candidates running unopposed. On Friday, the board will endorse candidates in the contested elections for vice president of academic affairs and vice president of external affairs, and on Monday, the board will make its endorsement in the presidential race.

Four candidates - Louise Crow, Blair Darnell, Philip Mahoney and Allen Ross - are running unopposed for their respective SGA offices this year. In deciding whether to endorse them for office, we are left with a simple choice: telling our readers to vote for the candidates or encouraging to write-in the funniest name they can think of. This year, we endorse three of the candidates and withhold our approval for Darnell.

Louise Crow is running for vice president of student affairs. Out of all the candidates we interviewed, Crow seemed the most prepared and ready to assume office. She has an ambitious platform that covers issues ranging from student safety, athletics and the SUPe Store. We have doubts that she will be able to get everything accomplished, but those misgivings are not enough to lessen our support.

Blair Darnell is running for executive secretary. While we have nothing against her, the office she seeks is a useless, make-work position that needs to be abolished. We understand that it's not her fault the office is pointless, so we refuse to endorse any candidate running for this bureaucratic equivalent of a wisdom tooth.

Philip Mahoney is running for vice president of financial affairs. He served as this year's SGA treasurer, the traditional pipeline for the financial affairs position. Mahoney seems clever enough, but he failed to impress us as past candidates have. He also seems unconcerned with the scholarship and student aid side of his official duties. To be a good financial affairs VP, he'll have to devote more attention to what students care about, namely assistance from his office in the form of loans and scholarships.

Allen Ross is running for executive vice president. Ross stumbled early in his interview when he was unable to articulate a substantive difference in the way committees were reorganized this year, but the substance of his campaign is fine. His idea for a Senate Journal, a publication that would record the business of the SGA Senate (including votes), is something that should have been put together a long time ago.

These unopposed candidates have earned your vote. But we think voting for Andre Smith, Mickey Mouse or Socrates for executive secretary would send the SGA a small message. Perhaps it will prod them into doing away with this inane office.

Our View is the consensus of the CW editorial board.