ASG parliamentarian resigns after internal tensions surface
Associate Student Government Parliamentarian Will Upton submitted his resignation in front of the ASG Senate on Wednesday evening. Although Upton, a Weinberg senior, cited personal reasons for his resignation, a recent e-mail sent out by ASG President Neal Sales-Griffin to ASG senators exposed deep disagreements present within the ASG executive board.
According to the e-mail, during a closed executive board meeting on Sunday, Sales-Griffin and Upton openly disagreed on emergency legislation in front of Senate. The proposal would have moved back the election of ASG clerk, parliamentarian and senate speaker from the first week of Spring Quarter to the third week, when the rest of the ASG executive elections take place.
During the Sunday meeting, the e-mail said, “there were threats made by our Parliamentarian, William Upton, to not let the legislation pass through the Rules Committee for the purpose of not allowing this legislation to pass in time for this year’s elections.”
Sales-Griffin also revealed in the e-mail that Upton was the author of the now-defunct blog ImpeachASG, which presented a mix of serious grievances and satirical predictions about the overthrow of the current ASG. Sales-Griffin called the blog an example of Upton’s “cloak and dagger tactics.”
In his resignation speech on Wednesday, Upton defended his opinion on the emergency legislation and expressed his disapproval of Sales-Griffin’s disclosure of information from a closed meeting.
“I resign from my position as parliamentarian not in disgrace but in disgust,” Upton said. “The manner of President Neal Sales-Griffin is unbecoming of a student government president. On several occasions this quarter, he has seen fit to drag issues out of the executive board, a closed committee, and spilled them onto the Senate floor. For him, all politics is personal.”
Upton also responded to the revelation of his authorship of the blog.
“I understand it might have struck a nerve among members of exec and other members within ASG,” he said. “Please understand that the content of this blog was a mix of what I saw as humorous satire and some pertinent points I felt should be voiced in some manner.”
But Upton denounced the disclosure of his involvement in ImpeachASG as a “political move” on Sales-Griffin’s part to discredit him.
“The tipping point was even before the e-mail went out last night. Originally I was planning on being very cordial in my resignation speech and actually speaking very fondly of Neal,” Upton said in an interview after his resignation. “Mostly it’s for personal reasons that I resigned, but after the e-mail that was sent out last night to the entirety of ASG Senate, I felt that at that point I had to defend myself.”
For Sales-Griffin, disclosing that information was part of “a warning shout-out for people considering compromising their integrity to move forward their own selfish endeavors.”
“We have to work for the students here, we can’t be subject to any of these games,” Sales-Griffin added.
Beyond his personal issues and complaints about the way Sales-Griffin handled their recent disagreements, Upton denounced in his resignation speech a “tyranny of the majority” and a “vitriolic backlash against the dissent” within the organization’s executive board.
But Upton called the almost four years he spent as part of ASG “some of the best [time] in my life,” and said his divergence with Sales-Griffin didn’t necessarily mean he disapproved of everything the current administration had done.
“In all honesty, with as much gripe I had with Neal, I’d say it’s definitely progressed at this point in time,” he said. “I don’t know yet whether or not Neal has helped the organization, but let me tell you, I don’t believe he has hurt it.”
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Looks to me like people involved in ASG need to pick up some hobbies; only people with too much time on their hands actually take this stuff so seriously. What, did debating on whether to install a new toilet in Tech or keep a shuttle running after 3pm on Saturdays lead to this deep resentment?
Dima
March 12, 2009 at 12:09 pm
YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT.
Victor for President
March 12, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Pulte 09-10
Pulte for ASG Pres
March 12, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Pulte’s a joke! Does he really think he can win? Hahahahaha! I think Will’s helping him too!
Haha
March 12, 2009 at 6:53 pm
McGee is a joke if you’re talking about jokers.
Sawyer
March 12, 2009 at 11:12 pm
If what Sawyer and Haha said are “true”.
Who would run for ASG president without being the joker?
If you see how McGee works in the office to get things done. I am pretty sure you would agree that he’s a constructive VP of AComm.
what?
March 13, 2009 at 12:14 am
was a douche. i met him once and he bragged about all his ‘authority’ and mocked a bunch of clubs. good job will!
will
March 13, 2009 at 7:29 pm
NSG, your acted unfairly. I like you when I work with you, but your political games are silly. You’ve forced some of the best thinkers at Northwestern out of their positions. You play too many games with important things. I’ve been on the receiving end of one of your backhands, and I don’t think you’ve even realized how much you’ve hampered major projects.
no one uses their real name.
March 14, 2009 at 1:01 am
Why won’t people ever be clear? If you dislike something that NSG has done go talk to him, he’s always been receptive when I had an issue i needed resolved. Don’t complain about mysterious backhands.
I am voting for mcgee because i’ve seen how hard he works in ACOMM and I know he’s got the passion for the job. Pulte, i know nothing about, except he’s running against one of the people directly responsible for his current position being created. Its like someone does you a favor and then you try to beat him for it. If Bill is better qualified, i’ll listen, but as of right now, Mike has more experience
I use my real name: Bob S
March 14, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Mike has more experience in ASG but really hasn’t done much. Sure, some online things but nothing that’s concrete. He also isn’t capable of leading an organization like ASG. He can lead a committee like AComm but give the reigns to someone capable like Pulte. Pulte gets stuff done, like talking to the administration directly with a shuttle contract in his hand, or introducing ASG Listit, or even being the entrepreneur that he is.
yaoooooo
March 14, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Mike hasn’t done anything and Bill has? Wow someone’s been drinking the Pulte Koolaid! Based on the Senate updates, the SSVP is the one doing all the shuttle work and I really haven’t seen anything other than ASG Listit come directly from Pulte (which would be one of those non-concrete “online things” you said are Mike’s only accomplishment).
As for Mike not doing concrete stuff – what about the academic advising fair?? Is that not concrete enough for you? Or the work he’s doing to get course packs, et al, online. Hmm, seems like yaoooo has no idea what they’re talking about.
seriously?
March 15, 2009 at 1:13 am
Really guys?? Really? We’re using an NBN comments page to talk ASG politics?
Get those books out and start studying. It’s effin’ finals week.
Vikram Karandikar
March 15, 2009 at 9:20 am
Seems like McGee likes to post in defense of himself.
Mandel
March 15, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Bottom line: Pulte is more presidential and McGee works best behind the scenes. I can’t fathom McGee being an effective leader as Pulte is more than proven in his prior accomplishments; McGee is not.
steve marts
March 23, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I agree. Pulte is just a better front line leader. Mike is great behind the scenes.
Joe Buckley
March 31, 2009 at 5:15 pm