Candidates shake party lines

Tired of party politics and bickering, a surprisingly large fraction of the students seeking office in next week's Michigan Student Assembly elections have decided to abandon party affiliations and run as independents.

LSA junior Ryan Friedrichs is running for MSA president as an independent, having rejected the financial backing of the Michigan Party and the Student's Party.

"It was a tough decision," Friedrichs said. "A lot of people said, 'you can't do it without a slate.' The feedback that I've gotten has been really wonderful."

Of the 70 candidates running for MSA positions, 30 are independents, more than the combined number of candidates running with Michigan Party and Students' Party, the two dominant parties of MSA. The Michigan Party does not have a candidate running for president.

"I think party politics have died," said MSA representative Bram Elias, who was elected last fall as a member of the Students' Party. "I think people are sick of the old party antagonism but the idea of a group of candidates getting together to share ideas and resources is still there and still makes sense."

What many find objectionable about the party system is the fact that the parties basically have the same stance on the issues, Friedrichs said, but the real difference lies in the ideas they bring forth.

"The Student's Party and the Michigan Party are not ideologically opposed," Friedrichs said. "They turn off more people to the MSA. I think if you have independents running the assembly, no representative will feel less a part of the process."

Other representatives stressed the importance of the parties. MSA representative and LSA first-year student Sarah Chopp, who is running for MSA vice president with the Student's Party, said the parties are necessary because they bring the representatives together. She maintained that in reality, there are no party politics in MSA.

"The whole point of MSA is teamwork," Chopp said. "Parties give you a sense of that. In MSA you want to work as a cohesive unit. Yet we do not block-vote. The party system is there for when you're running. Once in MSA, there are no parties."

All the representatives agreed the major role of parties is to provide support, whether it be financial or informational. Many independents find themselves in a money crunch, but most were confident their campaigning would carry them to victory.

"The financial part is a problem," said Justin Dombrowski, an LSA first-year student running independently for a seat on the assembly. "All I can work on right now is personal relations. I'll be putting in a few more hours."

03-10-98