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The three major parties involved in this year's electoral spat include only one newbie - the Blue Party - in comparison to recent years when the presidential race brought groups like the Tea and Slumber Parties out of the woodwork to foul things up.

The other two - the Students' and the Defend Affirmative Action Parties - are both old hands at this. But in a time when the proportion of students who partake of MSA elections has jumped all the way to the mid-teens, the contest has become somewhat more contentious. The days when running on the dominant party's ticket - be it the Students' or the now-defunct Michigan Party's - virtually guaranteed a seat are now gone. For instance, last fall's elections saw the dominant Students' Party edge out the DAAP by only one seat in the election.

The result: The party system is probably not worth as much. Individuals have to stick out from their party and hopefully, do more than just bullet-point the party's platform to get elected.

Blue Party Presidential Candidate Bram Elias is probably best known for being the face, the mind and indeed the loud voice behind the Yes! Yes! Yes! campaign.

Perhaps he's a master campaigner, after all the ballot question did pass (though the University Board of Regents ignored it). But I think standing up and urging students to vote during the audience Q&A with Gloria Steinem might disqualify him for that. Annoying does not equal persuasive.

The Blue Party, by many accounts, is essentially the same thing as the Students', though I'm sure I'll soon be informed to the contrary. The Blue Party is taking the stance that MSA needs to be changed and that change won't happen under the current leadership. Hmm ... I recall something roughly similar coming from the Students' Party two years ago.

As proof that MSA is a real governmental body, it even has its fair share of scandals. While the assembly members' sex lives remain a secret (thank god), they still get to have their dirt unearthed occasionally, and usually somewhat comically. In 1997, Probir Mehta's "abuse of power" in allocating funds to an organization (which is, after all, one of MSA's functions) without consulting the assembly was disastrous to his campaign for president.

Last year, a bunch of gossip about vodka and a fraternity house proved disturbing and disruptive. Even Fiona Rose's student-funded Franklin Planner caused the Earth to quake in its day.

But before these rather trivial things, MSA presidents had used student money to fund trips under the guise of "fact-finding." They sure don't make scandals like they used to.

One of MSA's biggest problem is that it is often viewed as useful as an empty keg. There is some merit in this - after all, relatively simple projects can often take years to come to fruition, such as the much-touted student coursepack store, which became a campaign issue two years ago but just recently came into being with fewer coursepacks to sell than I have fingers.

MSA has done some valuable things. Their review of and stance on the Code, not to mention efforts to educate students and get them involved, was helpful, though it fell on deaf ears within the administration and the student body the majority of the time.

Credibility, however, remains a persistent problem. The solution is simple - the assembly needs something more closely approximating a mandate. No, an increase in turnout to 18 percent will not count. Like Sandra Bullock from a good hair day, most students avoid the MSA polls. Candidates and parties spend tons of money to get their faces plastered all over Mason Hall, but not much is done to actually make the body they vote for matter to most students.

If the assembly wants its tendency to resolve itself into the ground to have any real meaning to the administration, let alone the U.S. military, it needs to be able to speak for more than 40-odd people who meet once a week in 3909 Michigan Union.

As it stands no, it has a voice, but no one is listening.

- Jack Schillaci can be reached over

e-mail at jschilla@umich.edu.

Jack Schillaci Slam it to the left

03-16-99