UPDATED: April 14, 2016 at 12:42 a.m.

The Student Association Judicial Review Board is currently conducting an investigation into parties around the Charlie Mastoloni SA presidential campaign.

If the JRB disqualifies Mastoloni’s campaign, the campaign of Eric Evangelista and Joyce LaLonde will be the only remaining SA presidential option on the ballot.

The JRB opened an investigation into a situation involving Mastoloni’s campaign Wednesday morning after comments from then-Mastoloni campaign manager, Austin Galovski, surfaced late Tuesday night. In the comments, Galovski appeared to say that Mastoloni had traded a spot in his administration in exchange for another presidential candidate, Andrew Brendel, dropping out and endorsing Mastoloni.

Galovski resigned shortly after.

Evangelista’s campaign recommended to the JRB early Tuesday morning that it launch an investigation into Mastoloni’s campaign for the possible violation of SA bylaws, Evangelista said.

“All we are looking for is a fair campaign,” Evangelista said.

The JRB took recommendations from no one, chairman Abdulaziz Al-Sulaiti said, adding that the board was investigating the parties involved with the campaign, not the campaign specifically.

The comments in question were made by Galovski in an interview with The Daily Orange about Brendel’s resignation.

“(Andrew) basically offered, ‘Hey, look, I will drop out of this race and publicly endorse you. I would just like the opportunity to be a part of your administration so I can at least work on the things that were most important to me with my campaign,’” Galovski said. “So we spoke to him. I basically told him, ‘Hey look, we’re good with this on our end, and we’ll totally help you with whatever you want to do.’”

Mastoloni and Galovski were both on the phone call with Brendel, Galovski said.

The potential exchange could be interpreted as bribery by the JRB, a source close to the situation said.

Galovski denied that a position had been promised to Brendel in a statement he released Wednesday afternoon.

“It appeared to me as … a gross violation of the bylaws,” Evangelista said. “Whether that is actually going to be a violation is not up to me.”

Evangelista said he did not personally communicate with anyone in SA or the JRB, but students — both part of and separate from his campaign — did so. Evangelista declined to specify which members of his campaign did so.

“I know there were many individuals … who expressed a deep dissatisfaction with the statements that were made,” Evangelista said.

Bribery, as outlined in SA bylaws 5.9 through 5.10.5, is grounds for the disqualification of a campaign. The bylaws also state that an SA presidential candidate is responsible for the actions and words of his or her staff.

Galovski was campaign manager at 10:34 p.m. on Tuesday and by Wednesday morning he had resigned for “personal reasons,” said Mastoloni’s vice presidential candidate Jessica Brosofsky.

“(Charlie and I) talked and decided it was in our mutual best interest for a lot of reasons,” Galovski said. “Namely because I’m getting destroyed with work this weekend and will not be able to contribute.”

The campaign ends Thursday with the conclusion of voting.

Mastoloni did not respond to multiple requests for comment since Galovski’s statement on Tuesday night. Brosofsky did not respond to multiple phone calls.

“I hope the situation gets worked out and that it had nothing to do with their campaign,” Evangelista said.

Published on April 14, 2016 at 12:18 am

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