TOGA disqualified from IUSA race

The IU Student Association race narrowed further Tuesday night when IUSA announced the disqualification of the TOGA party. Elections commissioner Erin Koops, a senior, said TOGA is ineligible because presidential candidate Joe Koleszar, a senior, is not a valid candidate. \nKoleszar helped form TOGA three years ago. The party, which won 505 votes in the 1997 election, was cited for illegal campaign violations, fined $75 and disqualified from candidacy. In 1998, TOGA formed again and was denied candidacy based on the unpaid fine. \nKoleszar contends no proof exists to validate the charges and said he regards them as ploys to prevent his party from assuming a voting majority.\nSenior Jeramy Foltz, former IUSA finance committee chair, authored an April 2000 resolution attempting to reinstate Koleszar. According to the resolution, last year's elections commissioner possessed no record of the 1997 charges, fines or decisions.\n"I was informed of this fine after the votes were counted," Koleszar said. "TOGA got an insanely high percentage of the vote, and people were scared. This conspiracy is a result of that."\nKoops claims TOGA was ineligible upon application, and she upheld Koleszar's inability to run for the presidential office, thus nullifying the ticket's place on the ballot. \nKoops said the remaining four tickets met the guidelines dictated by the elections code. These tickets -- Imagine, Miracle, ONE and Supernova -- may participate in Thursday's debate in the Maple Room of the Indiana Memorial Union.\nSenior Eli Ewing, campaign manager for ONE, expressed sympathy for the dismantled ticket. \n"If TOGA did not adhere to guidelines, then I believe the elections commission was following the rules by declaring them ineligible," he said. "It is sad, however, as our Congress wanted to make IUSA as inclusive as possible."\nTOGA refuses to be excluded. Koleszar said TOGA will be present at the debate and "making a whole hell of a lot of noise." \n"We're not out of this yet," he said.