By Brendan O’Reilly
The Student Government Association Senate voted behind closed doors on Tuesday to impeach a member of the judicial panel.
Matthew Bisanz, an SGA justice, is being impeached for allegedly leaking the club appropriations budget to The Chronicle.
The SGA resolution to impeach Bisanz states that he and Pete DiSilvio, the SGA president, were the only people with access to the version of the appropriations budget that was published in The Chronicle last week.
“The only reason I know that the copy that was leaked to the Chronicle is released by certain individuals is because it is not the copy that every senator can get,” said DiSilvio. He said the copy of the budget available to all members of the SGA is accurate and in a different format. A few numbers published in The Chronicle were incorrect, but the SGA has provided the editors with corrected figures.
Bisanz said he gained access to a copy of the budget when last year’s appropriations committee chair, Kathleen Hunker, accepted his offer to convert the budget into a Microsoft Excel document. He denies that only he and DiSilvio had access to the document he created.
“I’d given it to so many people,” said Bisanz. As long as Bisanz only shared the budget with SGA members, he was not violating any SGA rules.
The resolution also claims “witnesses have confirmed that Justice Matt Bisanz has admitted to disclosing the budget information to The Chronicle.” Whether the identity of the witnesses to the alleged admission was revealed in the senate meeting is unknown to everyone but SGA senators and officers. The motion to accept the impeachment resolution was made in executive session. During executive session, minutes are not kept and guests are not allowed to be present. SGA members are not allowed to breach the confidentiality of the session.
The gallery had to leave for the closed session, including members of the judicial panel, much to the chagrin of at least one justice who was told to leave. DiSilvio, who left during the executive session, heard the justice’s objection to not being allowed to remain at the senate meeting during executive session. The issue had not come up before during his term of office, according to DiSilvio, who said “This is the first and only time,” the senate had been called into executive session since he became president.
“If you look through every minutes from tonight to last May when I took office, I have never taken the senate into executive session,” said DiSilvio the night the impeachment resolution passed.
“I don’t like doing things behind closed doors,” he added.
The resolution was signed by 18 senators, according to DiSilvio. He removed the signatures from the copy of the resolution he used to notify Bisanz of the pending impeachment proceedings against him. The SGA constitution requires the president to serve the impeached with a copy of the resolution within 48 hours. Bisanz was served within three hours of the executive session. The proceedings, expected to take place at the next senate meeting on Oct. 31, will be overseen by Vice President Russell Akiyama, according to DiSilvio.
In order to proceed with the impeachment proceedings, the senate must maintain quorum, meaning a majority of senators plus one must be present. If the senate fails to have a quorum it cannot entertain any business, in accordance with the SGA constitution.
Removal requires a two-thirds vote of the senate and will be effective immediately upon the vote. If Bisanz is removed from the judicial panel, the president has the ability to appoint a replacement justice with the advice and consent of the senate, according to the constitution. DiSilvio said he has yet to consider a replacement for Bisanz.
The SGA constitution grants the Rules Committee “the power to investigate members for alleged violations and may recommend impeachment and removal from office.”
However, SGA constitution does not grant the ability to impeach justices, according to Bisanz’s interpretation of the document. Section 303 of the constitution, entitled “Impeachment and Removal,” says proceedings may be held against any senator, executive board member or appointed official “for failure to fulfill their oath of office as administered.” Justices are neither senators nor members of the executive board, and Bisanz was elected to his position rather than appointed. However, DiSilvio said he is “100 percent” that a procedure exists, though he could not point it out in the constitution.
At least two of the resolution signatories must present arguments in favor of impeachment during the proceedings, and the accused is to be given equal time. The Rules Committee has the oversight in the matter to create any special rules on how the proceedings will be conducted. The committee will meet before the next senate meeting to agree on a set of rules.
The revelation of the budget has been overshadowed by the manner in which they were released, with many members of the SGA, including President DiSilvio, who said that the numbers should be public anyway. “I have no problems with numbers being public,” said DiSilvio. “I have problems with people doing it for petty, pathetic reasons.”
The Appropriations Committee, in a letter to The Chronicle, said the members believe the intentions of the individual or individuals responsible for releasing the budget has malicious intent.
“I don’t really see why it should be a secret,” said Pat McDonald, Organization of Commuter Students representative, adding that he understands that the revelation increases the potential for quarrels between clubs and the appropriations committee.
“They shouldn’t have been leaked,” said McDonald, who, by virtue of his position with the OCS, is also a SGA senator. “It should have been an actual revelation from the student government.”
“I think it should just be put off to the side so that everyone can really try and focus back on what we’re supposed to be doing, which hasn’t been happening as of late,” said McDonald.
Disclosure: Matthew Bisanz is a columnist for The Chronicle
