Kallaway does not deny meeting Axelrod

There are many points worth examining in the grievance response ASUO President Emma Kallaway released last night. We’ll be looking at them here over the next couple of days. But the first thing that pops out in the wide-ranging rebuttal is that Kallaway does not deny the alleged hotel strategy session with former ASUO President Jared Axelrod.

The grievance alleges that Kallaway abused student fees by planning for her presidential campaign with Axelrod, who was president in 2006-2007, while at a United States Student Association conference in Washington, D.C., at the end of March. Former Oregon Action Team presidential candidate Michelle Haley first made the charge during her general election debate with Kallaway. “Every morning at 6 a.m., Emma was meeting with two people from the ASUO planning her campaign,” she was quoted as saying at the time.

It was probably Haley’s strongest moment, not just in the debate but during the entire campaign. It brought to the fore a conspiracy theory that consumes many in the ASUO about the influence of student associations on progressive candidates and student body presidents. Kallaway did not deny the meeting at the time, and she comes close to defending it in her grievance response.

Kallaway says she “attended all required trainings and activities, and gained a great amount of knowledge” for the upcoming special legislative session while at the conference.

“However, there is no mention in the (general election coverage) article, or in any other evidence, of any meeting with Axelrod. Many former staff of the ASUO went on to work for USSA after their time at the University of Oregon, most notable Eddy Morales, who became the President of USSA, as well as Scott Lu.”

The kicker: “(P)ut simply, there is no rule or constitutional clause that prohibits students from the University of Oregon from talking with other people while they are attending a student fee funded event.”

Snap.

Of course, the point is not to get Kallaway kicked out of office for talking to Axelrod or anyone else. It is to have the charge repeated again on the front page of the newspaper and allow conservatives an opportunity to invoke the frame of “insider corruption.” For those with whom that charge sticks, there is no denial in Kallaway’s response. In politics, that’s tantamount to admission.