Updated 1:00 a.m.
Mo Safdari will not face an impeachment trial after all.
The Associated Student Government Rules Committee decided Tuesday that the case against the newly-elected academic director did not warrant a trial, according to ASG Parliamentarian Grace Adamson. Adamson declined to comment further, but said the committee would release a full report on Wednesday.
The articles of impeachment charged Safdari with “unduly and unfairly influencing the outcome” of the run-off election between Mike McGee and Bill Pulte. The morning before polls opened on April 17, Safdari sent out a widely-forwarded e-mail accusing Pulte of using “extralegal” tactics to win votes.
After the decision was announced, Safdari said he wanted to “close the chapter” on this incident. He said he regretted sending the e-mail but that the action did not merit impeachment.
“I understand the spirit of why [the impeachment] was being pushed, but there were no merits for the case,” Safdari said. “Once they looked at the information, they realized there was just a lot of confusion and misunderstandings.”
Former ASG Parliamentarian Will Upton, who co-authored the articles for Safdari’s impeachment, expressed “deep disappointment” with the decision.
“Not moving on impeachment sets the precedent that people can use tactics like the e-mail and get away with it,” he said.
Upton also said the decision called into question the effectiveness of the Rules Committee. “Political biases left over from the campaign influenced the decision of the committee,” he said.
McGee said he is glad that the issue has been resolved and is ready to move on to productive work, with the help of Safdari.
“It’s naïve to say everything will be 100 percent great” from here on out, considering the tension Safdari’s e-mail and the impeachment process have stirred, McGee said. He said Safdari should continue to focus on “show[ing] the students why they elected him” in the first place.
McGee said he is confident in the integrity and effectiveness of the Rules Committee and that he was glad to see the “facts win out. We didn’t want any personal decisions to get in the way.”
Although part of the case for Safdari’s impeachment was the claim that his e-mail skewed the results of the election in favor of McGee, the ASG president said that the committee’s decision doesn’t give his election victory any extra validity or legitimacy.
“Elections are interesting because there’s no exact way to know why everyone voted the way they did,” he said. “There are always outside factors, I can’t control that.”
McGee won the run-off with 60 percent of the vote. In the general election April 15, Pulte garnered 48.6 percent of the vote, compared to McGee’s 47.9 percent — a difference of 33 votes.
McGee said he still believes he won because “I met thousands of students” and clearly communicated his plans for the future of ASG.
Pulte declined to comment for this story.
Editor's note: This post was updated at 9:20 a.m. on April 28, 2015 for clarity.