Presidents

So, today I begin my analysis of the candidates. I'm going to go position by position through the 8 elected officers. We'll start with President, do the Vice President, and then the Directors.

Candidates for the office of President: Kyle Fuller (Husky Nation), Jilberto Soto (Team Legacy), and Madeleine McKenna (One Campus).

Current positions: Kyle is currently serving as the ASUW's Programming Director, and was elected last year on Tim Mensing's ticket. That role requires her to work with administrators within the University and the Alumni Association to put on events like Homecoming and to promote the Husky Pride Scholarship Fund, which increased enough under Kyle's tenure to begin giving out scholarships.

Jilberto currently represents the La Raza commission in the ASUW. La Raza is the chicano student group that focuses on bringing together latino/chicano groups to work toward common goals and help bring their culture to the rest of campus. Part of his role involves weekly meetings with the other commission directors, regular meetings with the chicano or latino RSOs, and interaction with the administration of the Ethnic Cultural Center and the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity.

Madeleine is this year's ASUW Vice President, also elected on Tim Mensing's ticket last year. The VP's primary duties involve finding willing volunteers for the hundreds of committees that ASUW has a seat on, and making sure those volunteers keep up the good work. Other duties include fulfilling the President's duties when necessary and taking on tasks as they make sense. Madeleine has worked closely with Eric Shellan (her VP candidate, and current Assistant Director in the Office of Government Relations) to find ways to support the UPass system.

Strengths: Jilberto is coming into the race for the Board of Directors with a relatively fresh perspective. He has not been part of the Executive Branch of ASUW and has been insulated from the politics that swirl there. That is not to say there were not political storms among the Commissions, but rather that he is new to the politics of the BoD. This could be a key strength for him due to the national sentiment of dissatisfaction with our elected leaders. If Jilberto is able to tap into that dissatisfaction, he could ride that general feeling into the office.

Madeleine's strengths lie in her name recognition and the association most Americans have with the roles of Vice President and President. Anyone who pays any attention to Washington State Politics knows who Rob McKenna is, and it's a short google away to know that Madeleine is his daughter. Her last name gives her state level name recognition, which could be a very big leg up, if used properly. Secondly, the fact that she is the sitting Vice President means the average person on the UW campus will assume that her current duties are similar to what the President's are, so she would be more prepared to take on the role of President than another candidate.

Kyle's strengths are that she has a rather wide base built into her ticket, that she has worked closely with the Alumni and the Administration (two groups the President must be able to work with), and that she can simultaneously claim the experience of being a sitting Board Member and claim to be bringing fresh new ideas from the community to the executive office.

Weaknesses: Madeleine's weaknesses are relatively small. The name recognition that I listed as a strength could also be a weakness if too many voters conflate her positions with her father's positions. Another weakness is her limited experiences... she was a co-Director of the UW Leaders program, which helped train volunteers, and sitting as the ASUW Vice President, which selects volunteers and helps run the association as a member of the Board of Directors. Those experiences don't always line up with the duties of the President, and Madeleine will have to make the case for why her experiences have prepared her for the position.

Kyle has similar weaknesses to Madeleine, in that she has limited experience to prepare her for the role. Yes, she has worked with the Alumni Association, and she has worked with Administrators in her roles on the Board and in RHSA, but the average voter doesn't know what those roles do or, really, what the President does.

Jilberto has less general name recognition than the other two primary candidates, so he will need to work to get his name out there. Another weakness he will have to overcome is that he is purely an ECC candidate. If he writes his platform and goals with a wide enough scope, and makes sure to remember to speak to the whole campus, that weakness will be easily overcome.