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Candidates under fire for alleged violationsBy CHRIS JONES Monitor Staff The NABJ has cited 17 of 19 candidates on today’s ballot for violating campaign regulations. The violations detailed in a list provided Thursday evening by elections committee chair, Sharon Stevens, were supposed to be published on the NABJ’s Web site or any other means through which the majority of the membership can be reached. Stevens released the list after several requests by the Monitor staff to election officials. The list of 17 violators includes two of the three presidential candidates: Mike Woolfolk and Cheryl Smith. Stevens said all candidates were informed of the regulations. However, some candidates complained that the regulations were not made clear and that the committee continued to make addition to the rules without issuing proper notification. Stevens insisted candidates were notified. “Candidates all received a list of rules for elections and they were made clear,” she said adding, “All the candidates received notice of their violations.” The violations include: failing to file spending disclosures on time; using the NABJ logo; campaigning on Internet Listservs and exceeding the word limit allowed for Web site biographies. Stevens also said the candidates received another list of regulations just for the convention informing them of campaign restrictions for the Hyatt Hotel after initial rules were set. “They weren’t fair and the rules and regulation weren’t clearly stated,” said Student Representative candidate Caleb Wilkerson. He was cited for six violations - the most of all the 2003 candidates. Later Thursday, Michelle Johnson, Online Project coordinator, asked Wilkerson to leave the NABJ student Online Project for failing to report for an assignment. One of the violations Wilkerson was cited for, along with presidential candidate Cheryl Smith, was usage of NABJ logo. But after a review of the printed rules and regulations, Stevens admitted that use of the NABJ was not listed. “It a common-sense issue. You can’t just go and use anyone logo without permission,” Stevens said. Candidates reacted angrily to the charges. “That’s not true. I have not received any notice of that,” said Cheryl Smith, Region VII director and a candidate for president. “I have not received any type of anything from anybody.” Smith refused to comment to specific charges other than to the misuse of the NABJ’s logo, which she said she immediately removed. In other election-related news, several members and past officers of NABJ issued a statement criticizing Condace Pressley’s comments on the election and its candidates. In an interview that was placed on the NABJ Web site, Pressley was quoted as saying, “Certainly president of NABJ is not a birthright and I don’t know why he [Herbert Lowe] wants to be president other than he believes he should be president. He does not bring the skill set that’s necessary to be president.” Reacting to this and other comments, several NABJ members, including past officers, said in their statement, “We...are supporting different candidates to become NABJ’s next president. However, we stand together in support of protecting the integrity of the office and the organization...Comments about the ongoing presidential campaign, which were published on NABJ Online for the nation to see, were beneath the standards that we’ve always tried to uphold and that the membership expects us to uphold.” Some of those that participated in Thursday’s press conference were Rochelle Riley, past president of the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators; Will Sutton, past president of NABJ; Sheila Brooks, former NABJ secretary; and Roy Johnson, founding member of the NABJ sports task force. Staff writers Regine Labossiere, Camille Spencer, Meredith S. Davis contributed to this report. |
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