By Steven Barker and Esteban Ramirez
News Editor and Sports Editor
Amid a potential removal from office faced by Ricardo Perez, Associated Students vice president of external affairs, some ASI members have told The Runner that voting plans for a potential ouster have been discussed behind the scenes.
According to Perez and Mercedes Macias, director of legislative affairs, a range of 16 to 18 ASI directors are prepared to remove Perez from office. Perez also alleged that four of ASI’s six executives – President Derek Stotler, Executive Vice President Mike Kwon, Vice President of Finance Kamalneel Singh and Vice President for University Affairs Jennifer Sanchez – are all prepared to remove Perez from office.
Under the ASI removal policy, a two-thirds vote is required from both the executives and board of directors.
Stotler denied that a removal vote regarding Perez has ever occurred.
“There was no vote at the board of directors meeting regarding him,” Stotler said. “There was no vote that ever took place.”
When asked how rumored voting patterns began to circulate, Kwon attributed the numbers to speculation.
“The concerns are from both the telephone game and misperceptions of what’s going to happen,” Kwon said. “He was interpreting something that honestly wasn’t going to happen without one, the execs knowing, and two, the board knowing.”
Kwon added that he still hopes to work with Perez to remedy any concerns Perez may feel.
“Moving forward, as an executive officer and as part of the exec team, I’m going to personally try and extend a hand to Ricky to see if we can resolve this issue,” Kwon said. “I trust Ricky more in communicating with him and trying to find a middle ground and ultimately a solution as to how to progress and move forward.”
Macias said that she heard about the vote counts to remove Perez from office from representative of other schools at CSSA.
“Certain people from other schools expressed it to me,” she said. “That they were told how many votes were against Ricky. They even asked me if they were going to do that to Ricky. Hearing that from them is just unethical. [Therefore], I brought it up last meeting so that it is not being discussed in rumors.”
She added that she is aware of the problem but said that she doesn’t know the specifics of the problem between Perez and the board.
“There has been strategic planning and the votes were speculated too soon before talking with all of us,” she said.
