College of William and Mary Student Assembly Senator Matt Pinsker ’09 resigned his position this evening, citing health concerns. But hours earlier, Sen. Ryan Ruzic J.D. ’10 announced he planned to introduce a bill to the senate Tuesday calling for Pinsker’s impeachment.
Ruzic alleged in the bill that Pinsker violated SA election bylaws by providing The Flat Hat with the names of students who planned to run this year for SA president, as the names aren’t supposed to be made public until 10 days before the March 26 election. Ruzic is one of the three candidates named.
Pinsker said his decision to resign tonight was not related to the impeachment bill that had been announced hours earlier.
“I have been diagnosed with kidney failure, which is an extremely serious, painful, and time consuming condition,” Pinsker said in a statement to The Flat Hat. “My resignation was planned weeks ago upon the diagnosis, and is unrelated to the allegations. I recognize the timing is unfortunate; however, I am not letting outside interference influence my plans.”
In his bill of impeachment, Ruzic alleged that Pinsker used deceitful means to obtain the list of candidates running for SA positions, as SA rules require that the list be kept confidential until 10 days before the election.
Ruzic also made potentially criminal accusations against Pinsker, but those accusations are being withheld by The Flat Hat until the newspaper obtains further evidence or formal charges are filed.
After obtaining the candidate list, Pinsker leaked it to The Flat Hat, resulting in “an article”:https://flathatnews.com/content/70233/three-run-sa-president listing the three named presidential candidates, as revealed by a source who wished to remain anonymous. The article was published online March 4.
Pinsker has since told SA members and Flat Hat reporters that he was the source.
In a press release, Ruzic stated that Pinsker’s activities were revealed to him by a member of the elections commission.
“This behavior fails to live up to the standards of an elected representative of the students of this college,” Ruzic said. “We as student senators have a responsibility to protect these elections.”
Pinsker maintains that he acted in the interest of the student body.
“I do not take the blame, I take the credit for making election information publicly available,” Pinsker said. “It is disgraceful that the SA is trying to conceal election information, and students deserve a fair and transparent governing body.”
The list of candidates for all positions will be released tomorrow. The election will be held March 26.
_Check back with flathatnews.com for more on this developing story._
