Spring is in the air and beauty is all around. The chickens are out, the trees have reclaimed their green and young intellectuals all over campus bask in the warm aura of venerable April tradition.

Plywood. Rebar. Spray paint.

Must be political season at Sac State.

On a campus where one’s ambition is limited only by his or her access to good parking and Old Navy flip-flops, it’s easy to be disturbed by the proliferation of cheesy, stenciled wooden signs promoting the upcoming ASI election. Worse yet, you have to be disturbed that there actually is an ASI election.

Don’t get me wrong. ASI is a magnificent organization for youngsters who seek an anonymous, “I-am-a-righteous-empowered-junior-politician-in-training” role at CSUS. But when you look closer, peering through the dull yard-sale veneer of election billboards and past the clip art complexity of every pink flier posted around campus, do you get the impression that any of this is really done for you?

“ASI is always fighting for students,” explains ASI Director of Arts and Letters Eric Twohey. “Anyone who says ASI doesn’t do anything, I’ll say, ‘Come with me.'”Twohey says he’ll show you ASI’s leadership training programs, its sponsored organizations and its campaigns for diversity and representation in student leadership.

“You don’t have to look much further than our Board of Directors,” he says.

No one likely doubts the presence of “diversity and representation” among the membership of CSUS’ student government. But then there are the campaign signs. And the buttons. And the stickers and smiles and general ubiquity that accompanies running for public office.

In other words, it’s a beauty contest. The candidates may be dedicated work hard, and the winners may work hard, but you have to wonder if they know they’ll look good doing it.

Twohey disagrees with this theory.

“A lot of students don’t want to be informed,” he says. “People might have some ulterior motives, but overall, people are working toward a common bond.”

We can presume that this “common bond” is intrinsically a good thing, but the university functions more out of bureaucratic necessity than student will. When the California State Student Association (ASI’s cousin at the Capitol) went on an impotent Long Beach lobbying binge last year to protest student fee hikes, CSU Trustees summarily dismissed the charge, voting 13-3 to increase fees 10 percent.

But Peter Ucovich, who serves as current ASI Vice President of Finance and is a presidential hopeful for 2003-04, considers his role in the student fee battle one of his best qualifications for leadership.

“No other people currently running for office even attended (the rally),” Ucovich says, “even though the invitation was given to all board members and all staff members, including the chief of staff.”

I, for one, certainly know what it’s like to spend a day in Long Beach, and can’t say enough about Ucovich’s gallantry on behalf of CSUS students. Nevertheless, a rally is a rally. It’s great PR and touching activism, but we’re missing results.

And while Ucovich also digs out the dramatic campaign crusade of “parking for one, parking for all,” he doesn’t back away from the brinksmanship we’ve come to know and love in late April.

“I can see that if you look specifically at some members of the board,” he says, “you may think that ASI is just a popularity contest and that there does not seem to be any work being done.

“However, on the whole, I think most of the board members are committed to helping students. And I hope the students vote on what we as board members have done to help this campus, not just who they like the most.”

That being said, Ucovich is a likeable guy with some promising ideas–some of which he briefly outlines in this week’s candidate interviews. Take a look and consider who among these candidates is best fit to lead university students through these trying times. Who has the experience? Who has the drive?

Then go for a walk through the quad and do what you’ve always done–pick the best looking sign. Now that’s Sac State politics.

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