DONE! Well, Kind Of

Second coming of Christ: DONE. Student Action." Or how about this one: "Stopped earthquake on Hayward Fault: DONE." I'd be impressed.

No, Student Action isn't claiming to have a part in any divine second coming nor to prevent expected geological disasters. But the accomplishments Student Action expects students to suck up from the real might-be-true "DONE" fliers aren't too far off from those unfathomable claims.

The craftiest of Student Action's "DONE" fliers claims that Student Action "stopped" the Fall 2002 fee increase.

Quite devious, Student Action-just enough to avoid a partywide disqualification from the ASUC Judicial Council.

The UC Board of Regents passed a midyear fee increase on Dec. 16, 2002 that currently has UC undergraduates paying $135 more than they did last semester. The fee increase happened, just not in the fall.

So to the extent that there was no "Fall 2002 fee increase," Student Action has it right. But party members by no means "stopped" any fee increase. I guess the word "postponed" doesn't fool as many voters as "stopped" does.

But Student Action has a penchant for stretching the truth beyond saying they prevent fee increases. Take the "most successful voter registration drive in ASUC history" half-truth fliers posted all over campus.

Sure, the successful voter registration drive did happen. And External Affairs Vice President Jimmy Bryant, a member of Student Action, provided a hand in organizing the campaign.

But Student Action is stepping beyond truth in taking credit for the registration drive. In fact, Cal-SERVE external affairs vice president candidate Anu Joshi was the primary organizer of the campaign, not Bryant. I guess it's too much to ask Student Action to give credit where it's due, especially when it involves a political opponent.

Student Action is no stranger to flier controversies. The 2001 ASUC elections saw the entire Student Action party temporarily disqualified for a flier claiming the party had worked to allocate tens of thousands of dollars to co-ops. The co-ops hadn't seen a dime of that money.

Student Action was reinstated after successfully arguing that one party member was present at a commission meeting that had considered allocating the money to co-ops.

There's no problem if Student Action takes credit for something the party actually accomplished. For example, former External Affairs Vice President Josh Fryday did work with the state Legislature to add a provision for $15 million for student housing in Proposition 46.

Student Action wants to take sole credit for any victory, if at least one crony was present. So why isn't Student Action posting up fliers claiming credit for "Plunging the ASUC into hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to UC Berkeley: DONE," or "Postponing voting by four days: DONE."

Student Action isn't the only ASUC political party that has compromised values for electability. Cal-SERVE slated ASUC Senator Kris Cuaresma-Primm, an independent senator who almost won the ASUC presidency last year.

Primm has avoided taking stances on controversial issues in this year's ASUC Senate, most notably on affirmative action. No one really knows what this guy's political values are, but Cal-SERVE went ahead and slated him anyway, most likely in an effort to attach their party name to the candidate most likely to beat Student Action presidential candidate Daniel Frankenstein.

Students can't trust ASUC political parties to campaign to elect the most qualified candidates to office. Case in point: there would be no way Student Action would have slated ASUC lightweight Grace Chen to run against academic policy veteran Gustavo Mata for academic affairs vice president.

Instead, political parties now throw thousands of dollars into fooling students to vote for the catchiest slogans that many not even be true.

To the voters, I say good luck.

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