ASUI Senator Zach Goytowski will be under investigation in the upcoming weeks following the submission of senate bill S12-04 establishing articles of impeachment.
“Right now we’re at a very early stage in the process and just because the process has begun doesn’t mean there’s going to be a removal from office, it just means there’s going to be an investigation,” said Sen. J. Jacob Marsh who wrote the bill.
Goytowski was not able to be reached for comment.
Goytowski’s campaign techniques in the most recent ASUI election are the main concern in the articles of impeachment, specifically the possible violations of several sections of the ASUI rules and regulations.
“According to the senate bylaws a senator may be impeached for malfeasance, misfeasance, nonfeasance or repeated violations of the rules and regulations, and it’s the last one — repeated violations of the rules and regulations — that’s concerned here,” Marsh said.
Goytowski is suspected to be in violation of four specific sections of the rules and regulations according to the senate bill.
“You are not allowed to have campaign materials within 100 feet of polling stations, which include computer labs because it’s all online polling, and you cannot have them within 100 feet of Bob’s because this semester Bob’s was a polling station,” said Amanda Niehenke, ASUI elections coordinator.
The bill will be considered by the Senate Ways and Means Committee this week. Once the committee has met, it may vote to pass the bill on to be considered by the full senate.
“The process is very different from usual legislation, there are more steps to it and it requires a lot more procedure,” Marsh said.
Marsh said if the Ways and Means Committee passes the bill to the full senate, it is simply a recommendation that the whole senate take a look at the bill.
“That doesn’t necessarily imply that the Ways and Means Committee thinks the person should be impeached,” Marsh said. “It doesn’t imply that they think the person did the things within the articles of impeachment, it just means that they recommend that the whole senate take a look at it.”
If the committee passes the bill on to be considered by the full senate, the senate will vote on the bill. If a two-thirds “for” vote is reached, Goytowski will be subject to a hearing with the full senate. If a two-thirds vote is not reached, the impeachment process will stop.
“For articles of impeachment the process is a little bit longer, the reason is because you want to be very sure when taking steps like this that you go through all of the right steps and do everything necessary to make sure you have all of the information that you need to make an appropriate decision,” Marsh said.
If a hearing is needed, the senate may look at evidence from all involved parties, hear testimony from witnesses or individuals as appropriate, and finally vote whether or not to impeach the accused person.
“If the senate votes yes, that is a removal from office,” Marsh said.
Marsh said as a senate this is the best course of action for dealing with potentially unethical campaigning behavior.
“I thought that it was appropriate to start this process in order to find out more information,” Marsh said. “The implication is yes, that the individual involved could eventually be removed from office if the process goes all the way through but that’s not necessarily what will happen. Right now the only thing we know for certain is that the evidence will be looked at by the ways and means committee.”