The last executive debate was held Thursday night as the candidates continued to separate themselves from each other one last time before voting opens Monday.

The candidates discussed their top priority if elected as Government of the Student Body president.

“Hitting the ground running and making sure everyone is ready to work for students,” said candidate for president Dan Rediske. “Making sure the entirety of GSB is able to communicate all aspects of GSB, how we can go about serving students best.”

Candidate for president Spencer Hughes had a different view.

“Take the GSB Executive Payments and put them in a pot of funds all students can access,” Hughes said. “We also have met with student organizations that are excited about our ideas. We want to start right away working on our projects and bring students in to help with those.”

Both the candidates’ running mates were given an opportunity to discuss their goals.

“First of all to familiarize everyone with what the vice president does,” said Hughes’ vice presidential candidate Hillary Kletscher. “I want to make sure senators do know what’s going on, and reaching out to new senators is something I want to do so they can be effective as a whole Government of Student Body.”

Kletscher also discussed the importance of the speaker of the senate role.

“I want to work directly with the speaker of the senate and encourage them to reach out to all the senators,” Kletscher said. “I’ll be there to build personal connections, but it’s important as a senator to have a good relationship with the speaker of the senate.”

Rediske’s running mate Zach Bauer wants to sit down with senators himself.

“What I would first do is sit down with all the senators and get their opinion of GSB and what their goals are and how I can help them achieve them,” Bauer said. “The problems are we don’t communicate internally, we don’t communicate externally. I think the vice president should sit down with the senate regardless if they’re old senate or new senate; there is always information to learn. “

The candidates discussed their views on communication problems with GSB.

“Its more than just a communication problem, it’s a problem with us not being in touch with what’s going on,” Hughes said. “We need to make sure that we’re out there and communicating with students. A lot of times students involved with their organizations have problems and don’t know where to turn.”

Rediske explained the importance of not stopping communication after the election is over.

“The simplest way to put it is, the campaign for building a better student experience can’t stop once the election is over,” Rediske said. “Most importantly it’s really just not disappearing.”

The candidates were asked to address the executive payments policy.

“It’s a big part of our campaign. Its an issue that I’ve always had with what GSB does,” Hughes said. “If a student needs the money they can work a part time job while being the GSB president. “

Rediske is not in favor of removing this policy.

“I want the best advocate,” Rediske said. A former vice president of GSB “could not have been as involved as she was if it wasn’t for scholarships and executive payments,” he explained.

Roughly 30 students attended the debate in the Cardinal Room of the Memorial Union.

Voting begins Monday at 12:01 a.m. at www.vote.iastate.edu. Voting ends Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. and the winner will be announced at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 14, 2013.