Government of the Student Body President Jared Knight vetoed last week’s bylaw change pertaining to the Executive Initiative Account on Monday night.

In an email sent out Monday night to the GSB Senate, Knight said, “I’ve been told the account, as it stood before Wednesday’s meeting, was audit-compliant. In light of this new information, I am returning the state of the account to the original intent of the senate.”

According to Speaker of the Senate Gage Kensler, Knight felt the bylaws were too restrictive and that it was holding the account to higher standards than other GSB accounts.

“I decided [to veto] after last night’s meeting. Most of the senators there didn’t have any objection to veto. One encouraged it,” said Knight on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s interview was conducted as a follow up to the one that occurred Monday morning, in which Knight said, “as I remember, [the Daily’s article] opened up saying [that] we’re trying to determine what kind of controls need to be on the account. The whole purpose of the bylaw that was proposed last week… is to bring it within audit compliance. It’s not about setting controls on the account. I think there are some senators that have desire to put controls on the account, but the bill was not brought up to add control, it was solely to bring it in line with audit standards.”

Not all Senators approved of Knight’s decision.

“I liked the bylaw that was passed last week, I think this account should be held at a higher level,” said Kensler.

During a meeting on Monday night between the Rules Committee, Finance Committee, and Knight, a new bylaw was approved to replace the vetoed bylaw change. The bylaw change, which is to be voted on at the Oct. 24 GSB meeting, included oversight on the president’s spending by the Finance Director and the Executive Cabinet who can block expenditure by the president.

“We confirm all executive appointments so this is our senatorial check on that account,” said Kensler. “This was a compromise by everyone there, but some people still think the bylaw is not strong enough and some think it’s too strong.”

Another issue arose during the development of this story; there appeared to be discontinuities between a university official and Knight.

In an interview on Monday, Knight stated that according to an unnamed source in the Business and Finance Office, the state of the account as it stood before Senate met last Wednesday was compliant with audit, something he said he did not realize until Thursday morning.

When asked who his unnamed source was later on Monday, he revealed that it was Associate Vice President for Business and Finance Pam Cain, and requested that her name not be published for Tuesday’s story.

Cain was interviewed on Tuesday.

“I didn’t say that [the account as it stood last Wednesday before Senate met was audit compliant]. I said that there are other bylaws that provide the control for that account, and there’s other ways to get through it,” said Cain.

Cain was approached by Knight last Thursday after the Senate meeting, requesting general information, but she said that she did not have access to the account.

Knight’s Tuesday interview came after Cain’s. He was asked about this discontinuity.

“The current bylaws being audit compliant was kind of a separate thing from what I asked her to look at. There was a little bit of confusion. It seemed like she was saying they’re fine,” said Knight.

Knight called the Daily later on Tuesday to clarify the confusion.

“[Cain] said as long as the procedures are followed as its set up in the bylaws; that should be audit compliant.”

Cain was not reached for further comment.

One senator, Jake Swanson, expressed his disappointment with the president.

“He was elected for a reason because students trusted him to make decisions that would benefit the whole student body….this is so disappointing because we are seeing what this money is being spent on and it violates the trust students have in him,” said Swanson.