An internal investigation of a student government committee concluded this week, but emotions still run high as allegations of illegal action and political agendas remain unresolved.

The Government of the Student Body senate adopted a final report from the rules committee of an investigation that was launched at the beginning of October, after questions arose concerning the appointment of Dave Sims, GSB engineering senator, as election commissioner.

After the rules committee began the investigation, the appointment committee withdrew its recommendation of Sims and re-opened the application process. Chris Wisher, off campus, was seated as election commissioner Wednesday night.

According to the report, which was unanimously adopted by the senate Wednesday, “the process by which the Election Commissioner nominee was selected was illegal.”

The rules committee did not recommend action against any member of the appointment committee, said Greg Tew, member of rules committee. “We decided that these things didn’t rise to the level of impeachable offenses,” said Tew, vice speaker of the senate.

The rules committee concluded that GSB Vice President Lisa Dlouhy, chairwoman of the appointment committee, expressed her personal opinion on the election commissioner appointment process. According to the report, her actions were “illegal at worst and unethical at best.”

Dlouhy said she does not deny the mistake, which she said was a simple misunderstanding.

“I accept full responsibility of the actions of the committee,” she said. “It’s all a misunderstanding. It’s my fault — nobody else’s.”

On Sept. 24, the appointment committee conducted the initial interviews of Sims and Chris Benson, the other applicant for election commissioner, and discussed their selection in an informal meeting.

No minutes were taken at the meeting, and the committee did not have enough members present to meet quorum.

“That’s the very first time we ever talked about anything that had to do with the election commissioner,” Dlouhy said. “We just weren’t aware that the whole interview process had to be official.”

The committee reconvened Oct. 2, and voted 2-1 by secret ballot to nominate Sims for election commissioner. Since Dlouhy took part in the unofficial discussion, she did not chair the meeting and did not vote on the nomination.

In closed executive session, the rules committee held two interviews with each member of the appointment committee, as well as Sims and Benson, senior in animal science.

“The vice president and the members of the appointment committee cooperated in the investigation,” Tew said. “By going into executive session, there’s an implicit gag order to guarantee the accuracy of the testimonies and to protect any individuals who testify before the committee.”

After the report was adopted, Sims told the senate that he did not re-apply for election commissioner out of “sheer frustration.”

“I was pretty much the only person who lost in this entire investigation,” he said. “What it all comes down to is personal political agendas — that’s just not cool.”

He said the issue should have been resolved within the appointment committee, and he accused Kristy Stallmann, appointment committee member, of alerting the rules committee as a personal attack on him.

Sims could not be reached for further comment, and Stallmann said she was issued a gag order and refused to comment.

Speaker of the Senate Charlie Johnson, chairman of the rules committee, said the committee was obligated to investigate the charges and that personal agendas are “completely irrelevant.”

“I didn’t want to do it,” he said. “I hated doing it. I wish this thing had never happened.”

Tew said that, as the judicial arm of the legislative branch, the rules committee took the “best course of action.”

“Once the question of the legality of the process was raised, we’re obligated to investigate,” he said.

Dlouhy said the rules committee was “justified in doing the investigation.”

“The report is true and an accurate representation of what happened,” she said. “The unfortunate thing is that we broke some rules, but nobody had any malicious intent. This political issue — that’s where the hard feelings are coming from.”