Override attempt fails

Tara Deering
March 21, 1997

Though the goal was to show support for The Educational Computing Club, the Government of the Student Body Senate failed to override President Adam Gold’s veto of a bill which gave the group funding for a trip.

Jamey Hansen, vice chairman, proposed a motion to override Gold’s veto of a bill to allocate funding to TECC. Whether the override passed or failed, TECC would not have received money because there isn’t any money in GSB’s discretionary fund.

“It is not about the funding bill because the organization won’t get any money anyway,” Hansen said.

It takes a two-thirds vote of the seated senators to override the president’s veto. Gold said the Senate needed 24 yes votes to override his veto. The proposal failed on 15-yes to 9-no vote.

According to Hansen, the purpose of the proposal was to make a statement that the Senate supports the organization and it doesn’t support the way Gold handled the situation.

Hansen criticized Gold for not telling anyone he was going to veto the funding bill. He said Gold didn’t have to tell anyone of his plans, but it would have been the right thing to do.

Hansen quoted Gold from the Iowa State Daily when he made the statement that allocating funding is the Senate’s responsibility. “It is up to the Senate to determine who gets the money out of the discretionary fund,” Hansen quoted.

Milton McGriff, non-traditional, questioned why the Senate passed the TECC funding bill on a 26-2 vote, but nine senators voted against the override of funding on Wednesday night.

Senators John Hamilton, business; Chris Juhl, design; Adam Obrecht, agriculture; Amber Powell, off-campus; Casey Powers, interfraternity; Dawn Wade, panhellenic; Carissa Wall, off-campus; Andy Yedlik, off-campus; and David Crawford, off-campus, voted against overriding Gold’s veto to fund TECC.