News

Miller admits forging documents

By Ray Hafner
Senior Staff Writer

SGA President Dawona Miller won her battle against an election complaint in front of the Universityis Hearing Board on Friday, but was forced to admit that she forged financial documents related to her March re-election campaign, said sources inside the closed hearing.

The Board ruled in favor of Miller because complainant Nick Somarakis only accused Miller of misusing student fees to pay for her campaign, which the Board said he did not prove.

Milleris admission of forging her financial statement would put her in violation of the Student Government Associationis election code, but because Somarakis, who ran against Miller for President, did not include that charge in his complaint the Board decided it could not rule on the issue. 

"Iim just glad that due process has been served," said Miller after the decision was reached. Miller had previously denied forging the document and would not comment on her admission. She also would not discuss what happened during the hearing, although earlier in the hearing she had requested it be made open to the public.

"She admitted quite a few things, but they werenit in sync with the complaint that I filed," said Somarakis.

Somarakis said several of his key witnesses, including one who was to testify he saw Miller using the SGA copier and assistant election commissioner Cullen Newsom, failed to show up for the hearing, making his case difficult to prove. Somarakis said he was forced to file his complaint without doing more research to meet deadlines set in the election code.

Somarakis had to rely almost entirely on SGA Vice President Jon Quintanilla, who testified against Miller through a conference call during the hearing. Quintanilla testified he saw Miller making the copies in the SGA office and also described the type of paper that was used.

Somarakisi lawyer, Kathleen Vossler, said Miller claimed she made the copies at another personis office off-campus but would not name the person or the office. Vossler said Milleris strategy was to "deny everything and then not testify about anything." 

Because the Hearing Board is not an actual court, witnesses are not sworn in and there is no way to compel testimony according to UHis <I>Student Handbook<P>.

Vossler said Milleris defense consisted of claiming Quintanilla was politically motivated and hoped to have Miller impeached so he could assume the presidency. Miller also said The Daily Cougar was unreliable and that the newspaperis investigation into the scandal could not be believed.

Milleris other defenses were that Somarakis was going to lose the election anyway and that both she and the Student Voice Party have done a good job representing students on campus.

Somarakis has not yet decided whether to appeal the decision to the Dean of Students, William Munson, but said he might wait and see what happens with the separate disciplinary investigation of Miller. Assistant Dean of Students Heidi Kennedy is conducting that investigation on the same charges and said it would be completed before the semester is finished.

"Its not over yet, because she still has to deal with the deanis office for the violations sheis done," said Somarakis. "I donit think ‘Teflon Dawonai will get away with anything."
 

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