A Blessing In Disguise

To my friends and supporters,

We ran on the strength of our ideas. We have nothing to apologize for.

We overturned a bogus ruling on the part of the ASCMC elections committee that banned all campaigning on the internet, and allowed the Claremont Currents to cover the election in detail, and we made a campaign that we could be proud of. I'm sorry that we'll never get a chance to implement the ideas so many of you believed in, but we've set out a strong platform -- one which others could run on.

Fourteen percent is a strong showing for a candidacy based upon ideas and not on something as fickle as "love." (Kind of reminds me of another candidacy based upon "hope," and look how that's turned out.) We promised responsibility, fiscal control, and integrity -- all and all, good things to run on.

Another campaign, a long time ago, got 13.4% of the vote and that was the kind of campaign we ran. He promised, as I promised, that if he won the race, he would demand a recount and we got a solid 93 or so votes in our favor.

It would have been nice for our opponents to debate us in the open public, or to respond to questionnaires from campus publications, or for our opponent's supporters not to tell everyone going to the polls bogus things, but that's not how politics works. Politics is messy and at times, far, far from fair. But nothing worth doing ever is.

I'm reminded of what Winston Churchill said when he was thrown out of power to his wife Clemmie. After his defeat, his wife Clemmie told him, "It may well be a blessing in disguise." Churchill replied, "At the moment it seems quite effectively disguised."

But this is most certainly a blessing.

On the other side, given that our opposition had so little of substance, at least we won't be disappointed.

But I will be putting up a box on the top corner of this screen with the number of days it's been since we get our network and since Tammy promised a resolution to our parking problem. I suspect that we won't get either thing.

Going forward, we're going to have a drinking game. For every time our new ASCMC president says how much she loves the school, we'll take a shot. Try not to die of alcohol poisoning. I leave you with this, which is who my opponent reminded me of,

Rest in Peace, Dave Hettler

Warner Bros. exec vp Dave Hettler dies

Oversaw worldwide finance, information technology

Staff report

March 3, 2010, 06:38 PM ET

Dave Hettler, executive vp worldwide finance and information technology for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, died Feb. 27 of brain cancer at his home in Los Angeles. He was 49.

Hettler joined Warner Bros. in 1993 after spending 11 years with accounting firm Ernst & Young. His responsibilities at the studio included oversight of financial activities for international theaters, theme parks, retail stores and consumer products businesses.

Additionally, he served as a member of the management team overseeing the implementation of Warner Bros.' SAP finance and procurement system worldwide.

Execs at Warners called him an extraordinary executive, respected leader and friend.

Hettler is survived by his wife, Sheri, and their two children, Shane, 16 and Shelby, 12.

A memorial service and reception will be held at noon on Saturday at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in North Hollywood.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Hettler's memory to UCLA's Art of the Brain Neuro-Oncology Program or to the David Hettler Memorial Scholarship Fund at Claremont McKenna College.

Thoughts on the Speeches This Past Night

First off, I want to apologize to everyone for the length. I should have written that speech with a bit more humor and a whole lot less substance! (I was told that the speeches would go later.)

To all you gingers -- yes, all six of us -- out there, I'm sorry people keep asking you what you look like when you are naked. Maybe this will be part of our plan to spread Gingervitus?

Remember the advice from the famous South Park episode that set our cause back 70 years:

Look, boys, if you really don't wanna have ginger kids, marry an Asian woman. Asians don't carry the recessive gene. [looks right and left] I know a guy who's marrying a Japanese woman very soon for just that reason. [closes the door on them and they turn around]

To more serious stuff: One of my opponents promised you a network like Harvey Mudd and Pomona has. Not only was this a false promise -- CMC's ITS has put the kibosh on such plans in the past -- but it's totally illegal. CMC's legal team is already very risk adverse. Such a network would be like painting a big target on our backs -- something which ASCMC, with its limited resources, should absolutely avoid.

As for speeding up the internet, I'm curious as to what power, if any my competitors have to actually, you know, do that. Don't you think that it would have already happened had it been in ITS's power?

I'm skeptical.