The Associated Students of Madison student council could not make quorum at their meeting Monday after members of the REACH Party walked out before voting.
Badger Party member Matt Modell said the walkouts came because the council had a conservative majority at the meeting where the council was expected to appoint a member to the nominations board.
Modell said the nominations board fills any vacancy on the Student Services Finance Committee or other ASM committee–currently there are two–suggesting the political affiliation of the board member is crucial.
However, Letters and Science representative David Presberry said he walked out of the meeting because he did not approve of action the council was moving to take on a bill he sponsored that was previously approved earlier this month.
Presberry said the council approved a bill allowing for three additional student judiciary positions, but members wanted to reconsider the legality of the bill at Monday’s meeting.
“I wouldn’t have gotten two-thirds of people there [to defeat the motion],” Presberry said. “There was no other thing I could do to stop what was happening.”
Letters and Science representative Jackie Helmrick said Presberry’s walkout broke quorum, and the council was then no longer able to vote on any agenda item.
Presberry said he left after several other council members, who he said were “pretty much” all members of the REACH Party, walked out of the meeting, including Letters and Science representative Carl Camacho.
Camacho said he left for personal reasons.
The walkouts came after members of the conservative Badger Party were accused of missing meetings to prevent a quorum at a meeting in October.
That instance was criticized by the liberal-leaning REACH members of the council, who alleged the members used their absence as a political strategy to prevent a vote.
Helmrick, who ran as an independent but said she most often aligns herself with the Badger Party, called Monday’s action hypocritical on the part of REACH members, saying they criticized similar action by Badger Party members.
She said it was obvious the council members left with the intention to prevent a quorum.
“They stood outside the door of the meeting and waited for no quorum to be called,” Helmrick said.
Camacho and Presberry both maintained the walkouts were not pre-planned as some council members allege the October Badger Party absences were.
“[The Badger Party] pre-planned their decision,” Comacho said. “That was pre-meditated. I, on the other hand, attended the meeting and was there up until about two-thirds of it was done. I left for personal reasons.”
