As the smoke clears on another S.A.C. sweep, one needs to realize that the election results do not really matter because of the one constant that will be present for years to come. Since taking over this year as executive director, Don Daves-Rougeaux has brought stability to an organization that desperately needed it. However, with that stability has come a perceived control over the organization.

Associated Students is a place where students can fancy themselves leaders, and where they get to make decisions that appear important to their narrow view of things. The staff is there to provide guidance and keep things in order. Things are different this year, as Daves-Rougeaux has demonstrated. While I would be the first to acknowledge that Mr. Daves-Rougeaux is a hard worker and has the potential to make a quality dictator, err, director, a team of watchdogs must exist following his every move and questioning every decision.

A.S. is now firmly Don’s place, where no appointment is qualified unless The Don grants his blessing. This is a place where Judicial Council rulings are deemed unconstitutional by The Don himself. In the end all The Don wants is more money from students to refurbish his palace. While Saddam Hussein might no longer be in power, we have Saddon Hussein-Rougeaux to take his place.

With three vacancies on Judicial Council, quorum cannot be met and Legislative Council under the leadership of Saddon refuses to approve the appointments of the judicial chair. What Saddon feels is that he should have the power to interview and appoint students to fill the vacancies. Such arrogance and blatant disregard for the rules can only be curtailed by students who have the guts to stand up to Saddon. Chrystine Lawson does as Saddon says, as do the rest of the S.A.C. minions. The “opposition” tries, but is too emotional and takes itself too seriously to be effective.

Last year leaders were in place that would have toppled Saddon. Martin E. Doyle IV would have scooped up the lesbian porn and sent Don packing with it. Instead, with Don in power we get more lock-in fees to groups like Women’s Commission that give feminism a bad name.

During Wednesday of the weeklong election, rumors had spread that the Gauchoholics candidate Randy Wright was leading. What followed was that current S.A.C. Leg Council members skipped the meeting and were out campaigning. Granted, these are just rumors, but I think that at the very least there were people who knew the election results while the election was going on. Jim Keenley, the Elections Committee Chair, and Joe Navarro were the only two who knew the access code to get results. One of those two spilled the beans to Saddon, who then went to work. This shows one of the drawbacks of a weeklong online election, the brainchild of Mr. Rougeaux.

Now, only two people can put a stop to Saddon. The first is Chancellor Henry Yang. If enough students alert the chancellor of the disaster that is A.S., he will have no other choice but to take action. The reason is not that he truly cares about A.S., rather it is that no bad publicity can come out of UCSB while he is a top contender for the UC presidency. The next man is Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Michael Young. He might be considered for the chancellor position should Chancellor Yang become the president. However, Vice Chancellor Young and Mr. Rougeaux have a long-standing relationship and I don’t foresee anything happening there.

The Daily Nexus did a wonderful job exposing Saddon’s actions as it concerned the failed sliding scale. And for their efforts, one of Saddon’s henchmen, Fernando Ramirez Aziz, is urging a boycott. Fearless Leader was offended so he sends his servant to try and settle the score.

I have nothing personal against Mr. Rougeaux, I was on the committee that hired him and I would say I get along well with him. However, I cannot let his vision of A.S. come to fruition and idly sit by.

Put the pressure on the leaders of this campus to make sure that students’ voices are not subdued by staff members trying to extort money from us. Some damage has been done, but A.S. is still broke, and as long as that continues Saddon can be stopped. We simply cannot wait until his pursuit for cash is completed.

Jonathan Kalinski is a senior political science major.