The Gator Party is proud to offer UF an executive ticket and a spring Senate slate that is not only qualified but diverse and talented.
Student Body presidential candidate Kevin Reilly has a strong record of student service to the university, having advocated for the student body in the Student Senate for the past three years. As the current Student Senate president, Reilly has worked with administrators and student leaders to extend library hours during exam week and was responsible for negotiating the installation of credit-card machines across campus. He has also served as Senate president pro tempore, reaching out to those who want to be involved in Student Senate.
Yooni Yi, the Gator Party's vice presidential candidate, has spent the past year as the presidential chief of staff and was responsible for leading and coordinating the cabinet secretaries as well as the SG agencies. Yi works closely with Student Body President Ryan Moseley on both standard and special projects that come across the president's desk, which guarantees she has sufficient knowledge of the policies and procedures of the executive branch to affect positive change for the student body. As the current chairman of the Student Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, Student Body Treasurer candidate Paul Drayton has a more sophisticated and advanced knowledge of the current SG budget than anyone else on campus. Drayton has spent three budget cycles working with this committee and is the first chairman to use a mid-year review to analyze organizations' spending habits. In doing so, he streamlined the budget process and helped student groups use their budgets to the best of their abilities.
The combination of skills and experience brought to the table by these three candidates is the foundation of the Gator Party platform. The Gator Party Senate slate draws on the unique talents of student leaders from all walks of campus. We were able to achieve this only because of the extraordinary turnout we received during slating interviews. The more than 500 students who interviewed with the Gator Party shared our vision. They were a motivated group of students who believe achieving the dreams of a better tomorrow starts today. Central to this vision is a commitment to an inclusive student government that represents the culturally and ideologically diverse university community.
The Student Body deserves a public dialogue focused on the merits of each party's platform and candidates. What they deserve more, however, is a student government that has the means to fulfill its responsibilities beyond students' expectations.With the Gator Party's knowledge, experience and diversity, this vision will become a reality when students vote Gator on Feb. 26 and 27.
Steven Hoffstetter is the president of the Gator Party.
