Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry upset over Texas A&M election for student president
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Texas A&M student whose election as student body president was disqualified by a "technical violation" of the election rules has filed a legal petition to investigate claims surrounding his campaign.
Attorney Gaines West said his client, Robert McIntosh, wants to depose three people to investigate his disqualification after the vote tally.
West said his client believes those motivations involve state action because "a university employee expressed her desire his client not be elected student body president, and sought ways to be certain that result was not obtained."
It's the latest installment that pushed the campus election into the news.
Because of McIntosh's disqualification, Bobby Brooks won the election. Brooks is the first openly gay elected student body president at Texas A&M.
U.S. Energy Secretary and former governor Rick Perry is upset over the outcome of the election for student president at Texas A&M.
Perry, who was a former Aggie yell leader, submitted an editorial to the Houston Chronicle implying that the election was "stolen and a mockery." He also questioned whether the school's quest for diversity is the real reason the outcome was overturned.
He wrote that Brooks lost by more than 450 votes and 14 complaints of voter intimidation against McIntosh were dismissed by an SGA appeals panel. What wasn't dismissed was a complaint that McIntosh didn't file a campaign expense receipt for "glow sticks" used in a campaign video on Facebook.
Perry conceded it might have been a technical violation, but "the disqualification was upheld, with no consideration as to whether the punishment fit the crime."
He also wondered, "Does the principle of diversity override and supersede all other values of our Aggie Honor Code?"
"To suggest that the disqualification of a candidate was in the interest of some sort of political correctness does not reflect the Texas A&M of today," a Texas A&M spokeswoman told the Chronicle.
Some students wondered why the Secretary of Energy is involving himself in the issue at all. The Chronicle reported that McIntosh's parents are Republican donors.
As Perry's comments were circulated, GLAAD, the gay and lesbian alliance against defamation, denounced him on Twitter as a "bully."
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis took to Twitter to share her thoughts on Perry's actions.
The Department of Energy's press office responded that the op-ed was Perry's personal business, and had no comment.
