SGA impeachment proceedings begin

SGA began proceedings Wednesday, Sept. 21, to move into a special session to vote on the impeachment of SGA Vice President Ross Sheppard after his recent arrest involving DUI charges.A motion, submitted by the Senate Rules and Oversight Committee to move SGA to the special session, was brought to the floor at SGA’s open meeting. The motion was then voted on by the Senate in order to determine if the Senate should proceed into a special session. It received a 23:0:1 in favor, moving SGA to a special Senate session taking place on Thursday, Sept. 22.
The impeachment papers were officially submitted Sept. 11, during an executive SGA meeting by SGA President Pro Tempore Maxwell Pichan and SGA Senator Patrick Hall.
“I am the president pro tempore and with that job comes the chairmanship of the Senate Rules and Oversight Committee,” Pichan said. “In conjunction with the attorney general, I brought forth the motion to hold a vote to send the Senate into a special session for tomorrow and Patrick Hall seconded that motion.”

Prior to his position in SGA, and before the recent charges, he also received an Minor in Possession (MIP) on Aug. 22, 2010. According to the Public Safety record, Public Safety Officer Tron Smith observed a male, later identified as Sheppard, sitting in a parked vehicle located in Peabody Parking Lot. The past arrest was handled by the Student Judicial Board and has been resolved.

SGA President Karanovich says that it is SGA’s constitutional obligation Sheppard be formally asked if he wishes to resign once the papers are filed.
“Prior to that there was discussion of what happens ‘Does he resign?,’ ‘Can he be forced to resign?’ and the answer is ‘No, he can’t be,’” Karanovich said. “He is a constitutional officer which is why he has continued to function in his constitutional role, nobody can hold him from that. He could have stepped down before the articles were filed but he has not.

SGA Attorney General Andrew Whittaker expressed that when articles of impeachment are filed, it is highly encouraged they be filed through the Senate Rules and Oversight Committee.

“This (filing impeachment papers through the Senate Rules and Oversight Committee) is done to avoid implicating any one individual senator who doesn’t want to go out on a leash or (go out) and say ‘Hey I did this,’” Whittaker said. “It is a formality that President Pro Tempore Pichan did it, and he asked Senator Hall ‘Will you second this as a formality?’ That in no way indicated their feeling on the situation whatsoever, it’s purely a formality.”

In the past, Karanovich, expressed he was considering recusing himself from overseeing the impeachment hearing due to the fact that he and Sheppard are in the same fraternity and have had a longtime friendship. The SGA Constitution states that the president be the constitutional officer to oversee all impeachment hearings, therefore he has decided and holds that he will do so.

Karanovich also expressed his loyalty is to SGA and he will let everyone know of his friendship with Sheppard.
“So that is something that I want to get out, that yes we are fraternity brothers but that does not play a factor in my constitutional obligation to this process as the president,” Karanovich said.

The impeachment hearing will not determine if Sheppard is guilty or innocent of his misconduct, but will serve as a vote to determine if the case shall be sent to the Student Judicial Board. The vote at the special session will not remove Sheppard from office, only the Student Judicial Board decision would do that. The impeachment trial will be open and a matter of public record.

*Editor’s note: The special session was not held on Thursday, Sept. 22 due to the fatal vehicle accident involving Georgia College students. The story will be updated when the session occurs.

Posted by Lauren Davidson on Sep 22 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.