Judge Reinstates Student Body President in Ad Dispute

A Los Angeles federal judge this week issued a preliminary injunction to halt a student election at Santa Monica College and reinstate the student body president elected last spring.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson ruled that Patrick Ortega, 23, may have had his right to free speech denied when college and student government officials disqualified him for a negative campaign ad he ran in the student newspaper in April.

The preliminary injunction was issued moments before polls were to open on Monday for a special election called by the Santa Monica Community College District Board of Trustees to replace Ortega. Ortega will hold the post of president of the Associated Students pending the outcome of a trial scheduled for Nov. 24.

Ortega was disqualified by a student government committee because they said he violated an election code rule prohibiting slander, negative publicity or naming opposition candidates. He received the disqualification notice the same day he found out he had won the most votes for student body president.

Ortega was pleased with the judge’s decision. “I feel proud of being an American today,” Ortega said in an interview. “This is a clear indication that in America, the rights of the voters are to be protected in our system of democracy.”

Ortega, a staunch conservative, claims Associated Students powerbrokers conspired to keep him out of office because they were opposed to his political views.

Ortega filed suit to regain the post after exhausting the appeals process outlined in the student constitution. In addition, he wrote a letter to college President Richard S. Moore and appeared before the board of trustees.

The board asked staff members to remove election code language that bans negative publicity and naming opponents, according to board member Ilona Katz. District lawyers advised trustees that such a ban infringes on the 1st Amendment right to free speech, she said.

But board members stopped short of reinstating Ortega, saying that his ad was libelous, not simply negative campaigning.

The ad featured a photo of a stuffed Mickey Mouse and the words “This Mouse cost you $15,000.” It went on to charge that “the Associated Students finance committee approved $15,000 of your money for Disney World, Washington, Sacramento and Oxnard.” The ad referred to leadership training seminars traditionally attended by student government leaders nationwide.

Inter-Club Council Chairman Daryll Robertson said the ad made it look as if students used the money for a trip to Walt Disney World, when, in fact, students attending an Orlando, Fla., conference paid their own way for a side trip to the entertainment center.

Robertson, who served on an appeals committee that reviewed Ortega’s case, said Ortega knowingly twisted the facts and would probably be recalled by voters if he is permanently reinstated. He added that Ortega was uncooperative and difficult to work with during the appeal hearing.

During the injunction hearing, Judge Wilson said a certain amount of license is allowed when making political statements, according to Ortega’s lawyer, Stephen Rohde. Wilson criticized the student government for “nit-picking,” Rohde said.

The Century City-based civil liberties lawyer said he took Ortega’s case at the behest of the Center for Individual Rights in Washington.

“I believe (the college) ran roughshod over Patrick’s 1st Amendment rights. . . . I’m very concerned that our college campuses have lost their way in recognizing tolerance and plurality.”