“Our long national nightmare is over.”
Those were the words of Gerald Ford, after the potential impeachment of Richard Nixon ended with Nixon’s resignation.
Although USC Student Body President Jonathan Kaufman was ultimately acquitted in Monday night’s impeachment hearing, we feel sort of the same way Ford did. We think the entire impeachment saga was an unnecessary waste of time and has been a black eye for USC’s Student Government.
The final vote, 37 to 1 in favor of Kaufman remaining in office, shows just how ridiculous this entire charade has been. Only Sen. Zachary Kirby, who brought the charges, voted for Kaufman’s removal.
We believe this process has exposed a flaw in the system — namely, that one senator can move to impeach the student body president and throw SG into chaos. That’s not the way most local and state legislatures in this country work, much less the United States Congress.
We stand by our stance that Kaufman should not have been impeached in the first place. The recommendation from the Court of Impeachment committee correctly noted Kaufman’s error in the nomination process for elections commissioner, but wisely pointed out how silly it would be to throw him out of office. Surely there must have been a better way to rebuke Kaufman than what has transpired.
Now, as Student Body Vice President Lee Goble said, it’s time to get back to business for Student Government. We hope they can make up for lost time and start getting things done for the student body.