Saturday Update: Despite earning 60% of the vote, Claybrook was disqualified from the race Friday night by the school’s election commission. According to the student newspaper, the Claybrook candidacy either omitted some sales tax or listed it in the wrong blanks when preparing the required expense reports. When the $270 fine for this mistake was added to his total, his campaign expenses exceeded the permissible limit, which resulted in disqualification.
Claybrook plans to appeal, but a new runoff election between Thomas McNutt and Drew Barber, who placed third in primary voting, has been scheduled for Tuesday.
Update: All four candidates eliminated in the general election have publicly endorsed Claybrook in Friday’s runoff. You can watch their two-minute testimonial video here.
Lake Highlands High School 2009 grad John Claybrook is on a mission to become Student Body President at Texas A&M University, and this morning he is one step closer to that goal. After a few weeks of pressing the flesh with fellow Aggies on campus and mounting a sophisticated social media blitz with the help of fellow Aggies from LH, John has made the runoff and will go on Friday’s final ballot.
John’s road to the presidency took a bizarre turn last night, as opponent Thomas McNutt faced an Election Commission inquiry to ensure he hadn’t exceeded campaign spending limits (at issue was the value of donated website and media services). McNutt prevailed on appeal and remains in the race. Claybrook and McNutt are the only candidates to earn spots in the runoff.
You can watch John’s videos here and here and read an evaluation of all the candidates by the student newspaper here. His general themes are integrity and service, though he gives several specific plans of action for improving student life on his website here. He proposes offering free 30-minute parking in all campus spaces to allow quick errands for students and visitors, and his plan to lower textbook costs involves improving communication between faculty and textbook sellers so that stores know which books will be used in future semesters.
With his catchy slogan “Count on Claybrook,” here’s hoping the Aggies will have a Wildcat leading the way by Friday night.
