Trot Trade-off

I wish to protest the unwarranted attack on me in the last issue of Salient Abusing your position as editor, you inserted some rather curious comments in a report of the SRC elections on my election to International Affairs Officer. You ask, "why did he risk a difficult election in a field not his own? To put it another way, was there a trade off?"

Both positions are absolutely false and it is a sorry comment on your own editorial approach that you should insert such unfounded opinions in another person's article.

I can only conclude that your support for the defeated candidate coloured your objectivity in considering what happened. For instance, you do not seem to have even listened to my election speech, where I explained that I was twice elected International Affairs Officer at Auckland University. In addition, while holding the positions of Welfare Vice-President and Resource Officer at Auckland, I was closely involved in International campaigns, particularly those concerned with Southern Africa and Overseas Students.

As to your accusation of a "trade off", this is no more than a rather shoddy innuendo. At no stage did I offer my support or otherwise to anyone if they supported me, nor did I ask for such a "trade off. In fact, your inference to that effect tells us more about your own approach to student politics than mine.