The recent State News editorial, "Lame duck attempt" (SN 3/29), was quite simply rife with specious logic, baseless assertions and out-and-out misinformation.

First, the assertion that the elected representatives do not properly represent their constituency is unfounded and ridiculous. Every elected representative is a member of his or her college and was democratically elected by their constituency.

Turnout was extremely low when Senator Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, was elected, but I didn't see The State News claiming she didn't represent the wishes of the people.

Furthermore, the complaint that write-in candidates shouldn't have had to be registered before the elections is laughable. Every election in this country requires that write-in candidates register beforehand; how else would we know which John Smith the votes go to?

We do have a problem with getting students involved, but saying they don't vote because there are no candidates is faulty logic because students are the candidates. If they were really so interested but didn't vote because there were no candidates, why didn't they run themselves? It isn't difficult to get the requisite signatures to be on the ballot.

Finally, you want a Web site with information about the candidates? Try http://asmsu.msu.edu. There was a nice big link right on the front page to the list of candidates and their personal statements.

Maybe if The State News ran stories about ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government, in the actual print edition more than once a month, more students might know what's going on. Something about petitions to get on the ballot being available would have been nice.

Matthew Caramagno
College of Social Science ASMSU Academic Assembly representative