While Ryan Kelly and Matt Correia have spent the last few weeks debating and hanging posters, Mike Rizzolo has spent his campaigning period preparing for his takeover of the comptroller position.

The sophomore finance and accounting major is the only candidate on the ballot for comptroller in this week’s Student Association election. It may appear that an unopposed run is undemocratic, but the lack of experienced candidates along with Rizzolo’s own dedication makes him the man for the job.

Rizzolo’s qualifications are strong. He has been with SA since the beginning of the spring 2006 semester and joined the Finance Board well before the budgeting season. He was nominated to take on the post of assistant comptroller, but declined the offer to maintain his vote.

It is not just Rizzolo’s own qualifications that make his ascension to the second-most-powerful position in SA acceptable, but the lack of another competent candidate. Correia and Rizzolo are the only experienced Finance Board members who will be around for the entirety of next term. There are other veteran board members but they will be graduating in May or going abroad for a semester, making them ineligible to run. Correia chose to run for president, leaving Rizzolo as the lone candidate for comptroller.

Rizzolo comes off as more of a bureaucrat than a politician. He speaks in detail about finance codes and budget processes. Even if he did have an opponent, he never planned on campaigning in the traditional sense as he finds the comptroller position equivalent to a ‘glorified accountant.’

Instead of campaigning, Rizzolo has spent the past weeks establishing ties with administrators and student groups.

‘I shifted (my focus) from getting attention drawn to me, bringing it to the groups,’ Rizzolo said.

For example, Rizzolo plans to make more efficient spending decisions. In the case of University Union, the campus group that receives the most funding through SA, Rizzolo has been working to get either more events for the same amount of money or spend less money without sacrificing the quality of events.

‘I don’t think anybody would notice the changes,’ said Rizzolo concerning his first 30 days in office. But he does believe that the groups who do need funding will feel more comfortable using a new more efficient budgeting process.

Of the two men who could potentially become his boss, Rizzolo endorses Kelly but is in no way opposed to Correia.

‘I do support Ryan, but I don’t not support Matt,’ said Rizzolo, in a rare moment where he sounded like a politician. ‘Instead of choosing between the lesser of two evils, we are choosing between the greater of two goods.’

I believe Rizzolo is truly seeking to manage the student fee with the interests of the paying students in mind. He told me he will rely on his ethics and only support programs that are using money from the student fee to benefit students’ lives. He refers to himself as a ‘public servant’ and lights up at the thought of helping a struggling group obtain funding.

‘I see the comptroller office as one of the best positions for making a beneficial change on this campus,’ he said.

This is a non-voting post that oversees a time-demanding Finance Board and deals with meticulous paperwork; and Rizzolo is thrilled to do it. The purpose of the comptroller is to administer the student activity fee with precision and expertise and I would trust this kid with my own bank account.

Matt Reilly is a featured columnist whose columns appear weekly in The Daily Orange. E-mail him at msreilly@syr.edu.

Published on November 12, 2006 at 12:00 pm