Two of the three presidential candidates have voiced concern about conflicts of interest in one Student Government election event.

Ryan Smith and Tyler Owen, both candidates in next week’s SG election, have said they will not participate in the forum hosted by the Student Health Advisory Council at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the W.T. Young Library.

Both feel fellow candidate Colby Khoshreza is too closely tied to the organization.

In the fall, Khoshreza joined SHAC, the student leadership component of UK’s University Health Service.  His girlfriend, Meghan Bostic, is president of the organization. Smith and Owen also cited Facebook pages of several SHAC members who had endorsed candidates on Khoshreza’s ticket.

“He’s part of SHAC,” Owen said. “He has influence there. He has incredible influence there.”

Khoshreza said SHAC did what organizations traditionally do: remove all conflicts of interest. Bostic decided not to participate in the event because of her relationship with Khoshreza. Although he has people in SHAC helping with his campaign, Khoshreza said it shouldn’t be an issue.

“I can think of a handful of people in SHAC that are helping me, but that’s a handful of 30-some members,” he said.

Mela Poonacha, in charge of organizing the SHAC forum, said she had never been informed Smith and Owen felt a conflict of interest existed; she was told the candidates declined for other reasons. Poonacha said she was disappointed Smith and Owen would not attend.

Smith said he could not remember if he addressed concerns about the conflict of interest to Poonacha, but said he would contact her. Owen said he never talked with Poonacha about his concerns.

Smith and Owen said they would participate in what they described as the three “traditional” debates in the SG election: the Greek Political Action Committee debate, the Resident Student Association debate and a diversity debate planned for next week. As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Owen had not received an invitation to the diversity debate, but would attend if invited. he said.

SHAC gave a list of eight questions to Smith and Owen about student health, which is what organizers planned for candidates to answer during the forum. Smith and Owen said they would both respond to questions SHAC has given them on student health, saying the issue is an important one for the campus community.