For those of us who didn't remember that Stanford has a student government, this week is the annual reminder. Every year, the ASSU pauses whatever it is it does to renew a pledge of "accountability, transparency, and communication" or some permutation. Candidates say they want to raise awareness of what the ASSU does and get more people involved. They say they want to represent YOU.

Want more than an annual week of flyering from the ASSU? You're not alone. Here's three questions we should be asking candidates:

1. What will you do differently than your predecessors?

Typically, candidates don't come into the ASSU with a vision for what they'd like to do with the office. Upon election, they face a steep learning curve and naturally turn to those with "experience" -- former officeholders -- to figure out what they should do. Meanwhile, officeholders are often eager to pass on their legacy and continue to groom candidates even two and three years out of office.

This leads to a high level of institutional reproduction. For those who think the ASSU is a great organization, that's not a problem. But if you think the current ASSU is about a three or a four out of 10, be skeptical of a candidate who gives it a seven or an eight. The first prerequisite for changing an organization is being able to see its problems.

2. What are three things you hope to accomplish during your first two months?

Criticism of business as usual is a requirement, but it's just the first step. Candidates should be coming into office with a list of specific, achievable goals.

Every year candidates run on the same buzzwords. If this year's candidates are repeating last year's campaign promises, it's because last year's candidates couldn't get it done. The current officeholders are bright, energetic and well-intentioned. Anyone who pledges to try the same stuff again, but work harder, is doomed to failure.

Changing the ASSU culture will require a focus on specific, achievable goals. An A for effort isn't enough. Campaign promises should be a checklist, and candidates should be able to give a "state of the campus" speech or write an op-ed halfway through their term and say which they've achieved. Suggest that to the candidate and see how they respond.

3. Who will you represent in office if elected?

One reason the ASSU comes up short is because of the limited coalition that's involved in selecting candidates. Most students don't bring their problems to the ASSU because they don't know who it is and don't expect that the ASSU will be helpful to them.

The elephant in the room is race politics on this campus. Fortunately, we're starting to see more cooperation than in recent history. A new generation of students are more willing to work together, the election brought together a truly diverse group of leadership around common interests, the MEChA special-fees debacle has made prominent groups intent on assembling bigger coalitions, and the candidates -- all of them -- have done an admirable job of working across dividing lines.

In order to serve the student body effectively, a candidate should know a broad range of students, from ethnic and religious organizations to club sports teams and sororities and be able to talk convincingly about their needs. Someone who says they will represent "everybody," "the average student" -- or, worst of all, "YOU" -- won't have the sort of agenda of achievables a successful candidate will need. Ask them who they've talked to -- names -- and what specific needs they intend to serve for those people and groups.

The ASSU needs candidates who have identified constituents and understood their needs, have a list of proposals they'd like to enact and understand that a cultural change is necessary in order to get the program accomplished. By asking these three questions, we can get a good sense of who's running to make the ASSU work better.

Kai Stinchcombe is former president of the Stanford Democrats and was the first to discover that "business as usual" is an anagram of "ASSU sin, ASSU lube." He has advised various candidates but is not affiliated with any campaign.