I attempted to post the following comment about newly elected Provo mayor John Curtis on the Deseret News Comments Board, but it was blocked by their censors and never saw light of day. This kind of censorship has increased in recent months. It is completely unjustified.
John Curtis' sycophantic relationship with Senator Curtis Bramble bodes badly for Provo.
My wife showed up at state party headquarters Tuesday night in hopes of sitting in on a meeting of the Salt Lake County Republican Party's Executive Committee, being held in the headquarters of the Utah Republican Party.
She was greeted by a constable who served her papers stating that any attempt on her part to enter the state party headquarters during future meetings of said Executive Committee would result in her arrest.
Can anyone in the Salt Lake County Republican Party explain the basis for this absolutely baseless provocation on the part of the tyrants that continue to be in control of Utah's largest county Republican Party?
Hogan dropped as Republican delegate after protest
Fox "I have lived in Tooele for a long time, and I know Dugway, and I know Joyce Hogan doesn't live there."
By Tim Gillie
Staff Writer, Tooele Transcript Bulletin
A last-minute bid to have former Tooele County Republican Party vice chair Joyce Hogan, a Stockton resident, represent Dugway at the party's statewide organizing convention last Saturday was quashed after one party member filed a protest against the move.
The protest prompted Chris Sloan, chairman of the Tooele County Republican Party, to withdraw Hogan's name as a delegate.
"I was just trying to follow the spirit of the law and make sure that Dugway was represented at the convention by somebody," Sloan said. "If this had been a nominating convention instead of an organizing convention, I understand what I did would have been all right."
Dugway's Republican precinct chair moved out of the state recently, and Sloan said he has had a hard time finding a Republican in Dugway that wants the job.
"I appointed Hogan as a delegate because she has been active in the Republican Paty, and is involved in the Tooele County community as president of the Chamber of Commerce and several other community organizations," Sloan said. "Hogan also lives in the same legislative and senate district that includes Dugway."
Hogan is also the community relations manager in Tooele County for EnergySolutions.
Bobi Fox, a member of the county Republican central committee, noticed Hogan's name on the list of delegates she received 11 days before the convention.
"I saw Joyce's name on the list representing Dugway," Fox said.
"I have lived in Tooele for a long time, and I know Dugway and I know Joyce Hogan doesn't live there."
Party rules require delegates to live in the precinct they represent, according to Fox.
Party rules also require that all challenges to a delegate be filed by another state delegate. Fox, who was not a state delegate, was unable to file a formal protest with the state party's credentials committee, so she contacted Nancy Lord, a state delegate from Bluffdale with a history of reviewing delegate credentials. Lord filed the official complaint.
"The selection of delegates according to party rules is very important to protect the grassroots system of the party," Lord said.
The Republican Party credentials committee met Wednesday, June 10, just days before the Saturday convention. Sloan attended the meeting and acknowledged that Hogan's appointment did not meet state party rules, after which he withdrew Hogan's name as a delegate.
tgillie@tooeletranscript.com
Note: Chris Sloan currently serves as the president of the Utah Association of Realtors.
His wife, Berna Sloan, serves on the board of directors for the Tooele Chamber of Commerce.
Chris serves as an "ambassador" for the chamber, which, as mentioned in the article, is headed by Joyce Hogan.
It is believed that all of the delegates that Chris illegally appointed into the convention would have voted for Tooele County Republican, Christy Achziger, in her bid for State Party Secretary, had they not been denied credentials due to the challenge raised by Bobi Fox.
It was amazing. I showed up. I sat. I observed. And a group of about 20 grown men went spasmatic for literally 75 minutes, while we sat and quietly observed. Then I got this nasty email from the new chair of the Salt Lake County Republican Party, Thomas (my new party will be inclusive) Wright. Threatening me with arrest if I ever dared to, again, show up, sit, and observe.
Admittedly, my supernatural mind control powers were too much for the small and weak minds of the appointed yes men that surround Mr. Wright, and for poor Mr. Wright himself. I came out of the meeting exhilarated that I had, without uttering a word, been able to dominate these advocates of evil to the extent that I had. My powers were never more in evidence than that day and I thank he who is the source of these powers for endowing me in this fashion so that I may bring chaos to a party that has become the personification of chaos for so many years now.
Okay, I jest. But, as with all good jesting, there has to be something truthful about my caricature of the meeting and the subsequent fallout that was "chaired" to use the term in a very loose way by the least qualified of the candidates who presented themselves for the position of county party chair less than two months ago at the Salt Lake County Republican Convention.
Here's what Paul Rolly wrote about my magical powers of teleparalysis in his column today.
Paul Rolly: Learning bipartisanship from the master
By Paul Rolly Tribune Columnist
Updated: 04/24/2009 05:12:44 PM MDT
State Sen. Curt Bramble has been in Baghdad the past couple of weeks teaching Iraqis about democracy.
The Provo Republican has been part of a team of teachers sent to Iraq by the American Legislative Exchange (ALEC), a conservative national partnership between legislators and business. They conducted training sessions for the Baghdad Provincial Council on how to be a legislator and what it means to represent the people, not the party, according to one mission statement.
Students of Bramble and his colleagues included supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the ultra-conservative faction, and supporters of Nuri al-Maliki, the moderates.
No word on whether the instruction also included workshops on float building, pizza ordering or junkets to Italy with lobbyists.
So Dave Hansen thinks that he should be king* because, well, because Senator Hatch and Senator Bennett want him to be.* King: In Utah, a synonym for the position of "Utah Republican Party Chairman." As in the case of King Arthur, Utah kings are not truly supreme, but are actually chosen by a "higher power."
Dennis and I have a word for Dave Hansen. And yes, we're tired of being "repressed" and treated "like inferiors."
Rolly: Police ready to serve the GOP
By Paul Rolly, Salt Lake Tribune Columnist
March 18, 2009
I wrote recently about the confrontation that Republican dissident Mike Ridgway had with family members of Sen. Curt Bramble at a debate the Provo Republican was having with his Democratic opponent last fall. Ridgway supported the Democrat -- which some might consider a crime in Utah County -- and wanted to film the debate. He was headed off at the pass by the Brambles, however, and eventually left at the request of the homeowner.
Even before Ridgway had arrived, the Highway Patrol had gone to the house at Bramble's request. When Ridgway filed a complaint with the Provo police over the way he was treated, he was the one charged with a misdemeanor. But that was dropped after the Provo City attorney actually interviewed witnesses.
Now comes the Utah County Central Committee meeting. On Saturday, Ridgway, who was attending with his wife, suddenly was approached by Utah County Sheriff James O. Tracy, letting him know he wouldn't tolerate any disturbance. Ridgway says the sheriff shadowed him throughout the meeting.
Tracy, who is a Republican delegate and was acting as sergeant-at-arms at the meeting, says he just wanted to let Ridgway know who he was and that he hoped to avoid any disruption. He sat near Ridgway during the meeting, but said he was not shadowing him and Ridgway was free to move about .
prolly@sltrib.com
Now that the 2009 Utah Legislative session is out of the way, the Republican Party establishment in Utah can focus 100% on tuning up the party machinery for another two-year cycle of steamrolling grassroots members of the party.
As they did today.
In Utah County, Utah Republican Party Chair, Stan Lockhart, spoke against a proposal to shift the balance of power on the Utah County Republican Party Steering Committee, which is composed of nine members, by the slightest of degrees.
Currently, the committee is comprised of the four elected party officers and five persons appointed by the four party officers.
The proposal that Mr. Lockhart felt compelled to oppose would have reduced the number of appointees from five to four, by providing for election instead of appointment of just one of the five appointees, the so-called "education chair," whatever that is.
Mr. Lockhart told the assembly that elections are generally a bad idea because they create "opportunities for dissension and . . . chaos . . . ." (To thunderous applause. Remember that line from Star Wars?)
Mr. Lockhart is, of course absolutely correct.
In Hitler's Germany, there were no opportunities for dissension in the Gestapo. In Stalin's Soviet Union, there were no opportunities for dissension on the Politburo. In Saddam Hussein's Iraq, there were no opportunities for dissension.
In Stan Lockhart's vision of the perfect system, there are no opportunities for dissension.
Just over half of the members of the Central Committee thought that it was and they voted to defeat the proposal. (Two-thirds would have been required for adoption of the proposed amendment.)
Isn't it great to know that in Stan Lockhart's Republican Party, "Republican" means "Republ-I-can be as unaccountable as I want to be"?
October 30, 2008
Dear Fellow Republicans,
I am asking that you view a 5 minute video entitled "Utah's October Surprise". I felt this video is important enough that I am encouraging you to view it and forward this email to your family and friends.
In short, there is a movement afoot by organized interest groups to destroy their political opposition not by defeating their ideas, but by attacking their reputation and character.
While this video describes what is happening to one Republican legislator, this same effort is underway against other Republicans throughout Utah.
To view the video click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYD_kGJfhBM
If you would like to volunteer by making "Get Out The Vote" phone calls or final literature drops please send an email to randy@slcogop.com.
I thank you for your support of the Republican Party and please vote early or on November 4, 2008.
James M. Evans, Chair
Salt Lake County Republican Party
P.S. A contribution amount of $50, $30, $20, $10, or an amount you can afford will help with our last minute campaign expenses. You may make an online contribution by clicking here www.slcogop.com. You may also send a check or money order to Salt County Republican Party, P.O. Box 719, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110.
If bloggers (and journalists) could be choosers, it is pretty likely that "curteous" Curt Bramble would be cleaning out his desk already.
But this is still America and it's still not up to bloggers and journalists to decide who will run our lives and our country. It's up to us.
But that's exactly where the trouble often begins and ends.
Too many voters, it seems, never pick up a newspaper, never make a phone call, never study their representatives' voting records, never apprise themselves of the telling anecdotes that can reveal more than an opinion survey or a special interest group's self-interested rating system.
Honestly. Call ten people in Senate District 16 (in Provo, Utah) and ask them who their state senator is. Don't be suprised when half of the people you talk to don't know. And don't be surprised when more than half of that half will blindly vote for the incumbent because he has an R next to his or her name, or, worse, when they tell you that they're just voting straight-party Republican.
Yes, I'm a Republican. But for America to be America some day, we Republicans are some day going to have to adopt some kind of rational standard for who gets our vote that goes beyond the clothing that a given wolf chooses to wear when it gets close to election time.
That said, here's the latest reminder of what all Utahns will get get for another four years if the voters in Senate 16 abdicate their responsibility to set party affiliation aside and to vote for the all around best candidate in their race. It's a blog posting from Glen Warchol, of the Salt Lake Tribune. If you know someone in Provo's Senate District 16, please forward this to them with as much supporting information as you can muster. Or just send them a link to my blog. They should be able to take it from there.
(From Greg Warchol at the Salt Lake Tribune's Salt Crawler Blog...)Re-elect Brambo, please
The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board says you folks in Provo ought not re-elect Curt Bramble state senator. Here's why:
- He ignores the voice of the public.
- He pushes through laws that lead to expensive court cases and referendums.
- He's big on back-room deals.
- He crushes ethics reform like a steamroller over a bug.
- He's a bully (hence the nickname: "Brambo.")
- He's "ham handed." (I never looked that closely, but whatever.)
- He's a lousy tipper. (They forgot that one.)
But as a news guy, I beg you to re-elect Curt Bramble. Here's why:
- He gets into hilarious chest bumping confrontations with other legislators, Democrats, activists, reporters, pizza delivery girls, small dogs and anything else that crosses his turf.
- He's got a bad haircut.
- When he gets pissed on the Senate floor he looks like Mussolini.
- When he tries to be charming, nearby babies cry and dogs howl.
- His eyes pop out of his head cartoon-like when you ask him hard questions.
- He's got a really creepy relationship with Rep. Becky Lockhart and her husband, GOP party overlord Stan Lockhart.
- There's probably a lot more dirt about his relationships with lobbyists and special interests than we'll ever know.
- He's a passionate bully.
- HE'S NOT BORING!
It comes down to this — do you want good government on Capitol Hill or rock 'em-sock 'em entertainment? Bramble's escapades are among the few things that keep us awake during the Legislature.
Take a listen to this recording of Mike Ridgway calling Susie Bramble, the wife of Republican Utah State Senator, Curt Bramble, in the spring of 2008, trying to get contact information for the delegates who would be deciding whether to re-elect her husband to a third term in the Utah Senate.
It must be wonderful to be an elected official with a wife who is as protective of the power that her husband wields as he is himself. Not all tyrants' wives are so cooperative in such matters.
You may want to take notes so that you can itemize, for future reference, each instance where I threaten Mrs. Bramble with personal harm. While you're at it, try making a tick mark every time Mrs. Bramble displays one of those tell-tale signs that she really doesn't have a clue of what she is doing or is supposed to do as the secretary of her husband's county Republican party.
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Rolly: Testy confrontations within Utah's GOP
By Paul Rolly
Salt Lake Tribune Columnist
Mike Ridgway is a longtime Republican activist whose disagreements with the party establishment have led to his banishment from holding party offices, a court injunction barring him from having contact with a Republican rival and a trespassing arrest at Utah GOP headquarters in 2007.
Now he has filed his own police report with the Provo Police Department alleging he was threatened by the family of Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who himself is no stranger to testy confrontations.
Ridgway is supporting Bramble's Democratic opponent, RaDene Hatfield, and attempted to film a Thursday debate between Bramble and Hatfield at the Provo home of John Curtis.
When Curtis, who was contacted earlier in the day by Ridgway, informed the candidates of Ridgway's desire to film the event, Bramble objected, so Curtis assured the candidate he wouldn't allow the filming.
When Ridgway showed up with his camera equipment, he was confronted immediately by Bramble's wife, Susan, and Bramble's two adult sons. According to the police report and a blogger who was there to attend the debate, the discussion got heated and one of the young Brambles looked like he was going to "deck" Ridgway.
Curtis said he asked Ridgway into his study to calm the situation, but after a few minutes of conversation he felt Ridgway was getting too upset. Curtis said he needed to get back to attend to the 150 people at the debate, so he asked Ridgway to leave and he obliged.
Ridgway then noticed Highway Patrol troopers going to the house. Bramble confirmed he had called the UHP when he learned Ridgway would attend the meeting because, "he has threatened my wife," a charge Ridgway denies.
Ridgway supporters believe he is the reason the Legislature passed a bill last session, sponsored by Bramble in the Senate, that makes it easier to file stalking charges against an individual.
An affidavit, used with permission, from I was talking to my Dad when Senator Curt Bramble came up to my dad and started talking. Where he had stood, he was in front of me and I had been between him and the wall. So eventually I walked around to where both of them could see me.
He asked "Is this your son?" and my dad said "Yes, this is
He then tried to shake my hand and I shook my head "no." (He had just got done trying to cuss my dad out. Didn't do a very good job though.)
And then he said, "You are a class act -- just like your dad," and repeated it several times and he walked away for a couple minutes.
When he came back after talking with Dana Dickson and some other men, he put his hand on my Dad's shoulder and said "Even Democrats and Republicans can shake hands." My Dad then asked him to take his hand off his shoulder and Curt did not move it and he kept talking.
My Dad then repeated himself and said "Get your hand off my shoulder."
Senator Bramble hesitated at first but finally took his hand off.
My Dad then asked him to please back away from him and our conversation. (My dad knew that they were trying to get him to do something because he had noticed Dana Dickson had been standing close over to where we were when Curt suddenly wanted to talk.)
I had noticed that while I stood their behind Senator Bramble, that some man kept looking over to us and did not know who he was until my Dad pointed out Dana Dickson to Senator Bramble.
When Senator Bramble walked away he again repeated to me that I was a class act like my dad several more times after my dad told Senator Bramble that he had no class as he was mocking his 14 year-old son. This did not seem to matter to Senator Bramble.
On the way out of the building some man (who my Dad told me was Robert Wright) was loudly making comments to other people about my Dad.
Here is an irony, says former Salt Lake County Republican Chairwoman Tiani Coleman: The widely reported run-in Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble had with his Democratic opponent recently could result in stalking charges against Bramble under a new law he helped pass.
To be clear, I'm not saying that Bramble stalked anybody, and neither is Coleman. Her point is that the law is so broad and poorly worded that a stalking action could be brought just from a mild disagreement between two parties.
HB143 was sponsored in the 2008 Legislature by Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, and carried in the Senate by Bramble. It was brought at the request of the Utah Attorney General's Office to clamp down on harassment tactics, including text messaging.
But Coleman, an attorney, says the law puts the bar so low, someone could get another charged with stalking just by claiming a confrontation caused them emotional pain and made them feel threatened.
"But [the new law] doesn't just cover being physically threatened," Coleman said. "It has changed the wording from fear of bodily injury to fear of safety. That could mean political safety, reputational safety or emotional safety," she said.
And the person being accused of stalking doesn't even have to be aware that he or she is causing the other person distress, she said in a letter to legislators asking them to repeal the law.
Bramble and his opponent, RaDene Hatfield, ran into each other on Saturday, Oct. 18, while out campaigning. Hatfield later wrote on her blog she felt Bramble was confrontational and she felt under attack. Her husband sent Bramble a letter making the same accusations, which Bramble released to the media.
Bramble said the two had a conversation, he brought up concerns about some campaign tactics and she became emotional.
Coleman says that's all it takes for a stalking charge under the new law.
Bramble says Coleman is dealing in hypotheticals that only can be substantiated once a case is brought into court.
20 October 2008
Dear Mr. Bramble:
I was deeply disturbed to learn that you and several members of your campaign team approached RaDene while she was campaigning alone on State Street and 800 South in Provo on Saturday. It was completely inappropriate for you to speak harshly to her and persist when she told you the conversation was over.
RaDene is basing her campaign on the idea that respectful communication is necessary for the good of our community. But for good reason, in contested elections, like in litigation, the parties involved keep a respectful distance. It is too easy, as was the case for RaDene on Saturday, for one party to feel threatened. Your aggressive and vague accusations while she was alone, away from her car and supporters, but while you were surrounded by yours, would be unsettling to anyone in her position. Please do not approach RaDene again while she is alone during this campaign.
The truth is that both campaigns have suffered from sign vandalism, threatening anonymous messages, and other practices that are regrettable. One of our workers reported observing Saturday three persons wearing your campaign shirts removing literature from houses our workers had visited but where no one was home. We have instructed our campaign workers to not disturb any other campaign literature they come across, and trust you will do the same. However, we do believe that much of the improper behavior comes from third parties—perhaps unthinking teenagers or disgruntled residents that do not know better how to express themselves.
Meanwhile, we expect you to conduct a campaign free of intimidation and other behavior unbecoming a trustee of the public’s welfare, including the wellbeing of the election process. We will do the same.
To help hold both our campaigns to this standard, we are sending this letter to the press.
Sincerely,
Harlan M. Hatfield
After nearly a day of testimony from Salt Lake County Republican Party Chair, James Evans, former Utah Republican Party Executive Director, Jeff Hartley, and former Salt Lake County Republican Party Executive Director, Land Reay, Judge L. G. Cutler threw out the charges of trespassing brought against me by the city at the behest of these very Republican insiders with an excoriating rebuke of the Salt Lake City prosecutors for their incompetence in being forward charges without any viable substantiation from the above-named witnesses that they chose to put on the stand.
Evans, Reay, and Hartley repeatedly contradicted each other, unable to corroborate their testimonies due to the exclusionary rules that were in effect, which only allowed each witness to be in the courtroom at the time that each was giving his own testimony. Even more detrimental to the prosecutors' case (read: the Republican Party's case) was defense attorney Liz Hunt's generous reliance on audio recordings made on the night of my arrest and incarceration which completely contradicted numerous allegations made by these Republican leaders and staffers.
The trespassing charge for which I was tried was the last of four criminal charges to be filed illegitimately against me by leaders of the Salt Lake County and Utah Republican Party recently as part of a determined effort to deny me the exercise of my civil rights as a member of the Utah Republican Party.
All four charges were brought about from flagrantly dishonest reports made by party insiders to unwitting police agents who failed to consider exculpatory information which could have averted the squandering of precious city tax dollars spent to keep me in jail for five days and to prosecute me over a period of 16 months in two jurisdictions, Salt Lake City and Sandy, Utah.
To date, there is no indication whatsoever, that the individuals who perjured themselves in my trial or who made false reports to the police will be held accountable for their criminal acts.
On Wednesday, July 9, 2008, I, Mike Ridgway, am scheduled to appear in Salt Lake City Justice Court (333 South 200 East, Salt Lake City, Utah) to answer a charge of trespassing brought against me by the Salt Lake County Republican Party stemming from my attendance at an open meeting of the Salt Lake County Republican Executive Committee on March 8, 2007.
The motives of the moving parties, in this case, the Salt Lake County Republican Party and the Utah Republican Party have to be understood to completely understand why this case has implications that go far beyond whether an individual was in violation of the trespassing ordinances of the Salt Lake City Corporation.
In order to help members of the Utah Republican Party, journalists, and interested citizens to understand the true dynamics that are operating under the surface of this case, I and a handful of volunteers are making a portion of a conversation with Utah Republican Party Vice Chair, Todd Weiler, available for review. Simply click on the graphic below to launch the recording. More items will be added to this page as time constraints allow.
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Good Cop/Bad Cop, known in British military circles as Mutt and Jeff (from an American newspaper comic strip of that name) and also called joint questioning and friend and foe[1], is a psychological tactic used for interrogation.It involves a team of two interrogators who take apparently opposing approaches to the subject. The interrogators may interview the subject alternately or may confront the subject at the same time.
The 'Bad Cop' takes an aggressive, negative stance towards the subject, making blatant accusations, derogatory comments, threats, and in general creating antipathy between the subject and himself. This sets the stage for the 'Good Cop' to act sympathetically: appearing supportive, understanding, in general showing sympathy for the subject. The good cop will also defend the subject from the bad cop. The subject may feel he can cooperate with the good cop out of trust and/or fear of the bad cop. He may then seek protection by and trust the good cop and tell him the needed information.
"The technique is easily recognized by those familiar with it, but it remains useful against subjects who are young, frightened, or naïve. Experienced interrogators assess the subject's level of intelligence and experience with the technique prior to its application."
[The purpose of this site: UTGOP.net has been created by Utah Republican activist, Mike Ridgway, to facilitate the creation of a network of informed and committed Utah Republicans who will, God willing, rise up some distant day to finally put an end to the corruption that has racked the Utah Republican Party and a large number of the county Republican Parties in Utah for more than a quarter of a century.
This installment deals with what Monty Python once referred to as "the violence inherent in the system." And no, it really isn't pretty. ]
GOP chairman may be in cross hairs
Did Lockhart try to push Ellis to get out of race?
Treasurer investigation might include state GOP leader (To read the more than 54 comments, click here.)
From KSL-TV:
Republican Party chairman implicated in state treasurer's scandal
All this year, whenever Stan or the party's vice chair, Todd Weiler, were accused of breaking party rules to aid and abet incumbent Republicans running against challenger Republicans, Stan and Todd were very quick to glibly chat up inquiring journalists with insinuations that their interpretations of the rules gave them just enough wiggle room to be able to hold their head high as they blindsided numerous connectionless Republican candidates who were being carpet bombed by their incumbent rivals.
How funny, now that the allegations no longer involve the rules of the party but, rather, the laws of the state, that Stan Lockhart is just a tad more conservative when it comes to proferring legal opinions about the meanings of small words.
Expect Mr. Lockhart's stonewalling of the media regarding his role in the treasurer's race to continue indefinitely.
Comment in response to today's cheery article on the bright future of Republicans in Utah, in the Deseret News, Mike Ridgway:
So the Republican Party is strong in Utah. Problem is, in 49 other states, the trend, as two years ago, is decidedly downward.
Thankfully, Republican voters in Utah's 3rd Congressional District have an opportunity to help our country chart a new course -- by choosing a new kind of Republican to represent Utah in Washington.
On or before June 24th, 3rd district Republicans can take a stand against status quo sellouts whose arrogance and self-promoting agendas will guarantee Democrats even greater gains in 2008 than those achieved in 2006.
Accomplishing such a turnaround will not be easy. It will take an extremely concerted effort from conscientious, ethical, conservative Republicans and their independent compatriots. Each of us must take on the commitment to contribute more than our share in time and financial support to help Congressional candidate Jason Chaffetz win the election that he was cheated out of at the Republican convention on May 10th.
So please. Get yourself to the polls -- and then get 100 of your friends there voting as well.
Let no man count these as small things, for there is much which "lieth in futurity" pertaining to America and her freedoms which depends upon these things.
Isn't it great that governmental immunity protects creeps like Bryce Curdie. Isn't it great that when you're a Salt Lake City policeman, you can do anything you want to people as long as no one can read your mind. Isn't it great that this person is going to have to pay his own expenses for the permanent injuries incurred at the hands of Bryce Curdie for the rest of his life and that Bryce Curdie will be still be employed in Salt Lake City, ready to take down other senior citizens on behalf of liars. Isn't it great that we live in such a pretty great state, with that great slogan, VICE ELEVATED? You betcha it is.
Mike Ridgway, handcuffed and incarcerated for five days by Salt Lake City Policeman, Bryce Curdie, March 8, 2007. Prosecutors later realized that he had been duped by the Republican complainants and released me without charge.
Being duped by liars is easy when you don't bother to get the other side of a story before tackling or arresting an innocent person. A professional would know that. But then Bryce Curdie is no professional.
Here's the article: Did officer intentionally violate man's rights?, Deseret News, 30 May 2008
As one might expect, the censors at the Deseret News failed to approve my comment for public view.
That's a mouthful. And very hard to swallow.
By Ethan's reckoning, "Two Threats In One Night"
LOCAL OPINION: Republican [Russel Sias] questions party's leadership, processes
A response to a self-congratulating Op-Ed by Utah Republican Party Chair, Stan Lockhart, and Utah County Republican Party Chair, Marian Monnahan.
Deseret News political reporter and opinion writer, Bob Bernick, continues to drill the point that I have been drilling for the last ten years.
Political column: The stakes are higher nowadays in Utah politics
For six years, I and others have been waiting for a victim of the current corrupted Utah Republican convention system to cry foul. Because there have been no shortage of victims.
Today was the day.
Here's the article: GOP convention results challenged
[The following excerpt comes to us from an email sent by Stan Lockhart to the state delegates in the Utah Republican Party. This is a classic example of something that permeates the thinking of Republican leadership at every level in this state. In the Congress and US Senate, in the governor's mansion and in the attorney general's office. In the Utah House and Utah Senate. And in the Utah Republican Party and the 29 County Republican Parties.
I call it the audaciousness of sleaze.
"Yes, I'm a screw up," Mr. Lockhart acknowledges. "But I didn't really do anything wrong. Just ask Curt Bramble and Marian Monnahan. I'm sure they'll vouch for my integrity."
"But what really matters isn't what they think. It's what you think. And you still love and trust me. You really, really do. So, I'm glad we were able to have this little conversation where I could remind you, once again, that all animals are equal; just some more than others."
Emphasis added (below) in blood red.]
From Stan Lockhart:
Odds and Ends
Recently, there have been some news stories critical of me. Most realize that the media isn't always the best source of information, but as Paul Harvey used to say, "Now for the rest of the story"
A Party staffer, without my knowledge, helped mail a flier on behalf of five Republican candidates. As long as challengers hadn't filed against these incumbents, this mailer would have been perfectly appropriate. The staffer thought they were being extra helpful. Unfortunately, the mailer was sent after intraparty challengers had filed. When alerted to this situation, I called the four affected challengers with an apology and an offer to send a similar piece for each of them at Party expense. Three of the challengers accepted my apology. One didn't.
Another issue is access to emails. The decision to have the State Party send emails to delegates on behalf of candidates was made after a great deal of deliberation. I take full responsibility for it and here is why it was done. The State Party makes available the names, addresses and phone numbers of delegates, but our party documents don't address the issue of emails. The State Party relies on County Parties to give us the information and in the past some counties wouldn't give us their email lists. So some candidates would get access to emails and some wouldn't. Also, there were reports of third parties selling our lists for profit. Last, some delegates on those lists would call us asking to be removed from the list. With those emails in the hands of so many people, it was impossible to take someone off the list at their request. I thought that this would treat all candidates fairly and at the same time protect delegates from spam. We'll evaluate how well it's worked after the convention and consider changes.
Finally, my daughter became a county delegate in the precinct where she will reside as of the convention. She is beginning classes at BYU for Spring term and she is moving from home into student housing. BYU's winter term almost always ends between caucus night and the Utah County convention making this process about the only way a BYU student can serve as a delegate. In an effort ensure she was following the rules, in advance of the caucus my daughter called the Chair of the Utah County Party who indicated she was proceeding correctly.
I accept the fact that as Republican Party Chair I'm fair game for the media and delegates. When something goes wrong, I'll get the blame. When something goes right, much of the credit goes to others. That is a part of the job description. I do my best. Sometimes I make mistakes and when that happens I try to make it right. In the end, it's a volunteer position and I serve at the will of you, the delegates. I appreciate your trust in me. It's a great honor and privilege to represent you.
Best Regards,
Stan Lockhart
[Note from the author: In my humble opinion, whoever has been talking to the news media about all of these Utah Republican Party scandals needs to be forcibly removed, post haste, and without due process, from their positions in the party, incarcerated for five days, then prosecuted on bogus trespassing charges, not because he's guilty of trespassing, but "to teach him a lesson." With Stan Lockhart casting the first stone, as it were.]
Search results for "Stan Lockhart" from Google News --
sorted by date (as of 19 April 2008)
| What a mess Utah Republican Party has made Deseret News, UT - 14 hours ago By Bob Bernick Jr. What a mess Utah Republican Party has made By Bob Bernick Jr. Deseret News Published: April 18, 2008 Utah voters: Welcome to the political world of Stan Lockhart, Curt Bramble and, for those living in Happy Valley, the Utah County Republican Party. When GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., after briefly trying to find someone on his own to be the new chairman of the Utah Republican Party last year, decided to "wash his hands" of picking the new party leader, I'm told he was warned that letting GOP legislators pick the man (or woman) could prove troublesome. But Huntsman decided to stay out of it. And so Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem; Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo; House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy; and other legislative luminaries decided on local lobbyist Stan Lockhart, whose wife is state Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo. (State GOP delegates pick party leaders, but they usually follow the advice of their top elected officials.) Known as part of the GOP Utah County clique, Stan Lockhart is well known to many legislators. For years as the Micron lobbyist, he had provided more Jazz tickets to lawmakers than any other lobbyist. A Deseret News calculation by investigative reporter Lee Davidson found that Stan Lockhart has given legislators nearly $60,000 in Jazz tickets over the years. Stan Lockhart is best buddies with Bramble — their families go on trips together, including a jaunt to Italy last summer. (Bramble, in an as-yet-unpublished lobbyist-giving study by Davidson, leads all legislators in taking $1,447 in lobbyist gifts during the first quarter of this year, which includes the 2008 Legislature. Bramble says he paid his own way to Italy, taking no gifts from Lockhart or another well-known lobbyist who went on the trip.) I'm told that a few other GOP supporters warned Lockhart that he would have to be his own man as party chairman, and that the "Bram-harts" — as the couples are collectively known — would not be running the Utah Republican Party like their own little fraternity. But someone didn't get the memo. The 2008 legislative elections — where Lockhart is expected to deliver the normal GOP landslides — haven't started well for the party insiders. You see, the Republican Party is supposed to be neutral in intra-party races — at least on the face of it. Of course, like many cliques, the real party organizations are not that objective. But this spring, Lockhart really blew it when he sanctioned a political fundraiser for what is now called the Fab Five — four Utah County House Republicans and one southern Salt Lake County House member, who are up for re-election this year. The problem: Lockhart's state GOP sent out the fundraising letters under the state GOP mailing privilege, while the state party is supposed to be neutral. And four of those five House Republicans are being challenged this year by fellow Republicans. Asked why he did such an unfair thing, Lockhart tried to explain that he was planning on sending out the Fab Five brochure BEFORE the candidate filing opened. And thus the party would be helping GOP incumbents before any intra-party challenge(s). But he just got so busy recruiting candidates (probably not trying to recruit candidates to run against the Fab Five), that the invitations went out late — after the candidate filing deadline and four of the five had intra-party challengers. It violates party rules for the party to get involved in such favoritism during a contested GOP election. Lockhart said sorry, and offered to pay for a fundraising letter for the challengers. Second screw-up: Back in Happy Valley, the Utah County GOP chairwoman decided that no GOP candidates would get the e-mail addresses of newly elected delegates — complaints about getting spammed in 2006 were made by some delegates. E-mails make it easier for the candidates to contact delegates who will be voting on them in the upcoming Utah County Republican Convention. And, get this, the Utah County GOP secretary, who has all the delegate e-mails, is Susan Bramble — wife of Sen. Bramble, who also is being challenged by two Republicans for his own re-election this year. Sen. Bramble told the media he would not get the e-mail addresses from his wife — but even some Happy Valley Republicans didn't buy that one. While that argument is going on, some GOP district chairmen gave out the delegate e-mail addresses to candidates anyway, others didn't, so the Utah County GOP chairwoman bowed out and gave all the party candidates all the delegate e-mail addresses in their respective districts. Third screw-up: At a meet-the-delegate night in Spanish Fork, a Utah County GOP committeewoman told Republican candidate Chance Williams, who is challenging Rep. Mike Morley, R-Spanish Fork, that if Williams mentioned the $3 million lawsuit brought against Morley by the federal government over a soured business deal, she would close down the meeting. Williams didn't bring it up, but one delegate said he's disgusted with party leaders trying to protect their own. Who cares about the First Amendment and freedom of speech anyway? Fourth screw-up: One of Sen. Bramble's GOP challengers, Jacqueline de Gaston, is complaining that while she can get the list of the GOP delegates in her race (even with the e-mails) she can't find out how many of those are delegates elected in neighborhood meetings, how many are so-called "superdelegates" — party officeholders and others who get their delegate status without having to run in the neighborhood party mass meetings. Seems the Utah County Republican Party may have a higher percent of those superdelegates (10 to 15 percent, believes de Gaston) than do other county parties (3 or 4 percent) — thus stacking the deck in favor of party insiders. Perhaps a final straw? Party Chairman Lockhart's daughter, who was living with her parents at the time of the March neighborhood mass meetings, attended a GOP mass meeting in her new neighborhood as she attends BYU this spring. So she was elected a delegate in a district that at the time she was not living in. But GOP officials say that is OK, since she will represent the appropriate area at the party convention. And in all the discussions about GOP delegates and proper activity, guess who is the chairman of the delegate credentials committee at the Utah State Republican Convention: Sen. Curt Bramble. This whole mess reads like "Animal Farm" — the futuristic totalitarian novel — where the animal-run farm motto is: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. Note to a likely re-elected Huntsman, who is the nominal head of the party: In 2009 get involved in who the new GOP state chairman is and lead an effort to clean up the Utah Republican Party. ------------------------------ Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com Followed by ... |
| Senate hopeful denied list of GOP delegates [by Curt Bramble's wife, et al] Salt Lake Tribune, United States - Apr 16, 2008 ... in caucuses versus the number that are "automatic" or "ex officio" - terms that state GOP Party Chairman Stan Lockhart considers interchangeable. ... |
| GOP delegate election raises charges of nepotism in Utah County [on the part of the Stan and Becky Lockhart] Salt Lake Tribune, United States - Apr 14, 2008 "Typically [delegates] have to live in the precinct they represent," Stan Lockhart said. "But many of the documents are somewhat vague as to whether they ... |
| County challengers question 'superdelegates' [like Curt Bramble, Susie Bramble, Stan Lockhart, Becky Lockhart, and Jeff Alexander] Daily Herald, UT - Apr 12, 2008 "We are simply following the rules of the party as stated in the documents," said state party chairman Stan Lockhart. "These complaints are really just ... |
| E-mail rumpus [by Susie Bramble et al,] has some [challengers to incumbent Republicans] steamed Salt Lake Tribune, United States - Apr 11, 2008 The new practice was meant to protect delegates from excessive spam, said state Republican Party Chairman Stan Lockhart. "The integrity of the delegate ... |
| Lobbyists' reports disclose gifts to lawmakers [Like Greg Curtis and Curt Bramble] Deseret News, UT - Apr 11, 2008 Bramble enjoyed an $84.60 steak dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House with State GOP Chairman Stan Lockhart on March 3, while Rep. Jack Draxler, R-North Logan; ... |
| Infighting by county GOP likely not over [given Stan Lockhart's unwillingness to step down as state party chair] Deseret News, UT - Apr 5, 2008 State chair Stan Lockhart said the mailer was supposed to be sent before other candidates filed and before the neighborhood caucuses. ... |
| Paul Rolly: GOP [i.e., the Bram-Hart regime] out to rescue its [incumbent-buddy] superheroes Salt Lake Tribune, United States - Apr 4, 2008 Becky Lockhart and her husband and State Republican Party Chairman Stan Lockhart, among others. (Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. ... |
| Candidate wants access to e-mail list [but Susie and Curt Bramble say no] Daily Herald, UT - Mar 31, 2008 State GOP head Stan Lockhart told the AP that the mailer was supposed to go out before the March 17 candidate filing deadline, but party workers were so .. |
| GOP flier [sent out by a paid party staffer for Stan Lockhart] raising a ruckus Deseret News, UT - Mar 28, 2008 But State GOP Chairman Stan Lockhart said "it doesn't amount to an endorsement at all." To make things right, Lockhart said he's offered the challengers the ... |
How interesting to see an article in the Salt Lake Tribune where the writer, before even getting into the he-said-she-said of the matter, immediately takes sides with the complainants in the case.
In today's edition, Tribune writer, Cathy McKitrick, does exactly that in an article entitled, Delegate pick may violate the rules. Here are the first two paragraphs of the article:"Among all the other complaints about insider dealing in the Utah County candidate nomination system this year, add one about state Republican Chairman Stan Lockhart's daughter being elected as a delegate in a neighborhood caucus where she didn't live at the time.
This kind of spin has been the norm in the Utah Republican Party for decades. This year is no exception, as can be seen in the following examples where party leaders have "violated the plain language of the rules" while "insisting that they have not" by...
"It appears to violate the plain language of the rules, though party leaders insist it doesn't." (Salt Lake Tribune, April 15, 2008, detailing how Chairman Stan Lockhart's daughter appears to have succeeded in getting elected as a Republican delegate, in spite of the fact that she did not live in the precinct she was elected to represent on the evening of the caucuses.)
| rec0415-043016.mp3 |
I decided to help him finish it. This is the first and foremost reason to defeat Senator Curt Bramble at this year's Utah County Republican Convention. Details below.
Sunday, 13 April 2008
County Challengers Question "Automatic Delegates" |  |  |
| DAILY HERALD | |
| Joe Pyrah As the left's political donnybrook continues in the presidential ring, the right's own battle here at home is heating up before the county's April 26 GOP convention. The weapon of choice for incumbents of either party, say critics, is the so-called superdelegate or automatic delegate. While traditional delegates are usually chosen by popular vote in a caucus, automatic delegates are typically people already in positions of power.The argument goes that the powerful, though sometimes small, circle finds it in each other's best interests to help one another stay elected or in positions of authority and thus vote accordingly at party conventions. Take, for example, the Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama race. Obama has a nearly insurmountable lead in regular delegates, but Clinton leads in superdelegates because of her long-cultivated ties to political insiders. If they chose to ignore the regular delegate trends, they could hand her the race. "Sometimes the hurdles placed by parties in the path of rank-and-file citizens can be significant," said Kelly Patterson, director of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. Deep impact? The fear is the same in Utah County, say some Republican challengers. Here they're tagged ex officio in party bylaws. (That's Latin for "by virtue or because of an office.") While some party members rankle at the terms "super" or "automatic" delegates, others even in favor of the system use the terms interchangeably. Those delegates make up 10 percent of the total in Utah County -- about 120 of 1,200 -- and are filled by elected officials and party hierarchs. Lowell Nelson, who has been elected as a delegate for 14 years, has battled the idea of automatic delegates nearly every time a convention rolls around. Giving away delegate seats dilutes the power of grassroots, he says, "which is where I think it belongs." If elected officials want to be delegates, they can always get themselves elected in a caucus, he contends. What kind of impact can 10 percent really have? First, the ground rules: If any candidate at the GOP convention gets more than 60 percent of the delegate vote, the primary is averted and the candidate goes straight to the general election. (It should be noted that since a Republican hasn't lost in Utah County in more than a decade, that 60 percent of delegates has meant an automatic seat in office.) If indeed the ex-officio group votes in bloc, an incumbent would only need 50 percent of the other delegates to skip the primary. The ex-officios can also provide enough support to keep incumbents alive through the convention and get them into a primary where name recognition is to their benefit. In some races, the number of automatic delegates are even higher because of concentrations of where they live. Sen. Curt Bramble's District 16 is made up of about 15 percent ex-officio delegates, a point sorely made by his opponent, Jacqueline DeGaston. But getting them to vote together isn't as easy as it sounds "It makes a good intellectual argument, but in practice I've never seen it," said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, who has no opponent this year in his party or otherwise and has been either an elected or ex-officio delegate since the 1970s. "In my discussions with the ex officios, they do vary significantly." Yeah, so? Patterson says it's important to remember that a political party isn't the same thing as the political system in which it plays a part. The party's rules and bylaws don't have to follow what one might consider a democratic process. In fact, those rules are often in place to protect the ideals that the party espouses. "If a party becomes too democratized, does it become, in a sense, watered down?" he said. Proponents claim giving delegate votes to elected and party officials helps to keep them involved and is a reward for their work. "How would you get someone like me to do this job if I weren't a delegate?" asked county chairwoman Marian Monnahan. "Obviously there are a lot of us that put in a lot of hours." Valentine agrees, saying the ex officio allowance lets those running the convention to actually "be at the table, be in the room and making some of the decisions" when it comes to voting. He also disputes the idea of a power grab, saying elected and party officials had to be voted into their positions by the rank-and-file. "It's not just something that's happening by birthright. It's with the understanding that they're going to be a delegate," he said. Groundhog Day Opponents disagree with that logic and make it an issue every few years. In Salt Lake County, a Republican party member recently failed in an attempt to use the courts to stop the county party from using automatic delegates. "We are simply following the rules of the party as stated in the documents," said state party chairman Stan Lockhart. "These complaints are really just without merit." Party members like Nelson agree that the issue is perennial and perhaps not likely to change anytime soon, but he insists from a "purist's perspective" that it's important enough to keep bringing back. Even Valentine concedes that while it's an old issue, the fact that it keeps coming back means it remains a viable issue. "There are pros and cons," he said, "and I'm the first to admit it." Convention Utah County Nominating Convention -- April 26 at Orem High School |
| MikeRidgway | Apr 13 2008 10:21:39 This thread discusses the Content article: County challengers question 'superdelegates' Dear Joe: Automatic (or super) delegates are illegal under the rules of the Utah Republican Party. See URP Constitution, Article XII, which only allows three methods by which an individual may become a delegate. The primary method: Get elected in your precinct caucus meeting to fill one of the seats allocated to your precinct. Method two: If your precinct caucus doesn't fill the seats that it has allocated to it, the county central committee or the county convention can elect people who live in that precinct to fill the vacancies. Method three: If a delegate in your precinct resigns, moves out or dies, the precinct chairman can appoint a replacement. Any method outside of these three enumerated allowed methods is illegal. But when corrupt party leaders (like Joe Cannon, Enid Greene, or Stan Lockhart, or Marian Monnahan) appoint corrupt and extremely conflicted elected officials, like Curt Bramble, Greg Curtis, or John Valentine, to majority positions on the Republican convention credentials committees, you can be sure that any attempts to force the party to strip these illegal automatic delegates of their place as delegates will be killed before it can be raised. (As an example, at last year's State Republican Convention, Senator Curt Bramble, the credentials committee chair, appointed by Enid Greene, was allowed to take approximately fifteen minutes to defend an improper decision of his committee while the two delegates who rose to oppose the committee's recommendations, one an attorney and the former chair of the Salt Lake County Republican Party, were given 60 seconds and 120 seconds, respectively to make their counter case. A year earlier, when Utah's Republican National Committeewoman, Nancy Lord, rose to oppose the Credentials Committee's recommendations, presented as always by perpetual committee chair, Senator Curt Bramble, Joe Cannon had sound techs kill Ms. Lord's microphone, then moved directly to a vote without debate. Mrs. Lord and I have researched this matter extensively and can now say, authoritatively, that every single state Republican convention in Utah in the last 25 years (literally since 1983) has been riddled with significant numbers of illegally appointed automatic delegates, almost all of whom are either party leaders or elected officials, or people with ties to the same. In other words, every single Republican state or federal elected official in Utah has come to his or her position by means of a corrupted political convention process. As the rules in the Constitution and Bylaws are somewhat complex and often difficult for newcomers to understand, the broad mass of the delegates who have never read any of the provisions found in the Constitution or Bylaws of the Utah Republican Party are almost always oblivious to the fact that we, the people, are being cheated out of our voices and our rights to choose our elected officials, in broad daylight. Don't think those automatic delegates make a difference? Talk to Patrick Reagan who lost his bid against Joe Cannon for State Party Chair in 2005 by just 36 votes out of more than 1400 cast. The number of illegal but voting delegates in that race was several times that margin. Or talk to Jackie DeGaston, who lost her bid to take Curt Bramble into a primary four years ago by only 3 votes in a Senate District where roughly 15% of the voting participants were illegal automatic delegates. As I said. Party leaders cheat. Because they can. And because it's almost impossible to make them stop. As a result, the will of the voters is subverted to the ambitions of Republicans with names like Bramble, Curtis, Valentine, and Lockhart. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to know that that's not a good thing. Thank you Jackie DeGaston, Lowell Nelson and others of you in Utah County who are making this an issue in this year's campaign. And thank you Joe Pyrah and the Daily Herald for reporting on this controversy and helping voters at large to understand the negative impact of these kinds of superdelegates. Because the real losers in all of this are the broad mass of voters in Utah who never get to have a say -- voters who never get to vote in a primary because time and time again, one candidate in the race at convention gets 60% or more of the delegates votes, often, in no small part, due to the illicit intervention of party leaders or elected officials who have no right, under the rules, to vote in these races. Get 60% and avoid having to run against another Republican in a primary. Get the Republican nomination in a state where Democrats haven't won a seat in 10 years and it's a pretty safe bet that you're going to keep your job -- for the next two, four, or six years. Stuffing in automatic delegates into our Republican conventions is wrong, and it needs to stop. Just one of many reasons why I, an advocate for grassroots rights, have filed to run for the position of Republican National Committeeman. If you're a state delegate and you agree that it's time to get back to following the rules and eliminate automatic delegates from our Republican county and state conventions, you should know that there's only one candidate in the race who shares your views -- and I could certainly use your help in my campaign. Mike Ridgway 801-438-4139 MikeRidgwayUtah@gmail.com http://www.stalkingbramble.com  |
Looks like the old regime is making another charge at Utah Republican Party leadership.
Bruce Hough has filed for National Commiteeman and Enid Greene and Debbie Clark have filed
for National Committeewoman.
I have my own unique set of not-so-wonderful experiences with these individuals.
Do any of you? I'd be happy to pass on your recollections.
PREVIOUS
RNC ACTIVITY
Allen, Brian | (801) 661-2922 | PO Box 711759 Salt Lake City, UT 84171 |
Beattie, Lane | (801) 292-7406 | 1313 N. 1100 W. West Bountiful, UT 84087 |
Crapo, David | (801) 366-6060 | 60 E South Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84111 |
Daly, Candace | (801) 599-8519 | 1296 West 475 South Farmington, UT 84025 |
Dayton, Alan | (801) 414-8752 | 36 S. State #2200 Salt Lake City, UT 84111 |
Diaz, Marco | (801) 641-8956 | 7879S. Sako Way Sandy, UT 84070 |
Evans, R. Mont | (801) 254-2655 | 1599 Big Var Way Riverton, UT 84065 |
Gill, Ruland | (801) 324-5212 | PO Box 45433 Salt Lake City, UT 84145-0433 |
Hartley, Jeffrey | (801) 557-3772 | PO Box 1205 Salt Lake City, UT 84110 |
Haymond, J. Brent | (801) 358-7416 | 1767 Riverbottom Rd Springville, UT 84663 |
Hogue, David | (801) 253-7586 | 13150 South 2900 West Riverton, UT 84065 |
Isom, Eric C. | (801) 237-6281 | 250 Bell Plaza Salt Lake City, UT 84111 |
Jardine, James | (801) 323-3337 | 36 South State Street, Suite 1400 Salt Lake City, UT 84111 |
Koehn, Susan | (801) 364-6302 | 60 South 600 East, Suite 150 Salt Lake City, UT 84102 |
Lockhart, Stan | (801) 767-5011 | 1550 E. 3400 N. Lehi, UT 84043 |
Mecham, Stephen | (801) 530-7300 | 10 E So Temple Suite 900 Salt Lake City, UT 84133 |
Oldroyd, Taylor | (801) 226-3777 | 901 S. Orem Blvd. Orem, UT 84058 |
Parrish, Stan | (801) 973-7272 | 1477 So. 700 West Salt Lake City, UT 84104 |
Riggs, Robin | (801) 328-5080 | 175 E. 400 S., Suite 600 Salt Lake City, UT 84111 |
Roberts, Jeremy | (801) 227-0004 | 754 East Technology Way Orem, UT 84097 |
Selleneit, P. Lloyd | (801) 295-3622 | 1725 North 560 West Woods Cross, UT 84087 |
Shaw, Geraldine L. | (801) 531-6877 | 837 East South Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84102 |
Simpson, Scott | (801) 972-3400 | 1805 S Redwood Rd Salt Lake City, UT 84104 |
Smith, Martine | (801) 554-7670 | P.O. Box 581485 Salt Lake City, UT 84158 |
Stephenson, Howard | (801) 972-8814 | 1578 W 1700 S #201 Salt Lake City, UT 84104 |
Stokes, Spencer | (801) 994-7994 | PO Box 750 Salt Lake City, UT 84110 |
Swallow, John | (801) 949-9450 | 2474 North University Avenue Provo, UT 84604 |
Thompson, Mike | (801) 355-3479 | 175 W 200 S, Ste, 3001 Salt Lake City, UT 84101 |
Throckmorton, Matt | (801) 687-0453 | 388 W 100 S Springville, UT 84663 |
Towner, Mark | (801) 502-9134 | 1331 Green Street Salt Lake City, UT 84105 |
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Tad Walch, Deseret Morning News, writes: "Amid swirling criticism and media scrutiny Friday, the Utah County Republican Party reversed course and agreed to give all candidates the e-mail addresses of delegates to the county convention. . . ."
http://deseretnews.com/article/0,1249,695267682,00.html
Comments to the article ran heavily negative on Utah County Republican Party leadership. Senator Curt Bramble's wife Susan is one of those officers.
Kip Meacham, a Republican Blogger from Orem in Utah County couldn't have been happier about the reversal:
My response to Kip's posting, which has yet to make it through moderation and onto the site, was the following:"Great news!
"In an article entitled Infighting by county GOP likely not over by By Tad Walch of the Deseret Morning News, “the Utah County Republican Party reversed course and agreed to give all candidates the e-mail addresses of delegates to the county convention.”
"The article appeared on the front page of the Utah Valley section of the Saturday, April 5, 2008 paper.
"What a testament to the power of social media, the democratization of information via the Internet, and the call for transparency. Decisions like this can go a long ways in restoring people’s faith in the Party, I believe.
"I commend the Utah County Republican Party Leadership for this decision."
Kip:
Great work on putting the pressure on Monnahan, Bramble, Bramble, and Cluff to make right what wasn't right for the first 10 days of the campaign.
But when party leaders wipe out that many days of the challengers' campaign, should they really get off scot-free?
Instead of "commending" them for doing the right thing only when nuclear arms are pointed their way, why not punish them for interfering in fair process in the first place?
Last time I checked, they don't not arrest a shoplifter if he offers to go back in the store and put that iPod back on the rack.
We ought to apply the same principle with people who steal elections -- only the penalties should be 1000 times more severe for the obvious reason that the impact of a stolen election is way more than 1000 times more severe than the impact of a stolen iPod.
Most Utahans, Republican or otherwise, don't know that the National Republican Party has a set of rules that are designed to keep things fair for all Republicans in the various state and county Republican Parties across the country:
PARTY RULESAs an individual who has been heavily involved in the operations of the Utah Republican Party and the Salt Lake County Republican Party over the last several years, I can state unequivocally, that this intent has yet to find expression in the operations of the Utah Republican Party.
"The Rules Of The Republican Party As adopted by the 2004 Republican National Convention August 30, 2004"BE IT RESOLVED, That the Republican Party is the party of the open door. Ours is the party of liberty, the party of equality of opportunity for all and favoritism for none.
"It is the intent and purpose of these rules to encourage and allow the broadest possible participation of all voters in Republican Party activities at all levels and to assure that the Republican Party is open and accessible to all Americans." (Preamble, Rules of the National Republican Party.)
Councilman Joe Hatch
2001 South State Street
Salt Lake City UT 84190
Dear Councilman Hatch:
Thank you for taking the time to speak with me recently and for your stated willingness to look into concerns I expressed that one or more Salt Lake County government employees may have violated Salt Lake County government policies and/or Utah law by utilizing county government resources (e.g., computers, fax machines, phone lines, etc.) in furtherance of Republican intrapartisan political purposes which have no possible relation to county government business.
My concern grows out of the fact that I have recently come into possession of a copy of a document that was apparently faxed, on May 10 of this year, from the office of Salt Lake County District Attorney, Lohra Miller, to the Chair of the Utah Republican Party, Enid Greene, shortly after being emailed by Dana Dickson, the Vice Chair of the Salt Lake County Republican Party and a member of the Republican State Central Committee, to Republican State Central Committee members, Chad Bennion, Becky Lockhart, and Clair Ellis. I’ve enclosed that document for your review.
If, after consideration of the information below, you come to share my view that the content of the faxed document in question was of a political nature and that it had no possible relation to Salt Lake County government business, then I am hoping that you will see to it that an independent investigation is undertaken to ascertain exactly who sent the fax and whether either Chad Bennion or Lohra Miller, both employees of Salt Lake County, had any involvement in this possible misuse of county resources for political purposes.
As you may know, Councilman Hatch, I have been active in Salt Lake County and Utah Republican politics since moving here from Utah County in 1997. A few examples:
In 1998, I was hired by county commission candidate, Steve Harmsen, to help run his campaign and was instrumental in Mr. Harmsen’s successful efforts to survive the Salt Lake County Republican Nominating Convention and to advance to a primary against Mark Shurtleff. Mr. Shurtleff would ultimately win the seat.
• In 1999, I was elected to the Utah Republican Party’s State Executive Committee, serving as one of only six persons statewide elected directly to that committee.
• In 1999, 2001, and 2003, I was elected by the Salt Lake County Republican delegates as a member of the Republican State Central Committee, the Utah Republican Party’s official governing body.
• In 2000, I was elected by members of the Salt Lake County Republican Party Central Committee to the County Party’s Executive Committee, serving as one of only twelve persons elected directly to that committee.
• In 2000, 2002, and 2004, by virtue of my election by Republicans in my precinct (Salt Lake County Precinct 2158) to the position of precinct chair, I was elected to serve on the Salt Lake County Republican Party’s Central Committee, the official governing body of the Salt Lake County Republican Party.
• In every two-year term from 2002 to the present, I have been chosen to serve as a Republican county and state delegate.
I mention these positions to underscore the fact that my credentials as a member of the Utah Republican Party are unassailable.
As you may also be aware, I have, during these years of service in the Republican Party, openly advocated against a number of corrupt practices in the operations of the state and county Republican parties which have come to light or which I, personally, have brought to light.
• In 1998, I stood up against the illicit arrests, carried out at the direction of Republican state and county party leaders, of Tom Draschil and Ruth Thompson (now Andrus), for the supposed crime of having passed out literature in contravention of orders by party leaders that no literature could be distributed without approval by then Salt Lake County Republican Party chair, Bill Quist. The arrestees were ultimately acquitted of all charges by Judge Sheila McCleve, but the cost of defending themselves against these bogus allegations was more than $5,000.
• In 2000 and 2001, I, in conjunction with other principled party volunteers, worked to overturn the illicit credentialing, as Republican delegates, of scores of party insiders who had no legitimate claim of eligibility to the positions to which they had been appointed by party leaders and insiders. As a result of our efforts, 48 of these illegally appointed individuals were disqualified just before United State Vice President, Dick Cheney, addressed the 2001 Utah Republican Party Organizing Convention as its keynote speaker. Among the disqualified pretenders was former Congresswoman, Enid Greene. (Please keep this fact in mind as you review the information below.)
• In 2004, I undertook a campaign to discourage members of the Salt Lake County Republican Party Central Committee from voting to illicitly place the name of Ellis Ivory on the ballot as a Republican replacement for Nancy Workman in the race for Salt Lake County mayor, after Ms. Workman withdrew from the race with a questionable assertion of disability. Regrettably, when this matter came before the Salt Lake County Republican Party Central Committee, debate on the motion was killed before it began, and the motion to instate Mr. Ivory as our official, on-the-ballot candidate was adopted. The public backlash to this dubious maneuver resulted, I believe, in Mr. Ivory’s defeat as well as the loss by Republican candidates of other notable races for county and legislative office in that same election.
• In 2006, I took the defense of the members of Salt Lake County Precinct 3184 who were ripped from their positions as precinct officers and state and county delegates by an illicit vote, without due process, of the members of the Salt Lake County Republican Executive Committee. This action was taken, I would claim, in retaliation against two individuals who had dared to oppose former Republican State Chair, Joe Cannon, in his bids for reelection in 2003 and 2005.
These are just a few examples of actions I have taken that have raised the ire of various past and present leaders in both the Utah Republican and Salt Lake County Republican Parties.
As a search in the archives of the Deseret Morning News, the Salt Lake Tribune, the Salt Lake City Weekly, and other news organs in the state will demonstrate, my work against corruption in the Utah Republican Party has not gone unnoticed by the grassroots members of the Republican Party or by the Utah news media–which is probably the best explanation for the multitude of illegitimate actions processed by the County Executive Committee from 2002 to the present to remove me from the numerous positions to which I have been elected within the party.
Incensed that these removals, when accomplished by the Executive Committee, have often been easily negated by the vote of Republicans in my precinct or in our county conventions, the officers of the County Party have recently taken the unprecedented (and extra-statutory) step of declaring me ineligible for any future office in the Salt Lake County Republican Party. Further, they used this illegitimate directive as a means of denying me, less than a year ago, my rightful seat on the Republican State Central Committee, as well as my place as a Republican county and state delegate at this year’s conventions.
When I filed last year as a candidate for US Senate, challenging Orrin Hatch in the Republican State Convention, Republican insiders took their dirty-tricks operations to an entirely new level.
In March of 2006, out of concern that the Republicans in my precinct, if left to themselves, would, as they have done in the past, elect me to the positions of precinct chair, county delegate, and state delegate, state and county Republican Party leaders hijacked my precinct caucus, moving it from my neighborhood, situated in the Salt Lake City “Avenues,” just west of the Salt Lake City Cemetery, to the Utah Republican Party headquarters at 117 East South Temple, Salt Lake City. These leaders then violated provisions of the Utah Republican Party Constitution by refusing, for days after the required deadline, to inform me and my supporters of the location at which our caucus was to be held. At the same time, direct phone calls were made to numerous Republicans with no history of involvement in past precinct caucus meetings, inviting them to attend my caucus and informing them of the exact date, time, and location of the meeting, all in hopes of cheating me out of seats they knew I would likely win, absent these kinds of dirty-tricks operations.
Obviously fearing that these efforts might not be enough, state and county Republican leaders also secured the services of an off-duty Salt Lake County Sheriff’s deputy, who dutifully arrived at state party headquarters just as our caucus meeting was convening.
When it became obvious that a majority of those in attendance were there in support of my candidacies, Salt Lake County Republican Party Chair, James Evans, who had appointed himself to conduct my caucus meeting, in coordination with State Party Chair, Joe Cannon, and State Party Executive Director, Jeff Hartley, had Deputy A. J. Morley brought into our meeting, where they then directed him to eject me, under threat of arrest, from the building, this in spite of a complete lack of disorderly conduct on my part or on the part of any of my supporters, and in spite of the fact that the room in which we were meeting was not owned, leased, rented, or controlled by either the Utah Republican Party or the Salt Lake County Republican Party.
I was, nonetheless, elected by my neighbors, in absentia, to the position of Republican county delegate, my brother, Keith Ridgway, being elected at the same time to the positions of precinct chair, state delegate, and county delegate.
On May 11, 2006, just more than 36 hours before I was to speak as a candidate for US Senate to the state nominating convention, I was served with an antistalking injunction, obtained ex parte by Mark Towner and Carrie Towner who perjured themselves to obtain the order. Mr. Towner, at the time, was a former Republican candidate for State Senate District 2, whom I had opposed in his efforts to win the Republican nomination for said seat the month before. The injunction contained a provision, which has since been revoked, which, at the time, barred me from being present at any Republican meetings, including party conventions. But for the pro-bono intervention of the law firm of Snell and Wilmer the day after I was served the injunction, I would have been arrested and jailed had I shown up at the convention to deliver my speech as a candidate.
While my attorneys were able to obtain a one-day’s stay, our attempts to have the injunction dissolved since the convention have, so far, been unsuccessful, though, as mentioned above, the provision barring me from Republican Party meetings has been revoked. An appeal of this injunction has been accepted by the Utah Supreme Court and oral arguments will be heard on November 6 of this year. We are optimistic that the justices of the Supreme Court will be more careful than the judges who have so far weighed in on this matter have been and that the injunction will ultimately be overturned.
This pattern of appealing to law enforcement officials and to the courts to illicitly suppress the political and civil rights of a party member who takes seriously the state party platform plank that “[w]e will work to expose and stop corruption” has continued unabated, reaching its highpoint on March 8, 2007 when, at the direction of county party officers, James Evans and Dana Dickson, I was arrested and held for five days in the Salt Lake County jail for the “crime” of attempting to attend an open meeting of the County Executive Committee being held at state party headquarters.
The event that I would like to particularly focus on, at this point, occurred on May 12 of this year on the Larry H. Miller Campus of the Salt Lake Community College, in Sandy, Utah.
More than an hour before the state party took rental control of an auditorium where its officers had scheduled a meeting of the State Central Committee, the party’s general office manager, Land Reay, in apparent coordination with then state party chair, Enid Greene, and with no provocation on my part whatsoever, called the Sandy Police requesting that they forcibly remove me from the premises.
Thirteen minutes later, while seated alone at a table in the auditorium’s lobby, and while no one was yet present in the vicinity of the auditorium that was to be rented by the state party, I was confronted by three, and later four, Sandy Police officers who demanded that I vacate the premises, escorted me out of the building, cited me for trespassing, and then warned me that if I didn’t leave the campus completely and stay away for the rest of the day, I would be arrested and jailed.
When I last spoke to you, I discussed with you a set of documents that my attorney in that case, Sophia Moore, and I recently received from the Sandy City prosecutors in response to a request for discovery of evidence pertaining to that May 12 police encounter.
Included in those documents was an email provided by Enid Greene to the police that she described as “purportedly” coming from me.
A report from the officiating police officer that morning makes reference to the same email and characterizes Enid Greene’s representation concerning its origins as follows:
“Enid [Greene] gave me a copy of an e-mail she received from Michael [Ridgway] through Michael’s friend. The e-mail quotes the Book of Mormon and at the end has Michael’s name and phone number (see attachment).”
(Please find the email provided by Enid Greene on the pages marked as 13 and 14 of 16, and the statements by Enid Greene and the officer alleging its origin on pages 11 and 7, respectively, of the enclosed documents.)
I would point out that nowhere in the printout of the email that Enid Greene gave to the police is there the slightest bit of evidence to support Enid Greene's contention that the document was sent to her by “Michael's friend.”
What you will see, to the contrary, is evidence that two, if not three, Republican insiders, who should never have been in possession of this email, took time out of their busy schedules to send this email along a multihop path that eventually put it into the hands of then State Republican Chair, Enid Greene.
Please refer to the “From” field found in the header information embedded in the document provided by Enid Greene.
It reads, “From: Dana Dickson
That Ms. Greene would claim that an email sent to her by Dana Dickson came from “Michael's friend” is ludicrous. Not only does Enid Greene know full well that Dana Dickson is not a friend of mine, she is completely comfortable with the numerous outrageous assaults that he has made on my reputation over the last several years.
Next, please note that the original recipients of Dana Dickson's message are Chad Bennion, Becky Lockhart, and Clair Ellis, all of whom serve as members of the Utah Republican Party State Central Committee with Dana Dickson and Enid Greene.
You should also note that the email address used by Dana Dickson is the one associated with his position in the Republican Party, “vicechair@slcogop.org,” which is indicative of the fact that Mr. Dickson, himself, saw this communication with three individuals who just happen to serve with him on the Utah Republican State Central Committee as “political.” (What may be problematic, as far as Salt Lake County government is concerned, is the fact that Chad Bennion is also a Salt Lake County employee who works as a paid administrative assistant to Republican County Councilman, Marv Hendrickson.)
The subject line that Dana Dickson affixes to his email “Mike's recent group post” is also instructive. Since the “group” to which Dana Dickson refers is a private Yahoo group owned and moderated by me, and since the text of the message in Dana Dickson's email is taken from a private communication that I did not send or have sent to Dana Dickson, then his choice of a subject line is actually self-incriminating as it clearly indicates that 1) Mr. Dickson has a mole in my group who forwarded this email to him and 2) this surveillance of my communications is ongoing and perhaps longstanding and 3) Dana Dickson is not above forwarding such intercepted communications to his partners in crime in the Utah Republican Party, people such as Chad Bennion, Becky Lockhart, and Clair Ellis.
(Since we now know that the originating sender of my email was not me, nor a friend of mine, but instead Dana Dickson, then the important question becomes, “Why did Enid Greene make such a demonstrably false representation to the police?” Clearly, the answer is because she thought she could get away with it, just as she and the other officers of the state and county parties have, so far, gotten away with having me put in jail for five days, without cause.)
Two pieces of evidence would suggest that, at some point in the chain, Salt Lake County employee, Chad Bennion, played a role in the forwarding of this email on its path to Enid Greene.
The first is the presence of Chad Bennion's name in the large-font heading on the printed copy of the email he received from Dana Dickson. Such headings are often used by email clients such as Microsoft Outlook, to indicate the identity of an email's sender when printed in hard copy. Such headings also figure in templates available in Microsoft Office as indicators of the sending party when a document is printed in hard copy for the purpose of transmission by means of a mechanical fax machine.
The second is the presence of the phone number, 801-468-2985, the fax number for the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, at the bottom of the fax which Enid Greene made available to the police.
Even if Dana Dickson were a friend of mine, which he is not, the allegation that I had any involvement in the transmission of this email to Enid Greene stands contradicted by the obvious indicators that this email was not sent by me or at my direction, but instead, was illicitly intercepted by someone working in coordination with Dana Dickson, then forwarded by Dana Dickson to other members of the Utah Republican Party, one of whom apparently saw to it that a copy would be faxed to Enid Greene.
As Chad Bennion is the only identifiable recipient of this email who works for Salt Lake County, the fact that the phone number above is that of the main fax machine in the office of Salt Lake County District Attorney, Lohra Miller, tends to implicate him as a subsequent forwarder of this intercepted email.
My belief that Chad Bennion’s intent in getting this email into the hands of Enid Greene was political is not inconsistent with the possibility that Mr. Bennion may have shared this document with Lohra Miller, since she, too, is a member of the Utah Republican Party and a close ally of Dana Dickson and his wife, Carrie Dickson.
So, to summarize, Enid Greene gave the police a document she claimed was sent to her by me through a friend. But the actual document points to a completely different chain of custody than the one she alleges.
At this point, some background on the actual email Dana Dickson was able to intercept would be, I believe, helpful to understand the concerns I am trying to raise.
∙ As alluded to above, the email that Mr. Dickson forwarded on May 9, 2007 to Chad Bennion, Becky Lockhart, and Clair Ellis, (all three of whom just happen to be Republicans who currently serve with Dana Dickson on the State Central Committee), was never sent by me nor by any friend of mine to either Dana Dickson, Chad Bennion, Lohra Miller, or Enid Greene. Rather, it was a private and confidential email written and sent by me to Tiani Coleman, a Republican friend and former Salt Lake County Party Officer, who now resides in Utah County. This email was simultaneously carbon copied by me to a small group of ethically-minded Utah conservatives via a private list serve hosted at YahooGroups.com.
The primary recipient and the members of the private group to which it was carbon copied understand implicitly that messages posted to this particular YahooGroup are for internal consumption, and are not, under any circumstances, short of a violation of the law or of a fundamental and universally accepted ethical imperative, intended for dissemination to Dana Dickson, (who has, over the years, engineered much of the persecution that my colleagues and I have been subjected to in the party), or to his cohorts in the state or county parties.
∙ From the header of this faxed document, it is clear that Dana took possession of this intercepted communication on or before May 9, 2007, the day that he, according to the date stamped in the header, forwarded my private email to Chad Bennion, et al.
∙ From there, the evidence in the printout would suggest that Chad Bennion either printed the email or he sent it to another individual who printed it for him.
∙ The printed copy of this email from Dana Dickson to Chad Bennion was then sent, on May 10, 2007, via the office of Salt Lake County District Attorney, Lohra Miller, (who, not coincidentally, also serves with Dana Dickson, Chad Bennion, Becky Lockhart, and Clair Ellis on the Utah Republican Party State Central Committee) to Enid Greene.
∙ That being the case, the only possible plausible explanation for the presence of the number of Lohra Miller's official County Attorney fax machine on this printout is that someone with access to the District Attorney's fax machine sent this improperly intercepted private political communication to the chair of the Utah Republican Party by means of county-owned electronic machinery and county-leased telephone lines for reasons which solely pertained to the internal machinations of certain ambitious and arguably vindictive members of the Utah Republican Party.
Given the obvious chain of custody evident from even a cursory review of the indicators found on the document Enid Greene gave to the police, Ms. Greene's attempts to frame me as the sender of this email and to parlay its content into plausible justification for her illicit directive to have me ejected from an open meeting of the Utah Republican Party and then cited for trespassing are not only at odds with the truth, but are also embarrassingly careless.
Further, since it is very clear that Enid Greene, herself, gave this document to the Sandy Police, it would be impossible to assert that the county attorney's fax number was affixed to this document by forgery on the part of some third party acting with the intent to falsely implicate either Chad Bennion, Lohra Miller, or Enid Greene.
The most reasonable answer to the question of how that fax number came to figure on Enid Greene's copy of the email is the obvious one - that it was, in fact, faxed from the District Attorney's office fax machine for purposes which were purely political.
A comparison of the statement made by Enid Greene with the actual document she provided to the police is sufficient to demonstrate that Enid Greene is guilty of the crime of providing false information to police officers.
If, as it would plainly appear, the intent of the individuals who sent this document to Enid Greene was to give her the means to plausibly frame an innocent party member, then what we are actually discussing here is a premeditated and criminal conspiracy by those individuals to use the police to suppress the political and civil rights of antiestablishment Republican activists who oppose the unethical actions of party leaders such as Enid Greene, James Evans, and Dana Dickson.
Councilman Hatch, if, as I contend, I had nothing to do with the transmission of this email to Enid Greene, if, as the evidence suggests, the person ultimately responsible for Ms. Greene's receipt of this illegally intercepted communication was actually Salt Lake County Republican Party Vice Chair, Dana Dickson, a person to whom I never at any time sent nor caused to be sent a copy of this email, and if, as the evidence suggests, this intercepted communication ultimately made its way to Utah Republican Party Chair, Enid Greene, then would you not agree with me that the obvious and self-evident intent underlying the transmission of this intercepted communication from Dana Dickson to Chad Bennion, from Chad Bennion to Lohra Miller's office, and from Lohra Miller's office to Enid Greene, had nothing to do with county government business, and that, instead, the only construable intent behind this illicit transfer of this intercepted confidential email to seven current members of the Utah Republican Party State Central Committee was purely and wholly political, (and that in the most partisan sense of the word)?
Further, if the sole motivation in making this intercepted communication available to Chad Bennion, to Lohra Miller (or to someone in her office), and to Enid Greene was political, and if there was no possible tie between this document and the legitimate business of Salt Lake County government, then would you not also grant that there is probable cause to believe that Salt Lake County policies and/or Utah state law were violated when this intercepted communication was sent by means of a county-owned fax machine across county-leased telephone lines as part of an effort to place this intercepted communication into the hands of Republican state party chair, Enid Greene?
Would you not also agree that if county employee, Chad Bennion, was receiving, viewing, printing, and/or, in his turn, disseminating this intercepted communication by means of county-owned office machinery, and/or county leased communications lines, that Mr. Bennion's actions might also constitute a violation of Salt Lake County policies and/or Utah state law?
Councilman Hatch, I do believe that the document made available by Enid Greene to the Sandy City Police, alone and on its face, constitutes probable cause to suspect that one or more violations of this nature have been committed by one or more employees of Salt Lake County, possibly including Chad Bennion and/or Lohra Miller.
I am, therefore, officially requesting that you use whatever authority you might have as a county councilman to see to it that this matter is investigated thoroughly, openly, and by someone other than Republican Salt Lake County Attorney, Lohra Miller, who, at a minimum, has a conflict of interest in this matter, and who, based upon the evidence in hand, cannot yet be ruled out as the individual who either sent or caused to be sent the fax that ultimately made its way to Utah Republican Party chair, Enid Greene.
Anything that you can do to see to it that such an investigation is undertaken and that any persons who may be found guilty of violations are held fully accountable for their actions would be greatly appreciated by me and by the many good and decent Republican voters who have, over the course of many years, been the victims of these kinds of illicit interventions.
Councilman Hatch, I again convey to you my appreciation for your approachability as my representative on the Salt Lake County Council and thank you for your attention in this matter.
Sincerely,
[Signature]Mike Ridgway
801-438-4139
miketangoromeo@gmail.com
The following resolution would have made a world of difference, this year and in 2006, in how the Utah Republican Party caucuses were handled, had it been adopted when it was presented to the Utah Republican State Central Committee in January of 2006. Instead, it was stripped from the agenda at the beginning of the meeting by a motion made by Salt Lake County GOP Chair, James Evans, to the thunderous applause (figuratively speaking) of the members who simply don't seem to want the rest of us to know that parties are supposed to be run by rules, not by whimsical fiat decisions of county party chairs, and paid staffers. More than ever, that is how the Utah Republican Party party is being run at present.
Truth be told, Utah's caucus and convention system is kind of a scary way to elect a Governor, Congressional representatives, and two-thirds of the Utah House and Senate. Scary for us ordinary citizens, anyway.
For incumbents, it's not scary at all. If you don't believe me, ask Senator Curt Bramble (cell phone: 801-361-5802). Or the Fabulous Five. For them the lobbyist campaign contributions and the easy convention victories just keep coming and coming. But what are rules anyway? Just words. Kind of like the US Constitution, I suppose, Senator Bramble and lobbyist Lockhart would say.
Proposed Resolution on Precinct Caucuses Regarding Notice, Eligibility for Participating,
and Preparation and Distribution of Instructive Materials.
14 January 2006
Whereas, the Rules of the National Republican Party (see www.rnc.org/about) are directly binding on all state and county Republican parties in the states and territories of the United States; and
Whereas, Rule 14 (A) of the Rules of the National Republican Party requires that: “The states, in cooperation with the Republican National Committee, shall prepare instructive material on delegate selection methods and make it available for distribution.”
Whereas, specific requirements that state delegates, county delegates, and participants in our precinct caucuses must be affiliated Republicans have, for some time, figured in the rules of the National Republican Party and may now be found in Rule 15(C)(2) of the Rules of the National Republican Party; and
Whereas, specific requirements that state delegates, county delegates, precinct officers, and participants in our caucuses must be registered Republicans, are now absent in the State Party’s Constitution and Bylaws; and
Whereas, Rule (15) (D)(3) of the Rules of the National Republican Party requires that: “Notices of the call for any such caucus, meeting, or convention shall be published in a newspaper or newspapers of general circulation in the county, district, or state, as the case may be, not less than fifteen (15) days prior to the date of such caucus, meeting, or convention.”
Therefore, be it Resolved that the State Central Committee hereby directs the State Party staff to prepare for distribution, instructive materials on delegate selection methods in time for the 2006 precinct caucuses, giving prominent mention therein to the following quotations:
“Only persons eligible to vote who are deemed as a matter of public record to be Republicans pursuant to state law ... shall participate in ... any Republican caucus, mass meeting, or mass convention held for the purpose of selecting delegates to the county, district, or state conventions, and only such legal and qualified voters shall be elected as delegates to county, district, and state conventions; provided, however, that in addition to the qualifications provided herein, the applicable Republican party rules of a state may prescribe additional qualifications not inconsistent with law....(Rules of the National Republican Party, Rule 15(C)(2))”
“Except for the 20 days immediately before a regular primary election, any registered voter may designate or change the voter’s political party affiliation by filing a signed form with the county clerk that identifies the registered political party with which the voter chooses to affiliate. (Utah Code 20A-2-107(2)(B))”; and
Be it further Resolved that the party officers and staff are hereby directed to make these instructive materials available in print and electronically by means of a link displayed prominently on the party’s Internet home page; and
Be it further Resolved that the party officers and staff are hereby directed to give notice of the date and time of the 2006 Republican caucuses by publishing the same, at a minimum, in a newspaper of statewide distribution fifteen (15) days in advance of said caucuses, such notice(s) to include contact information whereby interested Republican voters may obtain information as to the locations of the caucus meeting in which they will be eligible to participate; and
Be it further Resolved that a copy of this resolution shall be delivered or emailed to each county party chair and posted prominently on the State Party’s web site.
Deseret News: GOP flier raising a ruckus
Candidates accuse party of wrongly backing incumbents
(To see postings on the Deseret News comments board in response to this article, click here.)
By Leigh Dethman; Published: Saturday, March 30, 2008
Utah County Republican legislative candidates are fuming after the state party sent out a mailer that seems to endorse the Republican incumbents they are challenging.
The flier advertises an April 10 fundraiser for Rep. Ken Sumsion, R-American Fork, Rep. Keith Grover, R-Provo, Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, Rep. Chris Herrod, R-Provo, and Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem. It includes a line that says, "Paid for by the Utah Republican Party," and the party's postal rate number.
Challengers fear that delegates will feel pressure to cast their vote for the incumbents, since the mailer was paid for by the party.
"They are just telling you who they want you to vote for," said Jared Sepulveda, who is running against Sumsion in District 56. "If they want to do this after the primaries are done, that's fine. But not now."
State party bylaws do not allow party officers, national committee members and paid staff to publicly endorse or oppose any Republican candidate over another in a convention or primary election.
But state GOP Chairman Stan Lockhart said "it doesn't amount to an endorsement at all."
To make things right, Lockhart said he's offered the challengers the chance to send out a mailer paid for by the party as well.
"The party works very hard to treat all Republican candidates the same," Lockhart said. "We take that very seriously."
Lisa Shepherd, who is running against Grover in District 61, said the mailer is a "direct violation of Republican rules."
"It completely looks like an official document of the party," Shepherd said. "It's against the bylaws to take a stand or play favorites or anything until you've come out of the primary."
Lockhart said the whole mess is a case of bad timing.
He said the freshman legislators came to him during the session and asked for help. However, party workers were so busy with caucus preparations that the mailing was delayed.
Lockhart said he never intended to have the mailer go out this late. It was supposed to go out before the March 17 candidate filing deadline.
I, Mike Ridgway, (a Republican State and County Delegate, and a Republican candidate for Utah House District 24, Salt Lake City) am hereby announcing a $50 reward for the first person who can make available to me a digitized audio or video recording of Micron lobbyist, Stan Lockhart, (also the chair of the Utah Republican Party) denying knowledge of the mailing visible at this link, as he allegedly already has to at least one individual of whom I am aware that has spoken to either Stan Lockhart (cell phone 801-368-2166) or to paid staffer Ivan Dubois (party headquarters 801-533-9777) about this matter.
Fab Five mailer.
Here's why it matters:
"State Party Officers, National Committee members, and paid staff shall not publicly endorse or oppose any Republican candidate for partisan public office in Utah while the candidate is opposed by another Republican candidate for the same office." Utah Republican Party Bylaws, Article 7.2, B, "Party Officer Neutrality:"And that matters because the Republican conventions are so subject to manipulation by party leaders who can completely defeat a candidate just by procedural intrigue on the day of the convention, that two-thirds of the members of the Utah Republican Party's State Central Committee voted to impose these neutrality provisions in the hope that one day, there might be free and fair elections in our party, instead of elections where the vice chair, Enid Greene for instance, simultaneously runs for Lieutenant Governor and gets all of the staff and the other officers surreptitiously working for her running mate, Nolan Karras, against the more popular Jon Huntsman, Jr. in an intraparty race for governor, for example.
I hereby call on Micron lobbyist (and also the Utah Republican Party Chair) Stan Lockhart to resign his position as state party chair--effective immediately.Now, of course, if, at some future time, Mr. Lockhart, by a preponderance of the evidence, is able to prove that he had no involvement in the mailing of these 2500 invitations, then we party members could, perhaps, look into the possibility of some kind of supervised reinstatement.
In case you missed this comment on the Deseret News 26 March 2008 web edition, in response to their article on my lawsuit over automatic delegates,
Deseret News writer, Leigh Dethman, does a great job of giving the gist of my
rapid fire comments in an interview that went 11 minutes shortly after the
conclusion of yesterday's court hearing and shortly before her deadline.I would, however, like to make a small but significant correction to one of the
more central quotes which she renders as: "If you can't even choose your own
representative to the state Legislature, because that choice is already made for
you by party leaders ... then why do we live in America?"The quote is word perfect with the exception of the final clause, where I actually said, "then why do we CALL THIS America."
Again, much appreciation to the Deseret News and to Leigh Dethman for bringing this issue to the attention of the voters of Utah, and to the comments moderators for finally posting one of my responses to the last three articles about this case.
Last updated 12:11 am March 21, 2008, by Mike Ridgway.
(Update: The liberal bloggers are already showing themselves to be less unsympathetic than I had feared via private emails and phone calls. For this, I am appreciative. A not-so-liberal blogger, Ethan Millard of SLCSpin, and KSL's the Nightside Project, has gone one further, or should I say, three further: here, and here, and here.)
"'So what?' if Stan has two grotesque conflicts of interest. 'So what?' if he suborned violations of the rules by his own daughter to give even further unfair advantage to Curt Bramble in his re-election bid. 'So what?' if there isn't the slightest inclination toward election integrity in the Stan Lockhart administration of the Utah Republican Party? I know Stan and he's a good, good man."
Apologist comments like this, which are nothing more than admissions of the corruption at the head of the Utah Republican Party, convince me that the Republican Party is becoming more "ripe for destruction" every day. (See Book of Mormon, Mosiah Chapter 29.)
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