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Utah County Republican Convention
Editor’s Note: The following report on the Utah County Republican Convention is from John Clark. UtahPolitics.org will gladly publish reports from other conventions. Please submit them.
It was a fun convention, with changes in platform and leadership. Three proposed resolutions were voted down.
The significant platform additions were in Voter Registration, Immigration, and Social Security:
“Voter Registration. The Party supports needed legislation to restore integrity to the voter registration rolls and to reduce voter fraud.”
“Immigration. We support reforming the immigration system to ensure that it is legal, safe, orderly and humane. We also support measures to ensure that the immigration system is structured to address the needs of national security. We support efforts to enforce the law while welcoming immigrants who enter America through legal avenues. America is a stronger and better nation because of the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants. We support the Constitutional mandate for the federal government to protect and secure our national borders. Taxpayers should not be covering state benefits for illegal aliens.”
“Social Security. Social Security must satisfy its obligations to those who have contributed to it, and become an optional program for any who wish to participate.”
The current County Party Leadership were all re-elected except for the Treasurer, Lowell Nelson, who lost to Mike McGee. Mike had 64% of the vote.
Chair Marian Monnahan ran unopposed, as did Secretary Susan Bramble.
Vice Chair Ruthann Jarvis had 68% of the vote against Christy Kane, Don Larsen having withdrawn at the last moment.
Our 18 members for the State Central Committee will be: Curt Bramble, Susan Bramble, Doug Cannon, Mark Cluff, Josh Daniels, Dean Hawker, Ivan Keller, George King, Don Larsen, Becky Lockhart, Stan Lockhart, Mike McGee, Lowell Nelson, Cory Norman, Nathan Rathbun, Marlon Snow, Steve Turley, and Steve White.
Unsuccessful candidates for the Central Committee include Nelson Abbott, Rebecca Albiston, Chris Coons, Christy Kane, Phil Peay, Art Pollard, Don Ruzicka, Gayle Ruzicka, Russell Sias, Daniel Stuart, Mike Thompson, and Arnold Young.
We also voted down all three proposed resolutions.
The first would have returned the money that Republican candidates who ran in last year’s election had paid for delegate lists from the Party.
The second and third were both aimed at firmer control of our borders. Some who spoke against these last two were in sympathy with their general intent but opposed to the harsh language used by their proponents.
I can’t find the exact language of the resolutions right now (would one of you please post them for me?). As I remember, the second used the “invasion” metaphor extensively and also included several behavior standards familiar to LDS Church members. It demanded that all citizens upold them.
The third demanded that all office holders who help provide any benefit to illegal aliens immediately resign. One of our state representatives commented that if that policy were followed, all current Republican office holders in Utah County would be obliged to resign.
An interesting little drama occurred because of an ambitious campaign worker. Flyers for one Central Committee candidate appeared on the seats inside the auditorium. This normally calls for automatic disqualification of the candidate. A motion to disqualify was made and seconded. The “offending” candidate apologized, and said he wasn’t aware of the infraction until it was too late. He was willing to be disqualified if the vote went that way. The last comment during the discussion was “Come on, she was a 9 year old girl!” The motion to disqualify failed.
Posted by Editor on May 2, 2005 08:38 AM
