ST. GEORGE — Three hours after it started and less than halfway through a packed agenda, state GOP leaders voted to abruptly end the group's quarterly meeting here on Saturday.

Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, made the motion to adjourn.

"It was clear we lost the two-thirds majority needed to pass what we wanted, and there was no point in continuing," Bramble said, adding at least six people whose votes could have made a difference left the meeting early.

"It's the tyranny of the minority that disrupted this meeting," he said. "We've been fighting the malcontents every year, but I think we've made substantial progress."

Little of the group's agenda, however, made much progress as the 77 credentialed members of the state central committee gathered on the campus of Dixie State College.

Among the issues debated was the nature and purpose of state party auxiliary groups, such as the Young Republicans, Utah Republican Hispanic Assembly, the Utah Federation of Republican Women and whether the groups should be allowed a vote on the committee.

Marco Diaz, state chairman of the Hispanic Assembly, sent a letter in support of the auxiliary groups, calling them good training for newcomers to the party.

But one person attending the meeting said the auxiliary groups should "have a voice, not a vote" on the executive committee.

"If there's negative press from an auxiliary member, it reflects poorly on the state Republican Party," he said.

Another man said, "We are Republicans, darn it, not Hispanic Republicans or women Republicans. I have a real problem with minority groups getting a special vote."

An attempt failed to remove preferential voting, a form of balloting when multiple candidates are vying for a single seat, from the state GOP constitution.

Another failed recommendation would have allowed the suspension of elected officials or appointed state party committee members — by a 60 percent vote — from a participating in a quorum of the state executive committee.

Keith Hanes, a committee member from Salt Lake County, said the state GOP party should be able to suspend someone who uses his position as a "bully pulpit to criticize the party."

One person who raised the ire of Bramble and others at the meeting was Arnold Gaunt, who was accused of tape recording the meeting without permission.

One motion requiring Gaunt to turn off his recording or leave the room was passed unanimously. Gaunt chose to leave. Another motion requiring Gaunt to erase any recording already made prompted one man to ask if a paper and pencil qualified as a "recording" that needed to be confiscated or erased. That motion failed for lack of a second.

"No, take all the notes you want," said Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, chairman of the state central committee. "There is no recording of anything allowed in the meeting, except for the official secretarial notes."

Candace Daly, state GOP secretary, said some private recordings have been used out of context in the past to "humiliate" party members and to harass them.

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