From Deseret News archives:

What a mess Utah Republican Party has made

Published: Friday, April 18, 2008 12:33 a.m. MDT
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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.

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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

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