Buttars gets nod from S.L. County GOP

Rep. Sylvia Andersen was bounced out of office Saturday by her own GOP delegates, while controversial state Sen. Chris Buttars was given his party's nomination in the Salt Lake County Republican Convention.

There will be no GOP primaries in Salt Lake County Republican legislative races.

While Andersen's defeat at the hands of former Rep. LaVar Christensen may have been a shock to her and her supporters, the big news was the victory by Buttars — who was given up as politically dead earlier this year after a horrible gaff on the floor of the Senate, when he made a remark many considered racist.

Buttars, R-West Jordan, didn't mince words Saturday speaking to the 200 or so Senate District 10 GOP delegates. After surviving first-round balloting, Buttars told the delegates: "I will stand for all the things I stood for" before.

Buttars received 60.2 percent of the second-round of voting — winning the nomination outright by a few votes. Any candidate who gets 60 percent of the delegate vote wins outright, avoiding a late-June primary. Defeated by Buttars in the final round of balloting was Gary Armstrong, who had told delegates they would never be embarrassed by him — a clear reference to Buttars' problems.

Buttars made news in February when in a floor debate over a school bill he said: "This baby is black ... it is a dark, ugly thing."

Buttars apologized immediately, but the Salt Lake Chapter of the NAACP still demanded that he resign. Buttars refused and said he would run for re-election. Buttars defeated three GOP challengers Saturday. Buttars has also criticized gay and lesbian groups and fought against high school clubs for homosexual students.

"We will be campaigning against Buttars for sure," said Jeanetta Williams, president of the Salt Lake NAACP branch, after learning about the convention results Saturday afternoon.

"I think in November there will be a different outcome. People in the district are saying they do not support Buttars," she said. "We are going to make sure people get out there and vote. Buttars does not stand for anything the NAACP stands for."

Utah GOP national committeewoman Nancy Lord, who has opposed "superdelegates" in the party before, said that Buttars avoided a primary because he was an automatic delegate in his own district, so he likely cast the deciding vote.

District 10 delegates were hit with an anonymous mailer Thursday and Friday, criticizing Buttars' actions and saying he couldn't win re-election. Asked by the Deseret News where the mailer could have come from, Buttars said: "This is the same ghost PAC of the national gays — that was an ugly thing to do on Friday when (I) can't reply."