Bush agenda splits Utah delegation

In the days ahead, Republicans will be thundering their support for President Bush — citing the president's leadership in the war on terrorism, his tax cuts and the recovering economy.

But don't look for Utah's 69 delegates and alternates to next week's Republican National Convention to be singing a unanimous tune when it comes to the Bush agenda.

Sure, they support Bush, and they love his running mate Dick Cheney. It's a couple of Bush administration policies that Utah delegates are choking on.

According to an informal survey of Utah's delegates, there is overwhelming opposition to the president's No Child Left Behind education program. And there is mixed support, at best, for the Patriot Act, which gives government sweeping authority to combat terrorism, but which conservatives and civil libertarians believe erodes fundamental constitutional rights.

Seventy-five percent of delegates who responded to a Deseret Morning News questionnaire say they oppose No Child Left Behind or want to see major changes to it.

Delegate Paige Marriott, the daughter of a schoolteacher, acknowledges reforms to education are in order, but federal programs aren't the answer.

"When Utah pays less per student than Mississippi, we've got a problem," she said. "Education excellence should not be mandated from the White House or the state house, but from our own homes and families. We need to listen to Utah teachers, parents and students who know education better than Washington."

Although delegates praise the president's war on terror, 50 percent of delegates say they do not support the Patriot Act.

"We are wasting efforts in places unneeded and failing to put in the right effort," said Jim Bischoff, an at-large delegate from Utah County. "It is silly to search grandma at the airport and equally silly not to profile those in the Islamic community."

On many issues, Utah Republicans are marching lock step with the GOP nationally. All but one of those responding said they support the party's platform on abortion as it is currently written (the one dissenter thought it was a bit too liberal), and all but one supported some sort of constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages (the lone dissenter opposes gay marriages but felt tinkering with the constitution was going too far).