Utah County veterans lose jobs in a rush of anti-incumbent fever

PAYSON — Kay Bryson lost his job as Utah County attorney, and Sen. Parley Hellewell and Rep. David Cox lost their legislative seats Saturday during a tumultuous Utah County Republican convention.

Convention delegates swept the three longtime incumbents out of office in brusque fashion, dismissing them without so much as a chance at the Republican primary on June 27.

Several other incumbents struggled and face what appear to be difficult primary races, including County Commissioner Jerry Grover and District 58 House Rep. James Ferrin.

"I do think there was an anti-incumbent feeling across the board," Orem resident and county delegate Craig Skidmore said.

Candidates win the Republican nomination outright if they earn 60 percent of the vote.

Bryson, Hellewell and Cox failed to win 40 percent of the vote, so they will leave their positions in January. Bryson will be replaced by one of his employees, Jeff Buhman, who landed 69 percent of the vote. Buhman has no opposition in the November general election and will be the next Utah County attorney.

Bryson's loss astonished even the 1,145 change-minded delegates who filled the Payson High School auditorium with gasps at the news that Bryson won only 133 votes, or 12 percent. Another of Bryson's prosecutors, Curtis Larson, earned 19 percent of the vote.

Bryson was seeking a fifth term as county attorney, and Buhman and Larson repeatedly called for change during their convention speeches.

"I'm disappointed, of course," Bryson said. "There was a lot of negative campaigning in this election. It's been clear they were working together for anybody but Kay Bryson."

Bryson was involved in a messy, highly publicized divorce from former state Rep. Katherine Bryson during his last term. He was cleared of wrongdoing for using county equipment and county employees to install video equipment in a Salt Lake City condo, where Bryson said a camera caught her being unfaithful.

"All this on the divorce was difficult and unfair," Bryson said. "A lot of the publicity wasn't true. Certainly that took its toll."

He will take the next eight months to decide his future.

"There's a possibility I could stay in the office (as a deputy county attorney)," he said. "County policy allows for that."