2 men scuffle at GOP meeting

A candidate for a Salt Lake County Republican Party leadership office was charged with misdemeanor assault at a party central committee meeting Saturday after a scuffle over party credentials.

Drew Chamberlain, who was running for chairman of the Senate District 10 on the county party's executive committee, said party vice chairman Dana Dickson told him to turn in his credentials at the meeting at Eastmont Middle School in Sandy because of a temporary suspension that Chamberlain contends is against the party rules.

"I told him, 'No, I'm not giving back my credentials. I'm representing my precinct,' " Chamberlain said. " 'My name is on the list. I signed in.' " When Dickson "kept pressing the issue and pushed up against me, I pushed him away."

Chamberlain said he then called Sandy police, who showed up and met him in the parking lot. But after officers talked to Dickson, they cited Chamberlain with assault and told him to leave the premises, which he did.

A vote by the central committee later allowed Chamberlain to attend the meeting of his Senate district's caucus, as he was a candidate for the caucus chair position, county party chairman James Evans said. Chamberlain, who was not allowed to vote, lost to incumbent chairman Ozwald Balfour 31-10.

Evans said Chamberlain and other members of his precinct caucus were temporarily suspended pending an investigation of allegations they used an unapproved voting method at an earlier caucus meeting. Chamberlain contends the party's bylaws don't allow suspension until after a hearing.

He said he believes party leaders simply don't like him because he has often made accusations of rules violations and has run against party leaders like state party chairman Joe Cannon.

The county party has a history of infighting, and Chamberlain is part of a group regularly at odds with party leadership.

"This is just an ongoing thing," Chamberlain said.

But Evans said he acted fairly, allowing Chamberlain back in for his district meeting.

"I could have easily not let that happen, but that's not my deal," Evans said. "My deal is that the committee can make up their mind. They always get it right. All this stuff that we're unfair, we're persecuting, I don't even know how to respond to that other than, 'How can you disprove a negative?'

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