Complaints grow about Utah politics

PROVO — Widespread complaints continue to swirl that entrenched Republican Party leaders are breaking party rules and stacking the deck to help their party legislators win re-election, even after one major controversy was resolved Thursday.

Jackie deGaston, who is challenging powerful Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, announced in an e-mail Thursday that she had dropped her effort to disqualify 17-year-old Hannah Lockhart as a delegate to Saturday's Utah County Republican Convention.

DeGaston had filed an official complaint against Lockhart that would have been heard today. DeGaston said in a release that she still believes party rules disqualify Lockhart because the girl was elected as a delegate from a precinct where she does not live.

The most inflammatory new allegation is that an unnamed party official tried to block someone from becoming a delegate because the person would oppose Bramble at the convention.

The accusation was made by a respected former state GOP officeholder who requested anonymity. He said a party official called him before last month's neighborhood caucus meetings in which delegates are chosen and asked him to help keep a woman opposed to Bramble from being elected as a delegate from his precinct.

Republican Party bylaws require party officials to remain neutral during a convention race between two Republicans.

Utah Republican Party chairman Stan Lockhart, who is Hannah Lockhart's father, expressed frustration at the new allegation.

"To the best of my knowledge, that is just something that doesn't happen," he said. "My guess is this was just a misunderstanding. Have I given commentary on where I think people might be sitting in terms of how they would lean? Yes, I have opinions and I don't think it's inappropriate to make observations about the process. Where the line would get crossed would be to say, we've got to see that these people don't make it as delegates. Or if you recruited people to run against people."

Meanwhile, another flap developed over how replacement delegates are being chosen in the race for House District 60, where Rep. Brad Daw faces a challenge from Linda Housekeeper.

State party rules give the power to name a replacement to the precinct chairman. Article 12, Section 2.d. states, "If an elected delegate dies, resigns, or is disqualified prior to the convention, the County Party precinct chair shall appoint a replacement from the precinct of the deceased or disqualified delegate."