Response to a Standard-Examiner Editorial: “Government by the Few”

An invitation to the Standard-Examiner to waive advertising fees, and to actively promote the existing Utah political process

By Christie Moore
Weber County Republican Party
Vice Chair

Every citizen can attend a precinct caucus of one party or another. How can the process be more open? The people who attend their caucus choose the delegates who choose the candidates. It is not the fault of those who attend caucuses that their neighbors care more about the results on “Dancing with the Stars” than about who will represent them in governing bodies.

From Wednesday's (4/16/08) Standard lead editorial:

Political parties, presently constituted, serve mainly as incumbent-protection rackets. There are exceptions, but they’re rare.

That claim may have merit in some counties, but it does not in Weber County. Our county Republican organization has open, transparent processes. Each challenger is given the same access to information and the same opportunity to contact delegates as the incumbent is given. The Weber County Republican Party is cited as an example of openness and fairness by citizens and challengers in other Utah counties and newspapers.

More from the editorial:

Government does belong to the people—the few people who go to the caucus meetings.
We hate to sound so cynical about it, but that leaves everyone else to watch from the sidelines.

Again, I must emphasize: THESE ARE PUBLIC MEETINGS! Anyone who wants to go can attend. No one is excepted. We publish the locations in the Standard-Examiner. We supply phone numbers for inquiries if someone does not know in which precinct they reside. This is a fair, grassroots process—pure democracy!

What could make the process more open? Perhaps the Standard-Examiner could deign to publish the caucus locations as a public service, just as it has historically done in the past, eliminating the hardship on the Parties of raising the money to advertise this democratic obligation.