By Ricky Hatch
Weber County GOP Treasurer
2010 Weber County Clerk/Auditor Candidate
Sorry in advance for such a long report. If I had more time, I’d make it shorter. Several candidates came, including Bridgewater and Lee, who spoke to the county party leaders before leaving for parades. The main meeting started with reports from several of our elected officials.
Jason Chaffetz started out saying, “We currently have the most undemocratic Congress in history.” And then he got mad. He said the 111th Congress will have gone through 2 full years with NO bills in “Open Rule.” This means that none of the bills can have amendments proposed and added on the floor. There has not been a budget yet this year in Washington, and the Democrats won’t touch it until after the November elections. Hmmm…I wonder why. Mr. Cot-side Chat closed by saying, “It’s a great day to be a Republican, but we need to stay true to our core principles.” True dat.
Morgan Philpot discussed how the federal government’s spending is typically about 18% of the GDP. The Democrats are trying to push that ratio higher until it’s clear there’s a crisis. When the crisis is evident, they can “resolve” it by taking the “unfortunately necessary” step of implementing a VAT tax. Gee, thanks! Mr. Philpot mentioned that his campaign will be unconventional (or should I say, “unconphentional”), and will go through the summer.
Rob Bishop assured us that this will be a good year for us IF the intensity, anger and anxiety that citizens are now feeling continue through November. He quoted John Spratt, “If you can’t budget, you can’t govern.” Our country is still in a financial world of hurt. We’re at 89% comprehensive debt as a % of GDP. How’s that for change? Two things Representative Bishop is working on:
1. He is on the Task Force on 10th Amendment (state’s rights/federalism). They are moving forward, and even liberals are finding this issue to be important. This Task Force should help make the Fed smaller. If you want choices, you have to empower local government, not federal. I think there were some people living on the East Coast about 220 years ago who felt the same way.
2. Border control – 40% of land from San Diego to El Paso is owned by the federal government. Because much of this border contains endangered species, our Border Patrol cannot use motorized vehicles and in many cases can’t even go onto the land. But the drug cartels can, and do. Surprisingly enough, this same problem exists on the northern border – it’s not just as bad. House Bill 5016 will solve this problem. It’s a common-sense bill. FYI – There are no Latino groups who oppose this bill.
Governor Herbert – A recent article asked “Which state is the least like California?” You guessed it, Utah. Now, Which state is the least like Washington DC? Good! 2 for 2. Steve Forbes said that Utah is the best state in terms of our debt ratio, which is about 1/5th of what the federal government’s ratio is. But we’re not yet where we need to be in terms of economic development. The Governor t
ook umbrage when Peter Coroon said that the Governor has no plan. We not only have a plan, but we have implemented a plan (with 10 points) that involved tourism, research and development, education, natural resource development, etc. This plan has worked remarkably well. Utah has led the nation in job growth creation. Before the recession, we had the lowest unemployment rate in our state’s history. Gov. Herbert recently rolled out the Utah Energy Initiatives & Opportunities Plan. This comprehensive, 10-year plan is detailed on the Governor’s web page. We have the 5th lowest per-kilowatt electricity cost in the nation. The Governor recently visited Fresenius, who manufactures about 80% of the world’s kidney dialysis equipment right here in Weber County. They have 1,500 employees, and since they opened in 1984, they have never laid off anyone. They originally came to Utah because of the climate, but they are absolutely sold about establishing business in Utah. This is private enterprise at work. The economy is his #1 focus.
Lt. Gov. Bell mentioned how he had earned the nickname “outlaw” because he recently determined that electronic signatures would not be recognized. This decision is currently in litigation. There is also a federal lawsuit that is seeking to keep private the names of those who have signed the Ethics initiative. This violates the sovereignty of our state. Early voting is a game changer. The Senate election will probably be decided by about 10% of Registered Republicans.
Chairman’s Report – Dave Hansen talked about what a great tool Voter Vault is for candidates. The State Convention was one of the funnest things he’s ever done in his life. There was great energy and dedication with 3,452 (98.6%) of the 3,500 delegates showing up. Even more impressive, most of them stayed for the entire day. A big reason it went well was because the county leaders provided delegate names and information to the state party in time to prepare for the convention. Thank you county leaders for cooperating and making it possible for as many candidates to attend as many conventions as possible.
Starting June 23, we’ll have an online newsletter, “Countdown to Victory” on a weekly basis until the election. One item will be a schedule of events throughout the state, so be sure to communicate your upcoming events to the state party. Early voting is increasing and is becoming important.
Regarding Utah’s Caucus/Convention system vs. Direct Primary Elections – Utah’s system is great – the delegates are knowledgeable, engaged, and know the candidates much better. In order for this to change, it would have to be done at the state convention. There will likely be challenges to this process in the future. (Personally, I wholeheartedly agree with Chairman Hansen.)
C&B Committee Report – Chair Dana Dickson gave the results from the state convention. They will provide a status of each of 7 proposed amendments at the next SCC meeting. A motion was made to table discussion of these amendments until after the elections. It passed. (My personal opinion – we shouldn’t delay SCC business until after the elections, especially things like amendments.)
Enid Mickelsen discussed three things about the Republican National Committee (RNC):
1. Presidential nominating procedure-the special committee has come back with their recommendation. It doesn’t recommend sweeping changes, but it is a good start, and probably as much change as they could recommend right now. So what does it do? Most states will not be allowed to have a Presidential primary before March 1st (currently, it’s Feb. 1). Four states can have primaries before then: New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and Iowa. There shouldn’t be any exceptions, but again, this is a start. Any other state that tries to hold primaries before March 1st will be forced to allocate the votes, based on the actual votes, so they can’t have a disproportionate impact on the candidates (like “winner take all”). If these changes work well this time, they’ll consider making more changes after the next presidential election. The RNC must vote up or down on this proposal, there is no possibility for the amendment. Enid will vote yes – it’s a good first step.
2. Enid is a co-chair of the Rules Committee. They are beginning their 4-year review of the RNC. The rules are on the RNC web site. If you have suggestions or /concerns, tell Enid and she’ll forward your thoughts on.
3. The RNC national convention bid went to Tampa, but thank you to those who helped on the bid for Salt Lake. The committee members who came to Utah were very pleasantly surprised at our ability to host. Our least competitive advantage is financing – the host city is required to come up with $40 Million as a backstop. Tampa was successful after 12 years working on getting the convention, partly because four wealthy people ponied up $10 Million each. When Republicans control the White House, the President decides where the convention is held. But when we don’t hold the White House, it’s a competitive process.
Under our current administration’s setup, by the year 2020, our national debt will be $20 trillion dollars.
Resolutions, discussions, and reports.Don Larsen’s Resolution regarding
“pseudo-Republican candidates” was postponed indefinitely. People liked the intent of the resolution, but not the wording. Dana Dixon indicated that he would work with Mr. Larsen on the wording.
Question: Why are we selling our caucus attendee lists to our candidates instead of giving it for free? Answer: Party rules allow us to charge a nominal fee (depending on size of the list), which we do, to cover the cost of producing the list. Voterlink costs $10K per year. We don’t charge for the State Delegate list.
Question: Is a person required to sign a caucus attendee list? Answer: No. We hope they do, and it is required if they are elected to a position. We do not share the email addresses with anyone.
Tom Clay of Davis County tried to present a resolution and because of its sensitive nature, to go into a SCC-only session. It was resolved that the resolution would be included in the next meeting.
Young Republicans – Jeff Morton, Vice Chair, thanked the youth for their help at conventions. The Yrs are established from Cache County to St. George. They had over 320 people at the state convention. www.utahyoungrepublicans.com. There’s an opening for the Treasurer position. Contact the Chair or Vice Chair.
Teenage Republicans – JayLynn Gilette is the new Chair for the state, elected before the state convention. They are trying to get a chapter in every county. They provided a lot of help at the convention, and had a booth as well. If you want to help, contact Christy Achziger.
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Carpe Diem
Labels: Central Committee Meetings
