Complaints grow about Utah politics
GOP: Leaders accused of trying to stack deck
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.
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."
But the Utah County Republican Party's bylaws give the precinct chairman a deadline, then strip the precinct chairman of that duty and give it to the district chairman, despite a provision in state party bylaws that "any provision" in a county party's bylaws "contrary to state law or to a specific provision of (the state party) Constitution is null and void."
Two replacement delegates chosen by a precinct chairman in House District 60 have been rejected by county party officials because they were named after the April 10 deadline set by the county party.
Utah Republican national committeewoman Nancy Lord called the extra Utah County rules "a scheme" and criticized the county party for stepping outside the state bylaws.
"It's just wrong and unfair," Lord said. "It allows party leaders to control who fills those seats rather than it be done on the precinct level."
Lockhart, the state party chairman, said the state rules are broad guidelines and that he didn't have a problem with the county adding a step to the process.
"It looks to me like all the county has done has simply put together an additional process to make sure they have the delegates each precinct deserves," he said.
Another rule unique to Utah County allows for what the county party calls "ex officio delegates" and what deGaston, Mike Ridgeway and others in a group critical of the county party establishment call "automatic delegates." The county party gives delegate status to elected officials such as legislators. That can add delegates in certain precincts and, the group believes, stack the deck in favor of incumbents.
DeGaston got the list of all the Utah County Republican delegates earlier this week so she could review it to see if her district was stacked to benefit Bramble over her and the other candidate, James O'Neal. Her voice mail was full Thursday, and she did not respond to multiple Deseret News e-mails requesting an interview.
The convention is critical in Utah politics. More than 1,200 delegates selected last month at hundreds of neighborhood caucus meetings will vote in nine Utah County legislative races on Saturday.
If one candidate in a race earns 60 percent or more of the vote, he or she wins the party's nomination and advances to the November general election. If no supermajority emerges, the top two candidates advance to the June primary.
DeGaston said in her release that she relented to the seating of Hannah Lockhart as a delegate because she wanted to encourage young people to participate in the political process. The teenager knew she would move between the time delegates were selected and the convention and asked Utah County Republican chairwoman Marian Monnahan for advice.
Monnahan told Lockhart to run for a delegate position in the precinct where she would live at the time of the convention. Party bylaws state a person may only vote in the precinct where they are living, but deGaston said the rules are unclear about the residency requirement for being a delegate.
Though she still believes Monnahan was wrong to give Lockhart that advice, and though she wanted to call attention to the Utah County party's practice of having ex officio or automatic delegates and up to 10 discretionary delegates, she didn't think she could win a challenge to Hannah Lockhart's credentials because the Lockhart and Bramble families carry so much clout in the local party.
"There is no due process and I have little expectation of winning anyway, and she is a minor child of 17 years who should not have to bear the brunt of her parents' and their friends' political maneuverings," deGaston wrote. "But by bringing these things to the attention of the party and the public I am hoping that there may be some changes in the near future rather than 'business as usual.'"
DeGaston is a family law attorney who in 2000 was suspended from the practice of law for three months and placed on two years probation by a 4th District Court judge for misconduct for taking on cases for which she was not qualified.
E-mail: twalch@desnews.com
Recent comments
Does an automatic delegate have to reside in the legislative district...
jack | May 6, 2008 at 10:56 a.m.
well then good then thats what the point ot comment boards are! ....
person | April 28, 2008 at 4:12 p.m.
The LDS contingent is exactly why this corruption has festered in...
Jade | April 27, 2008 at 12:27 p.m.
