Picto Diary - 23, 24 April 2022 - Utah State Republican Convention

Above:  Z-Man.  Carden Memorial School.  Salt Lake City, UT.  23 April 2022.

First place team math competition award!

Day after tomorrow, I will be attending the Utah State Republican Party Convention. As a delegate to the convention, I will vote for relevant candidates seeking a position as their party's nominee for the general election in November.

I involved myself in state grass roots politics at this late stage in my life because of growing threats, many coming from within, to America's continuing status as a free nation. 

As a state delegate I will be able to meet the party's candidates and to advise them as to my concerns. On hearing their reactions to my concerns, I am better positioned to influence which of them would be the party's candidate of choice in the upcoming general election, November 2022.

Utah is seen as one of the most reliable of Republican voting states. This may be true, but it is a surprise to me that candidates I have seen so far (I haven't met them all) avoid overt support for DJT, putative Pub elephant in the room, in their campaign messages. This troubles me, since DJT has done more than anyone to stem progress of the pernicious progressive agenda, an agenda which threatens the demise of the core values that underpin American, and Utah (!), greatness. During the Trump presidency the judiciary was strengthened with conservative judges, taxes were lowered, regulations were eliminated all of which actions are consistent with the principles of limited government and individual freedom intended by the founders.  Why are Pub candidates for state offices avoiding mention of DJT?

Incumbent US Congressman, Utah District 3, John Cutis sponsored a resolution to censure DJT for his putative role in the "insurrection" at the US Capitol on 06 January 2021. Chris Herrod, Utah District 3 House candidate, when asked whether he supported Donald Trump, replied with a head fake: "I was the manager of Ted Cruz campaign here in Utah in 2015." Senator Mike Lee, up for reelection, is being vilified for his supposed support of Trump's claim of the 2020 presidential election being rigged. Senator Mitt Romney's sanctimonious disdain for Trump is well known.

It is possible that many Utah Pub party faithful elevate revulsion for Trump's personal characteristics over the real accomplishments Trump has made on their behalf. Most Utah Pub party members are LDS. The LDS Church's governing principle of priesthood emphasizes personal decorum and virtue. It's good to be personally virtuous, but devout LDS Utah Pub voters are left with a dilemma: Do I support a reprobate if he does good things for the country and if the alternative choice guarantees the country's ongoing decline as a free and prosperous nation?

Elections have consequences. Stolen elections have catastrophic consequences. We are watching the opposite of the Trump agenda unfold before our very eyes: government overspending, inflation, loss of border control, threat to middle class, assault on family values etc. Are Utah voters going to give up support for truly conservative DJT camp candidates because they disdain Trump's putative puffery? I hope not. As I consider my vote on Saturday, would like to see more overt support given by Republican candidates to the contribution Donald Trump has made to thwart the progress of the progressive juggernaut.  

Above:  Talley of delegate vote for US Senator.

Because he exceeded sixty percent of the vote, Mike Lee is the convention's delegate to run in the November 2022 general election.  But there is a wrinkle.  Republican candidates for statewide office can force a primary vote to include candidates discarded by the convention vote.  How?  If a candidate obtains 25 thousand signatures from constituency voters, he/she is guaranteed a spot in a primary election.  Lee is forced into a primary runoff with Ally Isom and Becky Edwards each of whom came in with low votes at the convention but who fulfilled the petition requirement to become a primary candidate.  Mike Lee remains the favorite to win the June 2022 primary and to retain his senate seat in the November 2022 general election.   Interestingly, Lee's two challengers, Isom and Edwards, challenge him, a reliable conservative vote, from the purple left.

Middle of the road Republican congressmen, Blake Moore (Utah 1) and John Curtis (Utah 3) each received fewer delegate votes than their more conservative challengers, Adam Badger and Chris Herrod, respectively.  But Moore and Curtis received enough votes to qualify for a primary in June, which each is expected to win.  With Lee's milquetoast challengers and Moore's and Curtis' decorous, Mr. Smith, RINOism, Utah seems to be taking on a purple hew.  

Internalizing convention realities as I observe the proceedings, I am now wondering.  What is the point of a convention if a would-be candidate can qualify for a primary by substituting a completed petition for a convention certification?  

Above:  Senator Mike Lee addresses Utah State Republican Convention delegates.

Above:  After his speech to the Utah State Republican Convention, Marlo Oaks, Utah State Treasurer high fives party head Carson Jorgensen.

Oaks gave a stemwinding speech about the threat of ESG principles being used as guidelines for investment in Utah.  Utah is a fossil energy producing state.  ESG guidelines discourage fossil fuel related investments.  

Above:  Breakfast tots.  Mowry and Cotton Restaurant, Scottsdale, AZ.  24 April 2022.

Where is Napoleon Dynamite when you need him?