Friday, November 20, 2009

December Central Committee Meeting Cancelled

The December 3 meeting has been cancelled and moved to January 21, 2010.

Enjoy your holidays!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Legislative Committee Elections Update

In an effort to have a more democratic process in the appointment of Legislative Committee members, Legislative District 27 has decided to hold elections for the two remaining committee positions. The responsibilities of these positions were outlined in the post below.


The filing deadline has been extended to October 10, 2009. We will be taking nominations from the floor of the election.


This is a new and exciting way of appointing these positions. In the past, it was up to the discretion of the Legislative Chair, who received these responsibilities. One of those privileges and responsibilities is to serve as a County Delegate. As we have seen during the current year, elections can come down to several and sometimes, single votes.


If one is truly living the “Republican Way”, then those delegate votes should be representative of the voice of the people. Instead of the traditional appointment whereas two or three votes are considered, the Chair is presenting the names to the voting group.


If any of you are interested in serving in these positions, please contact the leadership team. In addition, if you have any colleagues or associates that would like more information, please pass along our contact info. We welcome contact with any interested party.


DeLaina Tonks
(801) 299-1978
delainatonks@comcast.net

Sarah Nitta
(801) 369-2399
educatedelectorate@yahoo.com

Kristin Chevier
(801) 369-0468
politicalmommy@gmail.com

Monday, September 28, 2009

Utah County GOP Central Committee Meeting

Reminder:

Our next Central Committee Meeting will be held:

Saturday, October 10, 2009
9:00-12:00
Lakeridge Jr High
951 South 400 West
Orem, UT

This is the quarterly meeting that all Chairs, Vice-Chairs, and Legislative Officers are to attend.

We will be discussing Bylaw changes and voting.

You can find a copy of the Utah County GOP Constitution and Bylaws at

http://www.utahcountygop.org/

Please arrive at 8:30 to participate in the Legislative District Committee Members election. You can find more info in the previous post and on our Facebook page, Utah Republican Legislative District 27. (see links at right)

Legislative District Committee Members Election

Thirty minutes prior to the next County Central Committee Meeting, our Legislative District will meet to elect the two additional Legislative District Committee members.

This is a departure from the established custom of appointing the additional two officers. We felt that it was better to have the Precinct Chairs and Vice-Chairs decide who these officers would be.

The positions that will be voted on are as follows:

1. Secretary/Communications Officer
* Takes minutes and attendance at all Legislative District (LD) meetings, clears these records with the LD Leadership and forwards the final draft to all members of the LD.
*Compiles a monthly newsletter, which includes a calendar of and information on current events and issues and a "Precinct Spotlight," detailing the leadership of and best practices used by the precincts in our LD.
*Takes care of all the technical needs of the LD, such as updating the blog, the LD 27 Facebook page and providing links to pertinent information. This officer should be a Web 2.0 facilitator.

2. Volunteer/Event Coordinator
*Gathers volunteers and secures venues for events within the Legislative District including, but not limited to: meetings, caucuses, meet the candidate nights, Get-Out-The-Vote drives, open houses for current Representatives, concealed carry permit classes, financial literacy classes, Robert's Rules classes and LD social events
*Gather volunteers and facilitate events as needed for the County Party officers such as voter registration drives in our LD, etc.

Bios/resumes for these two positions are due this Friday, October 2, by 5:00 PM. Please email your bio/resume to current Legislative District Leadership at delainatonks@comcast.net, educatedelectorate@yahoo.com, and politicalmommy@gmail.com .

We will post all the information on applicants, for your review by Monday, October 5th. The info will be posted here and on the Facebook page, Utah Republican Legislative District 27.

Please arrive 30 minutes early (8:30 AM) to the Central Committee Meeting on Saturday, October 10, so that you can represent your precinct in this election of officers. We will meet in the lobby.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Election Results for Leg. District Officers, C&B, Recorder, and Audit Committee

We had 33/49 eligible voting members (precinct chairs, vice-chairs, Leg. Officers and our Representative, John Dougall) at the Central Committee/Leg. District Caucus Meeting tonight. Thanks to all who made the time to attend.

Here are the election results:

County Recorder:
Rod Campbell,
Jeff Smith,
Scott Peterson

Audit Committee:
Dann Hone,
Garr Judd,
John Booth,
Don Larsen,
Clayton Holbrook

Constitution and Bylaws Committee: (THREE of the seven are from Leg. 27* Well done!)
Jill Jasperson*,
Lowell Nelson*,
Kristen Chevrier*,
Wendi Baggaley,
Kirby Glad,
Doug Cannon,
Ivan Keller.

Leg. District Officers:
Leg. Chair: DeLaina Tonks
Leg. Vice-Chair: Sarah Nitta
Leg. Ed. Officer: Kristen Chevrier

Again, thanks to all who were in attendance. You'll be hearing more from the new Leg. Officers very soon.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Utah County Republican Party Barbeque

More details on the barbecue - Governor Herbert will be there, as well as Karl Rove.

It is open to all Republicans - please come!!

The Utah County Republican Party invites your family to join us:
Saturday, August 29th
5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Orem City Center Park
100 N 300 E

Enjoy a barbecue dinner and entertainment, meet Republican candidates, reaffirm your support for freedom by signing a replica of the U.S. Constitution, participate in a straw poll and hang out with your Utah County neighbors who share your values.

* Master of Ceremonies, Mike Mower
* Speaker, from Utah County, Utah's newest Governor, Governor Gary Herbert
* Speaker, Utah State Republican Party Chair, Dave Hansen
* Speaker, Utah County Republican Party Chair, Taylor Oldroyd
* Guest, Karl Rove, Former Utah resident, Former Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush.

Entertainment and Other Fun for the Family includes:
* Flag Ceremony & 21 Gun Salute by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
* Jump for Joy Inflatables
* "The Balloon Guy", Jeremy Telford, will be creating Utah County's favorite balloon characters. * RC Willey $25 gift certificates (for purchases of $49 or more) will be passed out to 20 people.

Entertaining Patriotic Music by:
* "Freedom Festival Band", director Michael Benedict
* Crosby Reid

Let's Dance music by:
* The Blue Aces
* Imagine Dragons

Suggested donation for food: $5 per person, $20 per family

New Utah County Republican Party t-shirts will be available.
Adult sizes: $8 each, or 2 for $12
Kids sizes: $5 each

Help support the Utah County Republican Party in our effort to protect us from liberal legislation. Republicans are committed to conservative principles of limited government, lower taxes, and personal liberty. Take action now to keep us strong.

Please forward this invitation to all of your Republican friends. All Utah County Republicans are invited.

www.utahcountygop.org
Visit our Calendar for upcoming events

Friday, August 21, 2009

Rep. John Dougall hosts An Evening with Mike Lee and the Constitution

Friday, August 28, 2009
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: Alpine City Hall
Street: 20 N. Main St.
City/Town: Alpine, UT
View Map

Description
Rep. John Dougall hosts an Evening with the Constitution, planned for Friday, August 28th, presented by Mike Lee, an attorney and former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

The event will be held at 7 p.m. at Alpine City Hall. The public is invited to attend, listen to the presentation, ask questions and share concerns about the problems facing the nation and how following the Constitution can solve the current crisis.

Lee is the son of the late Rex E. Lee who served as president of Brigham Young University and as the Solicitor General of the United States during the first term of the Reagan Administration. He graduated from law school in 1997 and was a law clerk to Judge Benson of the U.S. District Court in Utah.

Mike was also a clerk for Judge Alito who was serving at the time on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Third Circuit Court.He joined a Washington D.C. law firm and specialized in appellate and Supreme Court litigation. He returned to Utah as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City. He was Governor Jon Huntsman's general counsel in 2005-06. It was at that point he returned to Washington D.C. for a year as clerk to Justice Alito.

Lee is now in private practice. He supports efforts to secure passage and ratification of a constitutional amendment requiring congress to operate on a balanced budget, reign in entitlement spending and reform campaign finance law.

For more information about this event please contact -
John Dougall repjohndougall@gmail.com
DeLaina Tonks delainatonks@comcast.net

Friday, August 14, 2009

Utah County Republican Party Central Committee Meeting August 27th

7 p.m.
Lakeridge Jr High
951 S 400 W, Orem
Our August 27, 2009 Utah County Republican Party (UCRP) Central Committee Meeting's Agenda will include elections for the following Utah County Republican Party Positions:
Utah County Recorder Interim Position (top 3 candidates)
Legislative District Officers for each of the 13 districts (Chair, Vice Chair, Education Officer)Audit Committee (5 Members)
Constitution and Bylaws Committee (7 Members)

More information (candidates, officer descriptions etc.) can be found on the new, very user-friendly Utah County GOP Web site.

Rep. Dougall Openhouses

Thank you to all of those who made the effort to attend the Openhouses in July and August. There was excellent information shared, and some great discussions on a variety of topics including SR92, the budget, health care, education, water rights, and more.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Rep. John Dougall Openhouses Scheduled

Join Rep. John Dougall at one of his two Summer Openhouses:

Saturday, July 18th
4:00pm
6179 Bull River Road
(Home of Robin Beck)
Highland, UT 84003

Thursday, August 13th
7:00pm
Robinson Park
100E Main
American Fork

Come and discuss the issues, ask some questions, and get some answers. Mingle with neighbors and friends as we all work together to come up with good solutions.

Light refreshments will be available.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Rep. John Dougall video

This video is a must-watch, as Rep. John Dougall discusses zero-base budgeting, sunset laws, outsourcing, competition, the appropriations process and more.

Friday, June 26, 2009

State Party Officers

The candidates for Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer of the State of Utah Republican Party were pared down even further prior to, and even at the State Convention on June 13th. Mike Ridgway, Carlene Walker, Don Larsen, Patty Johnson and Steve Sharp... pulled out before Convention, and Jared Law resigned during his candidate speech and threw his support behind Dave Hansen.

And the winners are...

Chair: Dave Hansen

Vice-Chair: Morgan Philpot

Secretary: Christy Achziger

Treasurer: Mike McCauley

Congratulations to each of them.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Breakfast with Senator Stephenson

FYI:

You are invited to meet with Senator Howard Stephenson for breakfast on Thursday, May 28 at 7:00 a.m. at the Wingers Restaurant in Lehi, just off I-15.
Among the issues we will be discussing: The effects of Governor
Huntsman's appointment as Ambassador to China, the federal bailout, balancing Utah's budget, SR 92 rebuild, Utah County I-15 expansion, holding Congress accountable, the proposed Secret Ballot Constitutional Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court upholding Utah's paycheck protection law, Utah's new transparency website (transparent.utah.gov), Utah's Digital Student Information System, education reform, ensuring Internet safety when school children go online, the audit showing failures in school employee criminal background checks, and any other issues you may wish to bring up.

There will also be a drawing for a few select prizes

Look for other events before the State GOP Convention and throughout the year.
The Utah Legislature has enacted some remarkable new accountability measures to ensure openness and transparency in government. In that spirit, we are initiating a new FaceBook page for Senate District 11 where we can all stay in touch, and a regular digital newsletter reporting on legislative issues affecting the state and Senate District 11.

Hope you can join me on Thursday morning!

Howard Stephenson

801 815-6800 Mobile
801 576-1022 Home
801 972-8814 Day Job

Friday, May 15, 2009

State Party Candidates Play Musical Chairs, but the music just stopped...

After some scrambling, jockeying and switching positions, here is the Final Candidate List for State Party Offices:

Chair
Dave Hansen
Steve Harmsen
Jared Law
Brian Jenkins
Mike Ridgway

Vice-Chair
Morgan Philpot
Todd Weiler
Carlene Walker
Don Larsen

Secretary
Christy Achziger
Patty Johnson – incumbent
Nick Schulz

Treasurer
Mike McCauley – incumbent
Steve Sharp

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Utah Policy Daily

A fantastic option for Utah news in a daily digest format is Utah Policy Daily. You can subscribe to e-mail digests that come once a day with articles from all of the Utah media outlets.

What Utah County Donkeys Are Saying About Utah County Elephants:

Read about US Representative Jim Matheson's comments, and the 2010 Utah County Democrat Party gameplan here.

GOP Listening Tour

It looks like the national GOP is following Rep. John Dougall's lead in actually listening to concerns from party members.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Saturday, April 25, 2009

State Central Committee Members

State Central Committee Members

Taylor Oldroyd
Mark Cluff
Lisa Shepherd
Steven Diamond
Lowell Nelson
Matt Thompson
Marian Monnahan
Ben Smith
Lynn Taylor
John Valentine
Mike Thompson
Don Larsen
Sharon Storrs
Kip Meacham
Curt Bramble
Karen Valentine
Stan Lockhart
Susan Bramble
Becky Lockhart
Clayton Holbrook
Brian Jenkins
Jackie de Gaston

Let's Stay Connected

One of the things that will strengthen our Leg. District is to stay connected to each other. Social networking was brought up multiple times today during our Leg. 27 meeting, as a way to stay connected, aware and informed.

Here are some small steps we can all take to help out:

1. Join our Facebook Group.

2. Invite all of your Leg. 27 friends to join the Facebook Group, whether they're delegates, precinct leadership, or they just live in Leg. 27. This is an easy way to be connected and share updates and information.

3. If you have a blog, put a Leg. 27 link on it. Let your Leg. 27 neighbors and friends know about the blog.

Please share any other suggestions! We'd love to hear them.

Utah County Organizing Convention 9:30-2:00

Next came a debate on whether to wait for the results of the officer elections before voting on State Central Committee Members so that two votes aren't wasted. (The County Chair and Vice-Chair are SCC members by virtue of their office.) That motion failed.

The Party officer candidates gave their three-minute speeches, we all voted, and then the SCC candidates paraded across the stage, as if you ought to be able to tell who to vote for just by looking at them...and then we voted for them.

Here are the results:

Chair
Taylor Oldroyd 440
Steven Diamond 391

Vice-Chair
Mark Cluff 415
Lowell Nelson 405

Secretary
Lisa Shepherd 484
Matt Thompson 307
Keith Kuder 32

Treasurer
Lynn Taylor 592
Ben Smith 236

Congratulations to those who won, and to all of the candidates for taking the time to run for office!

Results for SCC will be posted once I have them.

Utah County Organizing Convention-6:30-9:15

Many of our fellow Leg. 27 delegates got up before the sun in order to attend the Organizing Convention today.

We mingled with candidates for County Party offices, were handed myriad flyers, and chatted with each other for a while until the Senate District meeting with Senator Howard Stephenson. Unfortunately, Senator Stephenson was not there and did not send anyone in his place. He is apparently in Taiwan. I missed the majority of that meeting, but I hear it was very spirited...

Our Leg. 27 meeting went a lot more smoothly. Rep. Dougall actually WAS there, and instead of giving a rundown of the bills that passed in the last legislative session, he chose instead to pose a question to the delegates: "How can we effect positive change, inform our neighbors and involve our friends within our communities?"

Here are my notes on the ideas that you all provided. I'm honored to work with such amazing delegates! Together we really can make a difference!

1. Ask friends and neighbors to just do a little, not a lot.
2. Talk to each other! Especially those who weren't at the convention.
3. People pull together when they have a motivating factor, ex. the Democrats were sick of the Republicans so they pulled together for "change".
4. We should stick to principles, not just issues.
5. We need facilitated communication-a steady stream of e-mail updates, blog, Facebook, Twitter, social networking etc, not just one or two Legislative Updates.
6. Precinct meetings used to have 5-10 people at them and now there are 75-100.
7. We need to be careful with barriers-the issues are complex and we should reach out to those who don't understand, to educate others.
8. Many neighbors see WHAT happens in politics, but not the WHY. They get frustrated and don't want to have anything to do with it.
9. Utah County Republican Party Web page is lame. So is the State Party page. (Hopefully that will change with new leadership!)
10. Rep. Dougall participates in Pancakes and Politics during the Legislative session, to keep people informed. In addition to that, we should have quarterly town hall type meetings to stay connected as delegates, and to keep on top of the issues.
11. This is preaching to the choir, we need to get out of our comfort zone and talk to people who maybe don't know about what's going on.
12. Obama used technology to reach out to the younger generation, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The Republican Party needs to step it up. Adapt or die.
13. When was the last time you read the Constitution? Rep. Dougall suggested we read it once a year as a refresher.
14. Then we can share small portions at a time with friends/neighbors via e-mail, Facebook etc.
15. It's difficult for some conservatives to come to Republican meetings because there is public school-bashing, police force, etc. There are conservatives without a home. They want to belong to the Republican party but it becomes awkward because of those differences, so the Democrats start looking better and better.
16. It should be okay to disagree on things like education etc. without being judged. We need to get rid of "conservative elitism". Founding fathers didn't agree on everything. Crafting the Constitution was a long, arduous process. They agreed on principles.
17. During the Legislative session, it seems that some legislators beat up on those who aren't "extreme Republicans".
18. If you have a complaint, offer a solution as well. Many times constituents expect legislators to fix everything, when there is a lot we can do ourselves.
19. We shouldn't abandon public schools for charter schools. (Remember that charter schools are public schools too...)
20. Rep. Dougall referenced an article by Professor David Wiley of BYU, who said that institutions of higher learning could become obsolete.
21. The key is education, we need to help educate people on the issues.
21. Family is the key. We need to help neighbors and friends be parents to support kids and teens whose parents may not be able to or care.
22. Many of us belong to other organizations where we can talk to friends about issues. We can share both sides of the story and have civil dialogue.
23. We can try to bring people together.
24. The American Revolution was caused b/c people were trying to escape tyranny and taxation. We may be well on our way to that type of common cause.
25. Thomas Paine's Common Sense made a case for what needed to be done, be engaged, be involved. There's nobody to blame but ourselves.
26. People tend to think globally, not locally, but "we the people" means individual responsibility. We need to spread this to our friends.
27. We can go door to door, but social networking is more efficient.
28. Rep. Dougall: We have a history of self-reliance, but have been building a culture of dependence. The economic downturn wouldn't have been so bad if we were all self-reliant.
29. Many are in favor of self-reliance in a general way, but don't want anyone to touch their personal entitlement.
30. Don't tax me, don't tax me. Tax the man behind the tree.
31. Self-reliance begins with me!
32. Equality takes away freedoms and grants entitlements.
33. Nobody is guaranteed to have bread on the table, but we can be charitable. We shouldn't be forced to be charitable. Without free-market principles it won't work.
34. How do you eat a whale? One bite at a time. We agree on general principles, but let's bring it back to WHAT CAN I DO: start with your precinct, make sure you get enough people to the meeting to have good precinct leadership elected, then they can nominate good candidates. Don't divide the party. Once the candidate is voted on, support the party candidate. United we stand, divided we fall.
35. We have a perfect opportunity to reach out to our precincts right now to give them a post-convention report. We can start making a difference today by informing and educating our neighbors.

Then came the fun...time for a new post!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Replacement Delegates and Filing to Run for County Office

Precinct Chairs,

The deadline to submit replacement delegate names for the upcoming Utah County Republican Party Convention is today, April 10th. If any of the delegates in your precinct have moved or are no longer interested in serving as a delegate, please find a replacement for them. Please give them a reminder call about the County Convention on April 25th, and make sure they will be able to attend. Thanks for your hard work!

Today at 5:00pm is also the deadline to file to run for County Office. Contact jrmonna@broadweave.net to apply for Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, or Treasurer.

Thanks!

Utah County Convention April 25, 2009

The Utah County Convention is coming up soon, on Saturday, April 25, 2009.