Vote for Lisa Shepherd

It's about time the delegates voted for Lisa. I don't think I know anyone who personally puts in so much time and effort into her political stuff. Finally, others are realizing it. Politics can be mean. Lisa has had many personal attacks against her. I'm sure that can not be easy. However, she just picks herself up and keeps plugging along. She knows the problems we have and wants to help find reasonable solutions to them. She ran a great campaign. She gave a great speech. She talked highly of the other men in all the county leadership races. She really deserved this win.

Initially there was going to be a multiple ballot for Lisa's race. They take 3 names, and then narrow it down to 2. We voted the first time, and awhile later we were told that we were not going to need our second ballot. This is because one candidate received over 50% of the vote. We were a bit nervous about it, but hoped for the best and she came out on top. It's quite an accomplishment to beat out the man who had "all of our elected officials support."

The other great thing, is that Lisa was also running for State Central Committee. There were 52 candidates. The first 20 people with the most votes would be on the committee. Out of all the candidates Lisa received the number one most votes.

Wow! What a great outcome for both races!!!

2009 Utah County Organizing Convention Results

This County Convention was all about electing new Republican party county leadership. Offices we voted on were chair, vice chair, secretary, and treasurer. We also elected State Central Committee Members.

Here are the results:

Chair:

Taylor Oldroyd 440 votes

Steven Diamond 391 votes

Vice Chair:

Mark Cluff 415 votes

Lowell Nelson 405 votes
Don Larsen withdrew during his speech

Secretary:

Lisa Shepherd 484 votes

Matt Thompson 307 votes
Keith Kuder 32 votes

Treasurer:

Lynn Taylor 592 votes

Ben Smith 236 votes

State Central Committee Members (top 20 are committee members):

1 Lisa Shepherd 477
2 Steven Diamond 467
3 Lowell Nelson 456
4 Matt Thompson 454
5 Marian Monnahan 447
6 Ben Smith 421
7 Lynn Taylor 404
8 John Valentine 395
9 Mike Thompson 333
10 Don Larsen 324
11 Sharon Storrs 324
12 Kip Meacham 308
13 Curt Bramble 302
14 Karen Valentine 301
15 Stan Lockhart 299
16 Susan Bramble 294
17 Becky Lockhart 290
18 Clayton Holbrook 286
19 Brian Jenkins 278
20 Jackie de Gaston 268
21 Linda Houskeeper 257
22 Heather Williamson 255
23 Dave Duncan 253
24 Ivan Keller 242
24 Poppy Moreno 242
26 Holly Richardson 239
27 Chris Herrod 230
28 Jay Morgan Philpot 227
29 Beverly Miner 221
30 Marc Roberts 216
31 Jed Morley 213
32 Steven Turley 210
33 Craig Frank 203
34 Kristen Chevrier 202
35 Jordan Gunderson 196
36 Adrielle Herring 190
37 Jim Proctor 188
38 Judy Keller 182
39 Bradley Reneer 178
40 Chad Bunn 174
41 Phil Peay 164
41 Hayden Williamson 164
43 Corey Norman 156
44 Sam Brand 153
45 Mike McGee 150
46 Delaina Tonks 142
47 Bruce Armstrong 140
47 Alan Lisonbee 140
49 David Starling 118
50 Nathan Rathbun 112
51 Wendy Hart 95
52 Mark Steele 84

see previous post for convention info & pics.

My Time at the 2009 Utah County Convention

It was a cold and rainy day! As you approached the doors of the school there weren't many signs outside. I got there fairly early. I had told Lisa Shepherd I would come and help pass out papers while she went to the candidate meeting. I walked around the candidates tables, then I grabbed some of Lisa's stuff and I parked myself by the front doors, along with many other people, to handout fliers and other miscellaneous campaign items.

At 7:30 a.m. it was time for Central Committee Meeting. This is for all precinct chairs and vice chairs. Commissioner Steve White chaired this meeting. We discussed 2 platform changes, one on family and another on immigration. With some adopted changes, they both passed.

Next, we had Senate District Sessions. Mark Madsen is my senator and he was not there. I can't say I was very happy about it. Maybe he had a good reason, but I didn't hear about it. We voted instead to listen to candidates from our district that were running for the State Central Committee. This proved to be a very useful and informative use of our time.

We then moved on to our Legislative Districts. We stood out in the hall for a very long time waiting, because the Senate District before us went over time. It was Margaret Dayton's district. Finally, we all came in and took a seat and Margaret proceeded to take up some of our time as well. Keith Grover is my legislator and he was there. He talked about legislator's lack of salary and the way to take care of ethics in the house is by voting every 2 years. He talked about the committees he is on and all the email, letters and house visits he receives from constituents. He said that this is not a permanent career from him and invited us all to come visit him in Salt Lake City, during the congressional session, and to spend time on the floor.

He opened the meeting up to questions, which was really nice. We discussed the I-15 project at various points, Provo Center Exchange, and Orem Center Street overpass, etc. We also talked about the Common Ground Initiative, Health Care coverage, The Autism Bill that didn't pass, and air pollution in Utah County.

On to the Convention...

Provo's Mayor, Lewis Billings, chaired this meeting. He did a great job.

Prayer, presentation of the colors, singing of the National Anthem, and the Pledge of Allegiance followed. This is what Mark Shurtleff, state Attorney General, twittered about the Pledge:
At Utah County GOP Convention. I have NEVER experienced a more powerful and moving Pledge of Allegiance!

It really was remarkable!
Next, we had a vote on if the candidates for county leadership should be allowed 5 minutes, instead of just 3 minutes, to talk. This was turned down.

Becky Lockhart, Rules chair, talked next. A motion to approve the rules was made and it passed. Later on we find out that doing this approved the meetings agenda. Pretty sneaky of them, since they knew many people were in opposition to the agenda and that there was going to be some talk on amending it.

Susan Bramble, credentials co-chair, said that out of the 1234 possible delegates (7 unfilled), 805 had checked in. This was 66% and constituted a quorum. [You have to have a quorum to vote on anything.] The number of delegates that checked in is not the final count.

Phill Peay gave the treasurer's report. He said that the party has $44,988.25 and a postal credit of $856.83. He said that the post office box and insurance are paid until 2010. Accounts receivable were $27,500 and I believe he said most of this comes from the Lincoln Day Dinner.

Garr Judd, auditor, made a motion to accept the audit and it passed.

Marian Monnahan, county party chair, spoke next. She talked about the $54,000 that the party gave to the Utah County PAC, which she said made another $50,000. [This Utah County PAC is always a topic of controversy.] She talked about how the penny is actually called a "one cent" coin. She talked about the balance of email and privacy. [This has been highly controversially the past year or so.] She hopes that this will continue to be the best run and most successful county in our state and said, "Ask not what the party can do for you, but what can you do for the party?"

Next up Clayton Holbrook asked for an agenda amendment. This is where we found out that unknown to all of us we had already accepted the agenda. There was a lot of booing. However, we still had some debate on it. Clayton wanted the County Party Leadership races to be voted on before the State Central Committee. Which completely makes sense. Why they wanted to do it the other way is beyond me. We needed a 2/3 vote to pass it. There was discussion back and forth about it. The reason for the request is because we get to vote for up to 20 people. The County party chair and vice chair are automatic Central Committee members. So delegates felt like they might be wasting 2 of their votes if they voted for one of the winners of those 2 races. Curt Bramble requested that we amend the rules to vote for 22 instead. He couldn't do this because it was out of order, we weren't discussing the rules, just the agenda. After all this discussion it was essential turned down.

[Senator John Valentine was Parliamentarian]

However, another man got up and made a new agenda amendment. I can't remember how he worded it, but it was essentially asking for the same thing, to move the County Office elections to now. This passed! I guess it's all the way you say it!!!

Ideally the way this should have gone, is we had all the opening and party report items. Next, vote on County Leadership. Following the vote, the elected state representatives should have spoken. They were supposed to be going to the Salt Lake County Convention following ours. This would have allowed them to get up there sooner. Why are the conventions even on the same day? After that, we should have elected the State Central Committee, because we could have had the results of the county leadership by then. But of course, this is not how it went.

So we listened to each of the candidates for county party leadership.
Taylor Oldroyd, Steve Diamond, Lowell Nelson, Don Larson, Mark Cluff, Matt Thompson, Keith Kuder, Lisa Shepherd, Lynn Taylor, and Ben Smith.

The speeches were interesting. They were only allowed 3 minutes. Don Larson withdrew himself when he got up to speak. Keith Kuder railed on the Brambles, which lead to Curt talking to him on stage and continuing in their seats after they were asked to sit down. Matt Thompson had Margaret Dayton talk about him, which I think if anyone was still wondering about who to vote for, knew after listening to her, that it was not going to be him. Taylor 's wife and kids came up to the front and stood there at the end of his speech. After he was done all the kids left except one little girl who was watching her daddy. It was adorable. I think it scared her when she realized that she had been left behind.

Then we voted. We were told that because there were 3 people in the secretary race we might need our second ballot. The only reason we wouldn't is if one candidate got more than 51% of the vote.
Chris Cannon was given the Ronald Regan award and spoke.
Next, came the introductions of the 52 candidates for State Central Committee. Their names were read off and they marched across the front of the stage.

Then we voted. Both times we placed our votes in taped up cardboard boxes.

Here is Chris & I waiting for the all the ballots to be collected and for the meeting to continue. Mayor Billings had to ask several times for everyone to take their seats and ended up having to go over to legislators on the stage and ask them again to take their seats.
LauraLyn Eberting talked about the platform and if anyone wants to make changes they should submit their requests to their precinct chair. She talked about the 2 changes that were adopted earlier in the Central Committee Meeting. We then voted to either ratify or reject the changes and not discuss them at all. They were both ratified.
Our elected officials now had the floor...
Gary Herbert said our state is in good shape. Governor Huntsman took $1.1 billion out of the state budget. Utah has been recognized as the best managed state. Forbes said Utah is the best place in America to do business. Utah was also recognized as the best state poised for economic recovery. Republicans hold every main office. He said, "traditional family is the bedrock of our society." He also mentioned - principles are the important thing. Principles are what guide us.


Mark Shurtleff thanked everyone for their prayers and support. He mentioned his thoughts on hearing the Pledge of Allegiance. He said that the #1 problem in our state is prescription drug abuse. He talked about SB81 and his Attorney General Strike Force against criminal illegal aliens. The said, "Utah's Constitution prohibits same sex legal unions - PERIOD." He also talked about state directory to protect your email and cell phones from adult oriented solicitations. It is @ https://www.utahkidsregistry.com/ He talked about the Tea Parties. Nancy Pelosi was calling those who went "dupes" and how President Obama claimed he was unaware of them (the parties). He goes on to say just like how he was unaware of the AIG bonuses, that 5 of his cabinet members weren't paying their taxes, or for 20 years was unaware of his pastor. He talked of Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. Quoted Cleon Skousen and Longfellow. I liked his closing statement about rising up the purple majesty, rolling across the plains and crashing down on the current administration.
Stan Lockhart - He mentioned that it wasn't until 1996 that all the offices in Utah County were Republican. The said that the party chairs is responsible for 3 things. 1) to make sure Republicans are elected. 2) to organize the party 3) to raise money. He said it's the grassroots that make the party not the administration. He told the new leadership that the standard is not perfection, just the best that they can. He also told them to understand that it is difficult and to keep a good attitude. He talked about how the legislators hit a brickwall when it came to I-15. They were told they would only bond for it if the legislators agreed to raise taxes. Legislators said no. They eventually worked out a compromise of a small vehicle fee increase.
Jason Chaffetz stared with, "Welcome fellow terrorists." He talked about recently going to IRAQ. He said that we should be of more service. He also said that we should thank, help and support our troops. We need to do more to take care of those men and women who take care of us. He also said he wouldn't support a president that apologizes for being a military and economic superpower during his stops around the world. His speech was short and sweet. He got a standing ovation and lots of applause.
Bob Bennett - He said that there are 2 fun things to do at convention. 1) to be a cheerleader, to be proud to be an American, that it's OK to be American. 2) to be a truth teller. He said we already had cheerleaders today, so he was going to be a truth teller. He said that this week is the 1st time in 5 years that polls show Americans feel that America is on the right track - 80-90%. He said American's really like their attractive, new president. He said all we have to do is be smarter than Barrack Obama. He talked about General Washington and the Continental Army and how he looked for points of weakness to win. He said that we need to be careful about finding the right battles to win. People will lose their love affair with attractive, young president.
Orrin Hatch talked about how he is "fighting his guts out to have 41 senators [Republican senators for US Senate]." He said it is hard not to like Obama, but they are running us into bankruptcy. This administration spends, borrows and taxes too much. He talked about how the House can push anything through, but it stops in the Senate. They want to limit spending to 20% of GDP. Right now it is 28% going to 38%. He said that Obama is pushing the wrong programs. He said that he is the longest member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and when they release papers people will think that they had the wrong impression of George W. Bush. He said George W. Bush could have used his veto pen more. He said there has never been one single day where physical conservatives were the majority of any one body of congress. Republicans aren't just dreamers, we are doers. It's going to take all of us to make change and for our dream to come true.

Awards & Such

Marian gave a gift certificate to one of the leg. chairs and a "Bush Souvenir" and gift certificate to Lewis Billings.

Mayor Billings said Marian has served 8 years as chair and that is the longest anyone has served in that position. She was given a flag.

Marian gave Susan Bramble one of the Republican logos that apparently Mayor Billings and family made some time ago.
Susan Bramble came and gave the final credentials report: 847 for 69%
7 spots not filled, 380 didn't check in. Someone earlier had mentioned that they only thought 420 would come. We doubled their expectation.

Next, there was a proposed resolution that needed to be discussed. The declared that we still had enough people there for a quorum so they went ahead. Don Larsen wrote the proposal. He said we must support the Rule of Law and the Constitution. The resolution failed. A division was called. They did it visually, not an actual count. It failed.

They announced the winners of the county party leadership, but they didn't have the results of the state central committee by the time it was over.

Results can be found here: http://provovoice.blogspot.com/2009/04/2009-utah-county-organizing-convention.html

Lakeview Neighborhood Watch Meeting

Here is the information (from Lawrence Law our Neighborhood Watch Chair) for the upcoming Neighborhood Meeting:

Lakeview Neighborhood Watch Meeting for all neighborhood people.

Meeting date: April 28th
Meeting time: 7:30 to 9:p.m.
Place: Lakeview Elementary School Gym

Agenda:

1- Lawrence- welcome, prayer, flag ceremony, introductions of leadership. (Cluff get scouts for flag ceremony.)

2- Deena- short synopsis of last meeting. Update on what has happened since last meeting.

3- Neighborhood chair introductions by self. Don Allphin and Kevin Garver

4- Sgt. Jensen give update report on recent crime in area, stressing ongoing need for vigilance.

5- 2 min. District Reports with DL, ADL and Sec. of each district up front so people know them.

6- McGruff home update. PTA pres? How are homes chosen and filtered? Quota? 3 Step process- background check by police, check with bishops, neighbor concerns?

7- Deena- give contact information, talk about street team responsibilities and phone tree.

8- Jim Campbell- training on street patrols

9- 5-10 min district huddles (overview of purpose, possibility of BBW, upcoming meeting, patrols?)

10- Lawrence- thank you, retire flag, closing prayer.

We are asking for a donation to cover costs of the neighborhood watch program. We are recommending a minimum $5 per family or home to defray costs such as McGruff House program dues, flyers, paperwork, etc. We will be reporting costs and where the money is being used. No one is profiting from these funds and will be used sparingly. Please be thoughtful and donate generously.

So far we have spent $220 for paper, pens, staples, copies, posterboard

We have over 1200 homes in our Neighborhood Watch boundaries and every family needs to be represented. Please come support the safety and beauty of our neighborhood.

Provo TEA Party

Provo’s Tax Day TEA Party - Wednesday, April 15, 2009

I applaud David Kirkham (co president of Kirkham Motor Sports) for hosting such a spectacular TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party. What a great turn out, could easily have been 1000 people there. It was really something. I also applaud all the people who came out to make a stand on such a miserable weather day. The silent majority was not silent today!!!

(I apologize for the bad pictures and any name misspellings, etc.)

The party started just after 5:p.m. I am not sure what time it ended because I had to leave at 6:40 p.m. to be to another meeting at 7:p.m.

Brianne Nelson, the daughter of Provo City’s Library director, sang the National Anthem. It was stunning and beautiful.

David introduced each speaker and spoke a bit between each.

1^st up was House Representative, Jason Chaffetz. It’s always fun to listen to him speak.

David spoke a bit next. He talked about how he organized the first Tea Party in Utah on March 6^th in Salt Lake City. Among other things, he mentioned the instapundit site (www.instapundit.com). I really liked David. I wished that he would run for some type of public office. I think that he would be great.

Mayor Lewis Billings spoke next. He said that Provo City was in its fourth rounds of budget cuts. He also said that the government should be more like those of old with the motto of fix it up, make it do, or do without. He said that “CHANGE is all we have left.”

Margaret Dayton spoke next. She spoke of if there is a decision between government brains and private brains, private brains should always win. She talked about how she wanted to opt out of the No Child Left Behind program. She asked for a raise of hands for how many people were first time protesters. It was well over half.

David Kirkham talked about how one time he was in Poland at the factory that was building the body of his cars. He said that the factory had it’s lights off. Men were in there working with machinery without any lights. He said that is what happens with Socialism. He said, “I don’t want my children to grow up with that.”

David had a child come up with the sign he was holding. The sign said “I owe 12 trillion dollars.”

Nick Kirkham, David’s 12 year old son, gave an amazing speech. He read an essay he had written. It moved me to tears. He talked about a conversation he had with his father about John Revere and talked about driving a cobra through town yelling, "the Socialists are coming." He asked if you were a Republican to raise your hand. He then asked if you were a Democrat to raise your hand. He then told us we were all liars – we are all AMERICANS!!!

Chris Herrod spoke next. He said that Socialism destroys the soul. He said that Obama’s change is just old philosophy that has failed time and time again. He talked about how Glenn Beck says power rests in WE the PEOPLE. He also quoted Ezra Taft Benson. It was a great quote, wished I had it to share with you.

David mentioned many times how he turned down people to speak at this event. He said his purpose for holding these events was to effect change in the 2010 elections.

John Dougall was next. He said our agreeing to debt today is taxing our children. He talked about how Patrick Henry said, “Give me Liberty or Give me Death,” but now it is “Give me Liberty or Bail me Out.”

David said we left Europe once already, why are we headed back? He said that there were 13 Tea Parties in Utah.

Francis Gibson spoke about getting involved. If we get involved we can make change. We each needed to tell 5 people about our opinions and to get them involved also.

David talked about our need of economic freedom.

Brad Daw said, “Where is this global warming?” (Did I forget to mention there was snow on the ground and it was raining and cold?) He reminded us that our rights don’t come from Washington, but from a higher source. They are God given. He said our federal government shouldn’t dictate to us, we should dictate to them.

David - Socialism is trickled down disappointment.

Jess Jones, a college student, spoke.

Ken Ivory said that 93% of the bailout went to only 25 companies. He talked about the “Big Stick Tea Party.” This will be an event when 1000 tea bags will be hand delivered to all 535 members of congress. Accompanying the bags will be a video called the “Big Lie.” The purpose is to stop future government bailouts. (http://www.ourcaucus.com/BigStick.html)

Senator Valentine spoke and pointed out that we are a silent majority no more!

David read one of the signs – “Extinction is Forever, Save the Tax Payer.” David told a story of his friend Tiffany whose husband recently died of cancer. When trying to get financial help for their medical bills it was recommended to them to get divorced, because then Tiffany could go make some money. At the time, the government had them sucked into their system and only allowed them to make $200 (two hundred, didn’t want you to think I wrote it wrong!) a month.

Ruth spoke about 912. Glenn Beck first started it. The purpose of the Utah 912 Project (utah912.com) is to unite with other Americans who share the values practiced by our founding fathers; to study, uphold, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; and to take action to hold our elected officials accountable for the oaths they have sworn. Glenn came up with 9 principles and 12 values to bring us back to that time of September 12^th where we all stood united. United We Stand. Change takes place in our neighborhoods.

David’s neighbor, Simon Jester, spoke next. He recited the 4th verse to the Star Spangled Banner. (You must read his comment to this post!)

“Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

Brianne sang another song, Power of a Dream.

David read another sign, “Revoke Congress’ VISA”

This is when I had to leave…

There were people standing on the sidewalk along University Ave getting people driving by to honk their horns the entire time. It was great!

Trying to change my Appointment

I can see why people get really frustrated with politics. I can see even more now why people hate local politics. People are just plain mean. Although this does not relate much about what I'm going to write next, it's just something I have noticed and witnessed since I wrote one silly blog post a few days ago!

As you may have read before, my precinct's vice chair resigned. I have been under the impression that to be elected to your precinct as chair, vice chair, or a delegate, it was your number one responsibility to represent your precinct and attend convention so that you can vote. It is completely irresponsible to not do this. Having said this, it is every precinct's right to have representation. They should be allowed the full number of delegates to vote in their behalf. This is why in the case of a death, resignation, or when a delegate moves, the precinct chair is allowed to appoint someone else in their place. This is a responsibility of the precinct chair to make sure that their precinct has full representation.

Right now convention is in 9 days. Having someone appointed means that their biggest responsibility is to go to convention. It is hard to find someone with nearly a full free Saturday to go. I have been asked to publish who I asked, but I feel like that is completely unfair to those people. They did not ask me to ask them to be vice chair.

Let me tell you what happened this week. One of the people I called was the lady that originally had been voted in as vice chair at my precinct's caucus last year. She had to resign because her daughter had a dance competition out of town that she had to attend the Saturday of last years convention. It was unfortunate. She finally got back to me on Tuesday, 4 days after the deadline. She was actually my first choice since she was originally voted in by the precinct members. I told her that the deadline had passed. If only she had called 4 days earlier! I would have changed my appointment. It makes way more sense that someone who was voted in take the position, over someone I had appointed.

I didn't think much of it until I had looked online noticed that Salt Lake's convention is on the same day as ours and they didn't have to have their changes in until this coming Friday, a whole week after our deadline. I made a few phone calls and sent an email to Marian Monnahan, Mark Cluff, and Susie Bramble asking if I could make the change, stating the background of the situation and Salt Lake's deadline. I didn't hear back.

I called Susie Bramble and she said that it was Marian's decision to make. She said that Marian had already sent a reply and gave me Marian's phone number. She told me that Marian won't do it because there would be about 6 other changes she would have to make. I'm thinking that 6 changes out of 1200 delegates with 9 days to go would be quite doable. I called Marian and left a message. She called me back. She said that she had sent the email, which I never got, but I believe that she sent it, Susie had gotten it. She declined to make a change for me, stating if she did it for me, it would open the door to do it for others.

Really I find it outrageous. I know you have to have order, and you have to have deadlines, but by no means do they have to be so strict that you would rather have someone I appoint vs. someone that the people voted for be a delegate. They make exceptions and changes for things all the time, even at convention. I just thought that this would be a no brainer, especially since they are all so upset over the appointment I had made. Personally, I would be happy to have either one of those fine ladies be the vice chair.

Tax Day Tea Party in Utah - April 15th

You probably already know all about the Tax Day Tea Parties being held all around the country this coming Wednesday. In fact, there are even parties scheduled in other countries!

The purpose of this grassroots effort is to take America Back with the theme of: Repeal the Pork, Cut Taxes and Spending.

TEA = Taxed Enough Already

It's a tax revolt. Just think back to your history classes and the Boston Tea Party.

Here is the info from www.teapartyday.com:

Are you fed up with a Congress and a president who:

• vote for a $500 billion tax bill without even reading it?
  
• are spending trillions of borrowed dollars, leaving a debt our great-grandchildren will be paying?
• consistently give special interest groups billions of dollars in earmarks to help get themselves re-elected?
• want to take your wealth and redistribute it to others?
• punish those who practice responsible financial behavior and reward those who do not?
• admit to using the financial hurt of millions as an opportunity to push their political agenda?
• run up trillions of dollars of debt and then sell that debt to countries such as China?
• want government controlled health care?
• want to take away the right to vote with a secret ballot in union elections?
• refuse to stop the flow of millions of illegal immigrants into our country?
• appoint a defender of child pornography to the Number 2 position in the Justice Department?
• want to force doctors and other medical workers to perform abortions against their will?
• want to impose a carbon tax on your electricity, gas and home heating fuels?
• want to reduce your tax deductibility for charitable gifts?
• take money from your family budget to pay for their federal budget?

If so, participate in the TAX Day TEA party rally, the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) party.

Bring your cell phone and call Congress and the president while attending the TAX Day TEA party rally (Representative and Senators, 202-224-3121; President, 202-456-1414). Tell Every American about this effort by forwarding this invitation to your friends. Together we can make a difference.

Utah's Scheduled Tea Parties:

Noon - Salt Lake City - Federal Plaza - 125 South State
5:p.m. - Provo - Old Utah County Courthouse - SE corner of Center & University

Utah County Organizing Convention Time Schdule

Utah County Organizing Convention

Saturday, April 25, 2009
Canyon View Jr. High School
655 East 950 North, Orem

6:30 am - Check-in Desk opens - must bring ID
7:00 am - Candidate Meeting - for candidates only
7:30 am - Central Committee Meeting - meeting for precinct chairs and vice chairs, etc.
8:00 am - Senate District Meetings - break out into Senate Districts
8:40 am - Legislative District Meetings - break out into Leg. Districts
9:30 am - Convention Starts - voting of County Party Leadership

All Candidates are In

The deadline for filing for Utah County Republican Party Leadership positions is past. I have listed all those that are running for the different offices in a previous post. For the current list please visit: http://provovoice.blogspot.com/2009/04/2009-utah-county-convention.html

Bramble Ambush

Curt Bramble and his wife, Susan, came to the open-to-all-candidates open house (Lynn Taylor & Lisa Shepherd were the only two that came) . Susan is the current Utah County Republican Party Secretary and Curt is the current State Senate Majority Leader.

I felt really bad. My precinct's vice chair resigned. As precinct chair it is my responsibility to appoint a new vice chair. I had just over a month to find someone. I had no idea it was going to be so hard. The biggest problem was finding someone who was available the Saturday of Convention. There are plenty of people who would have agreed if their schedule would have allowed. I went back on my notes from the caucus meeting and found someone who had attended, ran for a position, and would be able to come to convention. So I appointed Olivia Shepherd, who happens to be an adult daughter of Lisa Shepherd.

However, I had no idea that this would be a cause of contention with Curt. He asked a very pointed question to Lisa referring to this matter. I couldn't even believe it! He and Susie both said that he doesn't look over the lists until she makes them public. These lists were not public at the time of this open house (24 hours after the deadline of getting the changes in), so he should not have even known about this. I apologize in anyway for making this process any harder for Lisa.

*** Just after 10:a.m. this morning, Curt Bramble called to clarify a few things. I had a pleasant conversation with him. He informed me that his wife, Susie, had not given him the new list and he had no idea, at the time of the open house, that Olivia had been appointed. He said that Susie had only made a comment to him that Lisa had sent over a list of 10+ people that had been appointed in her district, he did not know who they were exactly. I apologize for assuming that he had access to something he did not, though it does seem like he had a heads up by the comment his wife made.

He said that since there were so few people there (which is true) that it wasn't a public meeting and he did have a few things that he was going to ask Lisa in private, but decided to do it openly. They were really aggressive questions that seemed like it would have been more appropriate had he stuck to his originally plan and asked them privately.

He made mention of myself and another lady being in favor of Lisa, who were in attendance. For myself, I can say that is true, but should clarify that Lisa did not know I was coming to the meeting and I did not know that the other mentioned lady was coming either. I had come to hear from Lynn and any other candidates who might show up (originally there had been at least one other who said he was going to be there).

*** A second phone call was made by Curt, but that was only to remove some sensitive security information to a future event. With completely understanding, I immediately removed the information.

Open Houses

The Utah County Republican Convention is soon approaching. Candidates for Utah County Party's Leadership have been holding open houses so the delegates can get to know the candidates and often times ask questions. Lynn Taylor (running for treasurer) and Lisa Shepherd (running for secretary) held a joint one this past Saturday. It was one I could actually go to, my hectic schedule prevents me from going to most of them.

Lynn seems like a very nice, intelligent man. He is retired from the Air Force. You can get online and read about him @ lynntaylor.wordpress.com. I liked that he would want to make the Party more transparent. That he would want to place all the financial statements online on a restructured easy to navigate Party website. I also really liked that he wants to place the proposed by-law and constitution changes on a forum so that they can get debated long before we ever go to vote on them. I find this extremely beneficial.

The last special session we had we were voting on changing the appointed Education Officer to be elected. Lisa Shepherd was given a whole 2 minutes to make her case. This is not enough time. Neither was it very fair. From what I was told, Lisa was told be prepare a 7 minute presentation, one minute before she got up to present they changed it to only 2 minutes. Now if this had been available online in a forum, we could have read the arguments for and against. We could have been better educated as to why people felt that way. Personally I think that Lisa got steamrolled. Of course, the party leadership did not want the education officer appointed. They want to stay in control of as much as they can.

Lisa has been actively involved in our county politics for a long time. She has also worked on several campaigns. She is also very nice and intelligent. You can read about her online @ web.me.com/lisamshepherd. One of the things I really liked about Lisa is that she would want to credential everyone for our central committee meetings. She would propose to use the precinct secretaries to do this.

I think that this would be really beneficial. The last Central Committee Meeting (not the special session) was held at the Provo City Council Chambers. At the time of voting it was standing room only. Problem being, is that some of the people in the room weren't even Central Committee members. As a delegate I could see how easy it was for someone to stand and be counted, even if they didn't have the right to do so. It was kind of a mess (not surprising right!!!).

I also liked that Lynn and Lisa both agreed that we should have an agenda at our committee meetings. Every meeting I ever go to has an agenda, be it for school, church, community, etc. I'm not sure why the party feels like they are exempt from this. I think it's common courtesy to give everyone an agenda. The current party leadership is afraid of technology for some reason, so you would think handing a piece of paper to everyone would be right up their alley.

Lisa also mentioned that she would want more money to go to rallying republicans to party meetings. I know its hard for the leadership to think that we need more voters out in Utah County. I think that they are afraid that we will lose our stronghold. I think that they should have more faith in our party. They should quit treating us like we don't know what is good for us. I think more people would get involved if they weren't treated so bad from the beginning. I don't know what they spent their money on, apparently they did to try and get more people out, but I didn't see it in my neighborhood. I would hope that they would do something on a more local level, since it is our Utah County Party that the money would come from, so why not use it locally?

Spring Clean UP!

There is a change this year to the normal Provo City Cleanup.
This year the dumpsters will only be at one location, 430 North 500 West (North Park).

The details are below:

Spring Cleanup
March 23 - May 2, 2009

Get rid of your unwanted "stuff" during Spring Cleanup 2009. This year there will be dumpsters for trash, yard waste and metals at only one location for six weeks:

March 23 - May 2
430 North 500 West (North Park)
Monday - Saturday (dumpsters will be available until 3 pm on Saturdays)

Unacceptable Items
Please do not dump rocks, tires, concrete, tree stumps or pesticides in the dumpsters. For more disposal information call 852-6714. Or... some of these items may be taken to the demolition landfill in Lindon. Please call them to see what items they will accept at 225-8170.

Hours of Operation
Dumpsters will be at the designated locations Monday - Saturday. The hours the containers will be available are: Mondays - Fridays 8 am - 6 pm; and Saturdays 8 am - 3 pm. Please note that all locations will be closed nightly at 6 pm and that it is unlawful to leave items on the ground at any of the area locations.

Compost Station
The city has developed a very successful recycling program that makes beneficial use of yard waste items such as grass clippings, tree and shrubbery trimmings, weeds, leaves, etc. We encourage all residents to bring their organic yard waste to the compost station located at 1625 South Industrial Parkway. There is no charge for city residents to bring secured loads into the station. The Compost station hours are: 8 am - 6 pm Monday - Saturday (Spring, Summer, & Fall).

Transfer Station
Provo City residents who would like to take debris directly to the transfer station in Springville may do so free of charge, with coupon, during business hours from March 24 - May 3. The coupon was mailed to each residence during February in the Mayor’s Update. The transfer station does not accept rocks, concrete, large stumps, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners or hazardous waste. If you have a question about your load, please call the station at 489-3027 or the Provo City Sanitation Department at 852-6714. All loads to the transfer station must be covered to avoid a $4.00 tarp fee.

2009 Utah County Convention

County Convention is coming up. This is an organizing year, which means that we (county delegates, nominated at neighborhood caucuses or appointed by party leadership) will be voting on Utah County Republican Party Leadership instead of State Representatives.

Positions that we will be voting on:

• Chairman
• Vice-Chairman
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• State Central Committee

Those that are running :

Chairman

Taylor Oldroyd

469 E 3125 N

Provo, UT 84604

801-404-8635

taylor@ucaor.com

Steven Diamond

1910 Terrace Dr.

Orem, UT 84097

801-830-2400

steve@stevencdiamond.com

www.diamond4chairman.com

Vice-Chairman

Paul Overson

326 S 650 E

Orem, UT 84097

801-223-9981

phoverson@msn.com

Mark Cluff

645 Hubbard Circle

Alpine, UT 84004

801-368-6695

markcluff@comcast.net

www.markcluff.com

Don Larsen

45 N 1360 E

Springville, UT 84663

801-489-4186

ledgedistd@msn.com

Lowell Nelson

11167 N 5700 W

Highland, UT 84003

801-763-8056

Lowell@netdocuments.com

Secretary

Matt Thompson

85 N 800 W

Provo, UT 84601

801-804-0426

mthompson@broadweave.net

www.mthompson.info

Keith Kuder

477 W 1200 S

Orem, UT 84058

keith4secretary@gmail.com

www.KeithforSecretary.com

Lisa Shepherd

895 N 2550 W

Provo, UT 84601

801-787-8211

lisamshepherd@aol.com

web.me.com/lisamshepherd/

Treasurer

Ben Smith

1378 Sageberry Dr.

Santaquin, UT 84655

801-754-1780 H

801-856-1558 C

Ben4liberty@gmail.com

www.Voteben.us

Corey Norman

926 W 800 N

Mapleton, UT 84664

801-380-6921

ironmancorey@gmail.com

Lynn Taylor

1195 N 730 E

Pleasant Grove, UT 84062

801-602-3914

lynntaylor0@gmail.com

lynntaylor.wordpress.com

State Central Committee

Mark Steele

Don Larsen

Marian Monnahan

Corey Norman

Curt Bramble

Susan Bramble

Stan Lockhart

Becky Lockhart

Ben Smith

Clayton Holbrook

Lowell Nelson

Adrielle Herring

Phil Peay

Chad Bunn

Mark Cluff

Lisa Shepherd

Taylor Oldroyd

Matt Thompson

Jay Morgan Philpot

Craig Frank

David Starling

Kristen Chevrier

John Valentine

Karen Valentine

Delaina Tonks

Lynn Taylor

Ivan Keller

Judy Keller

Holly Richardson

Chris Herrod

Steven Diamond

Kip Meacham

Linda Houskeeper

Bruce Armstrong

Poppy Moreno

Sam Brand

Brian Jenkins

Mike Thompson

Mike McGee

Jordan Gunderson

Sharon Storrs

Bradley Reneer

Alan Lisonbee

Jed Morley

Marc Roberts

Steven Turley

Beverly Miner

Dave Duncan

Nathan Rathbun

Wendy Hart