Provo Voice

Bridgewater & Lee Debate

2010-06-11T08:32:00.001-06:00

Legislative District 61 is hosting a debate featuring Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater, candidates for US Senate.

Date: Thursday, June 17
Time: 6-8 pm
Place: UVU Sorensen Student Center Grand Ballroom

Watch Bridgewater/Lee Senate Debate Online Wednesday June 9th

2010-06-08T16:58:00.003-06:00

Below is the URL for live U.S. Senate Q&A broadcast Wednesday, June 9, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
www.ustream.tv/channel/senate-debate-hosted-by-novell/v3

Here is the schedule if you can attend in person:

Novell Provo Campus, Building A
6:30-7:00 Meet and mingle with early attendees
7:00-8:30 Q/A
8:30-9:00 Candidate booths for personal Q/A

GO VOTE!!!

2010-06-05T23:47:00.000-06:00

We have a primary election coming up on Tuesday, June 22nd. You can begin voting on June 8th.

Early Registration is June 8th - 18th at the following locations and times:

Location	Times
Utah Community Credit Union 1364 North Commerce Drive Saratoga Springs	1 pm - 5 pm
American Fork Library* 64 South 100 East American Fork	3 pm - 7 pm *Friday, June 11, 2010 and Friday, June 18, 2010 1 pm - 5 pm
Orem City - City Building Rotunda 55 North State Street Orem	1 pm - 5 pm
Utah County Courthouse - Rotunda 51 South University Avenue Provo	8 am - 5 pm
Spanish Fork National Guard Armory* 2801 North Main Street Spanish Fork	3 pm - 7 pm * Friday, June 18, 2010 3 pm - 5 pm

Click Here for a printable copy of locations and times

Candidates for the Primary Election:

U.S. Senate:

Tim Bridgewater
Mike Lee

Utah County Commission Seat A:

Gary Anderson
Joel Wright

Utah County Recorder

Rodney Campbell
Jeffrey Smith

How Lucky We Are!

2010-05-10T14:09:00.007-06:00

We are so lucky to have had so many amazing candidates in the U.S. Senate race. I could say many positive things about the majority of those who had been running. I had enjoyed meeting them, reading their literature, and following them online.

Now we are going to a primary election between Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee. This is not a contest of good and evil. This really is a win-win situation for Utah, no matter who comes out of the primary.

I have done a lot of research on both Tim and Mike. I have gone to multiple events of theirs because I take being a delegate very seriously and I wanted to see how they responded to different people and questions. I know that sometimes you can have an off day or sometimes the delegates are just being mean. I believe both of these men would serve the people of the state of Utah well.

Now having said that I have been and will be supporting Tim Bridgewater. All 3 of my convention votes were for Tim. I know this may sound dumb, but I like that I feel like I can relate to him. He seems down-to-earth and I think that his work experience is what gives him the depth to meet the demands of the people in Utah back there in D.C.

Tim is able to listen to both sides of the story or problem or situation and quickly find real world solutions. I feel like he has a proven track record of this in his business dealings. I have no doubt he can do this same thing in Washington D.C.

He is a fiscal conservative with knowledge and experience in trade and economic issues. He is a hard worker and will work hard to make sure our constitutional rights are not trampled on.

I could probably go on and on, but I won't. When you get a chance go meet Tim. He is funny and personable and yes, that gravely voice is always there!

Go to his website http://isupportbridgewater.com and learn more about him and vote Tim Bridgewater for U.S. Senator on June 22nd!

JUNE PRIMARY

2010-05-10T13:46:00.002-06:00

Tuesday, June 22nd, we will have the opportunity to vote.

My precinct will vote for the following:

U.S. Senate:
Tim Bridgewater
Mike Lee

Utah County Commissioner:
Gary Anderson
Joel Wright

Utah County Recorder:
Rodney Campbell
Jeff Smith

2010 State Nominating Convention

2010-05-10T12:39:00.009-06:00

I don't think I can add much more about this convention, since it was covered thoroughly by the state and national media. You can even watch the speeches on youTube. It will be interesting to see how the shock-waves coming out of Salt Lake City will affect the nation. Many people have said that the Tea Party movement has taken over the Republican party. Is that a bad thing? But to be perfectly clear, the Tea Party Movement is not a political party. It is a grassroots movement that believes government has bitten off more than it can chew, that it has taxed us enough, and it is not fulfilling it's main duties (like defending our nation, which would be to protect our borders, etc.).

Back to the convention ...
The final count of delegates present was 3452 of 3490. That is truly amazing to have so many delegates there, nearly 99%. What is even more amazing is that probably half of them were first timers and when there was a motion on the floor to adjourn the meeting early before all the proposed amendments and resolutions were heard, no one would even 2nd the motion. It was truly incredible. This is never the case at our county meetings. If anyone motions to adjourn, no matter how far through the agenda we are, someone will always 2nd it and the majority of the body will agree. Way to go, State Delegates!

Some of the interesting things that came out of the speeches:

Mitt Romney was there to support Bob Bennett. I am a huge Mitt Romney supporter and was thrilled that he was there.
Leonard Fabiano talked about the Renaissance of Liberty and wants 2 delegates for every 400 delegates to teach a 6 week course on the "2000 Year Leap." Excellent idea!
David Chiu said everyone should read Mitt Romney's book "Turnaround." I also loved this quote of David's: "America is worth whatever it takes!"
Mike Ridgeway promoted his website: mikeonamission.com
Neil Walter's cousin's son, 12 year old, Seleck Rigby gave the best speech of the day as he did the introduction for Neil.
Morgan Philpot talked about how his political capital is ours
Jason Chaffetz seemed not his usual self at the beginning of his speech, but stepped it up at the end and talked about the 3 things we must do: 1) Fire Nancy Pelosi 2) Get rid of Harry Reid 3) Make sure Barrack Obama is a one term president.
Mike Lee blew his 2nd speech. We were all shocked that he would come out and be so negative. I have heard how the campaign trail can get to you and how sometimes you just want to be defensive towards all the crap that is flying at you, but it really was the wrong approach at this meeting. However, having Jim DeMint endorse Mike via prerecorded broadcast was brilliant.

I had a great time visiting with friends and meeting lots of new people. It was amazing how diverse the votes were even amongst the people around me, in our Utah County section all the way in the back!

9 of us got some dinner before we headed home and I was rather surprised by how the voting went. Those that voted for Tim in round 1, voted for Tim all 3 times. 2 people who originally voted for Mike in the beginning later voted for Tim. They didn't say, but I would guess Mike's negative speech had something to do with it. I think those that voted for Cherilyn split between Mike and Tim.

Overall it was a great convention. Dave Hansen managed a well run meeting and the balloting for nearly 3500 people went surprisingly quick. The convention overall was really long, but still rather enjoyable!

RESULTS

Multi-County State House and Senate Districts by Acclamation:
Results for Round 1 (only balloting for Senate race):

Results for Round 2 (Senate race and Governor Race and US House District Races):

Results for Round 3 (Senate race and US House District 2):

Apparently I don't have a picture for Morgan & Neil. Here's their Final Results:
Morgan Philpot – 671 votes or 60.13%
Neil Walter – 445 votes or 39.87%

I live in District 3, but I put up the results for District 2. Morgan is awesome! If you live in District 2 you should feel honored to vote for him this November.

UVU Debate

2010-04-13T10:05:00.003-06:00

Yay for YouTube! The Senate Candidate Debate held at UVU has been recorded for any interested in watching.

Here is the message from James Davis:

Thank you for those of you who showed up to UVU's US Senate Debate! Every candidate, with the exception of Sam Granato (D), attended the debate. One hundred and thirty GOP state delegates were counted but we estimate that number to be at least 150. We didn't anticipate such a large and enthusiastic crowd to show up. We're sorry that the event went longer than we advertised and we're also sorry for those of you who had trouble finding parking or a place to sit. In the future we won't underestimate the involvement of GOP delegates!

If you couldn't attend for any reason click on the links below to watch the debate on youtube in its entirety. We had difficulties filming/editing/posting the videos so Mike Lee's campaign was generous enough to allow us to use their videos. Each candidate was given an opportunity to respond to the questions asked.

Introductory Comments Part 1

Introductory Comments Part 2

Introductory Comments Part 3

Question to Bob Bennett

Question to Scott Bradley

Question to Tim Bridgewater

Question to David Chiu

Question to Merrill Cook

Question to Cherilyn Eagar

Question to Leonard Fabiano

Question to Jeremy Friedbaum

Question to Mike Lee

Question to Christopher Stout

Closing Statements

We conducted an unannounced exit poll. While there were some who declined to participate these are the results of the nearly 200 who did:
Mike Lee: 49.4%
Cherilyn Eagar: 16.6%
Tim Bridgewater: 16.3%
Scott Bradley: 7.3%
Bob Bennett: 6.7%
Merrill Cook: 1.9%
Christopher Stout: 1%
Leonard Fabiano: .5%
Jeremy Friedbaum: .3%
David Chiu: 0%

Gratefully,
James Davis
On Behalf of UVU's Student Government, College Republicans, & Young Americans for Liberty

Tea Party Express

2010-03-31T09:28:00.009-06:00

The 3 Tea Party Express Tour Buses rolled into town (Provo) yesterday. The Tea Party Express national bus tour will host a series of tea party rallies all across the nation, launching from Sen. Harry Reid’s hometown of Searchlight, NV on March 27th and concluding in Washington, D.C. on Tax Day – April 15th.

(Evan, Steven & Chris)

Some performers came and sang songs about our politics and our county. There weren't really any local speakers because of time. They were scheduled to speak in Salt Lake City later in the day. I always think these things are entertaining, to say the least. I enjoy reading people's signs, buttons, hats, shirts, banner, etc.

The Provo rally wasn't widely publicized. Most people I know didn't even know it was going on. I just happened to hear about it in passing and looked it up to make sure it was really going on. For all of you who missed this one, there is one planned for April 15 (TAX DAY). It will be at the Old Utah County Court House (University and Center) in Provo. It is from 5-7 p.m.

Utah's Top Issues 2010

2010-03-25T21:21:00.001-06:00

The non-profit organization Utah Foundation released a new study of Utah's priorities, taken from a citizen survey.

The Top 10 Issues for 2010

1. Jobs and the economy
2. Government Spending
3. Kindergarten through 12th grade education
4. Healthcare
5. The ethics of elected officials
6. Taxes
7. Energy issues, including utilities and gasoline prices
8. States' rights versus the federal government
9. Environmental issues, including air quality and pollution
10. Immigration

The top issues in 2008 were:
1. Energy Issues
2. K-12 Education
3. Taxes & Gov.'t Spending
4. Healthcare
5. Immigration
6. Crime & Security
7. Water Issues
8. Environmental Issues
9. Transportation & Traffic
10. Dealing with Growth

Freedom - A Plan of God

2010-03-25T11:49:00.008-06:00

I was recently reminded of this talk given in October 1961, by Ezra Taft Benson (at the time of the talk, he was a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles).

My brethren and sisters and friends, in keeping with the spirit of the keynote address of our beloved President, I desire, if the Lord will bless me, to speak to you about the American heritage of freedom-a plan of God.

I direct my remarks particularly to the men of America and more especially to those in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who hold the Holy Priesthood of God.

Every member of the priesthood should understand the divine plan designed by the Lord to raise up the first free people in modern times. Here is how scripture says it was achieved:

First: Prophecy is abundant that God deliberately kept the American continent hidden until after the Holy Roman Empire had been broken up and the various nations had established themselves as independent kingdoms. Keeping America hidden until this time was no accident. (2 Nephi 1:6, 8.)

Second: At the proper time, God inspired Columbus to overcome almost insurmountable odds to discover America and bring this rich new land to the attention of the gentiles in Europe. (1 Nephi 13:12; Admiral of the Ocean Sea, by Dr. Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 46-47.)

Third: God revealed to his ancient American prophets that shortly after the discovery of America there would be peoples in Europe who would desire to escape the persecution and tyranny of the Old World and flee to America. ( 1 Nephi 13:13-16.)

Fourth: God told his prophets that the kingdoms in Europe would try to exercise dominion over the people who had fled to America, but that in the wars for independence the American settlers would win. (This is a remarkable prophecy in that 2,300 years before the Revolutionary War was fought, God through his prophets predicted who would win it.) (Ibid., 13:16-19.)

Fifth: The prophets were told that in the latter days when the gentiles came to America they would establish it as a land of liberty on which there would be no kings. The Lord declared that he would protect the land and whosoever would try to establish kings either from within or without would perish. (2 Nephi 10:8-14.)

Sixth: Having declared America to be a land of liberty, God undertook to raise up a band of inspired and intelligent leaders who could write a constitution of liberty and establish the first free people in modern times. The hand of God in this undertaking is clearly indicated by the Lord himself in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith in these words

". . . I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose...." (D&C 101:80.)

Seventh: God declared that the United States Constitution was divinely inspired for the specific purpose of eliminating bondage and the violation of the rights and protection which belongs to "all flesh." (Ibid., 101:77-80.)

Eighth: God placed a mandate upon his people to befriend and defend the constitutional laws of the land and see that the rights and privileges of all mankind are protected. He verified the declaration of the founding fathers, that God created all men free. He also warned against those who would enact laws encroaching upon the sacred rights and privileges of free men. He urged the election of honest and wise leaders and said that evil men and laws were of Satan. (Ibid., 98:5-10.)

Ninth: God predicted through his prophets that this great gentile nation, raised up on the American continent in the last days, would become the richest and most powerful nation on the face of the earth; even "above all other nations." (See 1 Nephi 13:15, 30; Ether 2:12.)

Tenth: Concerning the United States, the Lord revealed to his prophets that its greatest threat would be a vast, worldwide "secret combination" which would not only threaten the United States but also seek to "overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, (Ether 8:25.)

Eleventh: In connection with attack on the United States, the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith there would be an attempt to overthrow the country by destroying the Constitution. Joseph Smith predicted that the time would come when the Constitution would hang, as it were, by a thread, and at that time "this people will step forth and save it from the threatened destruction." (Journal History, Brigham Young's Speech, July 4, 1854.)

It is my conviction that the elders of Israel, widely spread over the nation will at that crucial time successfully rally the righteous of our country and provide the necessary balance of strength to save the institutions of constitutional government.

Twelfth: The Lord revealed to the Prophet Nephi that he established the gentiles on this land to be a free people forever, that if they were a righteous nation and overcame the wickedness and secret abominations which would arise in their midst, they would inherit the land forever. (1 Nephi 14:1-2.)

Thirteenth: But on the other hand, if the gentiles on this land reject the word of God and conspire to overthrow liberty and the Constitution, then their doom is fixed, and they ". . . shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant." (1 Nephi 14:6; 3 Nephi 21:11, 14, 21; D&C 84:114-115, 117.)

Fourteenth: The great destructive force which was to be turned loose on the earth and which the prophets for centuries have been calling the "abomination of desolation" is vividly described by those who saw it in vision. Ours is the first generation to realize how literally these prophecies can be fulfilled now that God, through science, has unlocked the secret to thermonuclear reaction.

In the light of these prophecies there should be no doubt in the mind of any priesthood holder that the human family is headed for trouble. There are rugged days ahead. It is time for every man who wishes to do his duty to get himself prepared-physically, spiritually, and psychologically-for the task which may come at any time, as suddenly as the whirlwind.

Where do we stand today? All over the world the light of freedom is being diminished. Across whole continents of the earth freedom is being totally obliterated.

Never in recorded history has any movement spread its power so far and so fast as has socialistic-communism in the last three decades. The facts are not pleasant to review. Communist leaders are jubilant with their success. They are driving freedom back on almost every front.

It is time, therefore, that every American, and especially every member of the priesthood, became informed about the aims, tactics, and schemes of socialistic-communism. This becomes particularly important when it is realized that communism is turning out to be the earthly image of the plan which Satan presented in the pre-existence. The whole program of socialistic- communism is essentially a war against God and the plan of salvation-the very plan which we fought to uphold during "the war in heaven."

Up to now some members of the Church have stood aloof, feeling that the fight against socialistic-communism is "controversial" and unrelated to the mission of the Church or the work of the Lord. But the President of the Church in our day has made it clear that the fight against atheistic communism is a major challenge to the Church and every member in it.

During the general conference of the Church in October 1959, President David O. McKay, in discussing the threat of communism, referred to W. Cleon Skousen's book, The Naked Communist, and said, "I admonish everybody to read that excellent book." He then quoted the following from the flyleaf: "The conflict between communism and freedom is the problem of our time. It overshadows all other problems."

The fight against godless communism is a very real part of every man's duty who holds the priesthood. It is the fight against slavery, immorality, atheism, terrorism, cruelty, barbarism, deceit, and the destruction of human life through a kind of tyranny unsurpassed by anything in human history. Here is a struggle against the evil, satanical priestcraft of Lucifer. Truly it can be called, "a continuation of the war in heaven."

In the war in heaven the devil advocated absolute eternal security at the sacrifice of our freedom. Although there is nothing more desirable to a Latter-day Saint than eternal security in God's presence, and although God knew, as did we, that some of us would not achieve this security if we were allowed our freedom-yet the very God of heaven, who has more mercy than us all, still decreed no guaranteed security except by a man's own freedom of choice and individual initiative.

Today the devil as a wolf in a supposedly new suit of sheep's clothing is enticing some men, both in and out of the Church, to parrot his line by advocating planned government guaranteed security programs at the expense of our liberties. Latter-day Saints should be reminded how and why they voted as they did in heaven. If some have decided to change their vote they should repent-throw their support on the side of freedom-and cease promoting this subversion.

When all of the trappings of propaganda and pretense have been pulled aside, the exposed hard-core structure of modern communism is amazingly similar to the ancient Book of Mormon record of secret societies such as the Gadiantons. In the ancient American civilization there was no word which struck greater terror to the hearts of the people than the name of the Gadiantons. It was a secret political party which operated as a murder cult. Its object was to infiltrate legitimate government, plant its officers in high places, and then seize power and live off the spoils appropriated from the people. (It would start out as a small group of "dissenters" and by using secret oaths with the threat of death for defectors it would gradually gain a choke hold on the political and economic life of whole civilizations. )

The object of the Gadiantons, like modern communists, was to destroy the existing government and set up a ruthless criminal dictatorship over the whole land.

One of the most urgent, heart-stirring appeals made by Moroni as he closed the Book of Mormon was addressed to the gentile nations of the last days. He foresaw the rise of a great world-wide secret combination among the gentiles which " . . . seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; . . ." (Ether 8:25. Italics added.) He warned each gentile nation of the last days to purge itself of this gigantic criminal conspiracy which would seek to rule the world.

The prophets, in our day, have continually warned us of these internal threats in our midst-that our greatest threat from socialistic-communism lies within our country. Brethren and sisters, we don't need a prophet-we have one-we need a listening ear. And if we do not listen and heed, then, as the Doctrine and Covenants states, " . . . the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people." (D&C 1:14.)

The prophets have said that these threats are among us. The Prophet Moroni, viewing our day, said, "Wherefore the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation." (Ether 8:24.)

Unfortunately our nation has not treated the socialistic-communist conspiracy as "treasonable to our free institutions," as the First Presidency pointed out in a signed 1936 statement. If we continue to uphold communism by not making it treasonable, our land shall be destroyed, for the Lord has said that " . . . whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold they shall be destroyed; . . ." (Ibid., 8:22.)

The Prophet Moroni described how the secret combination would take over a country and then fight the work of God, persecute the righteous, and murder those who resisted. Moroni therefore proceeded to describe the workings of the ancient "secret combinations" so that modern man could recognize this great political conspiracy in the last days: "Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain-and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you,

"Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; . . .

"For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; . . ." (Ibid., 8:23-25. Italics added.)

The Prophet Moroni seemed greatly exercised lest in our day we might not be able to recognize the startling fact that the same secret societies which destroyed the Jaredites and decimated numerous kingdoms of both Nephites and Lamanites would be precisely the same form of criminal conspiracy which would rise up among the gentile nations in this day.

The stratagems of the leaders of these societies are amazingly familiar to anyone who has studied the tactics of modern communist leaders.

The Lord has declared that before the second coming of Christ it will be necessary to ". . . destroy the secret works of darkness, . . ." in order to preserve the land of Zion-the Americas. (2 Nephi 10:11-16.)

The world-wide secret conspiracy which has risen up in our day to fulfil these prophecies is easily identified. President McKay has left no room for doubt as to what attitude Latter-day Saints should take toward the modern "secret combinations" of conspiratorial communism. In a lengthy statement on communism, he said:

". . . Latter-day Saints should have nothing to do with the secret combinations and groups antagonistic to the constitutional law of the land, which the Lord 'suffered to be established,' and which 'should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh according to just and holy principles.' " (Gospel Ideals, by David O. McKay p. 306. Italics added.)

There are those who recommend that the clash between communism and freedom be avoided through disarmament agreements. Abolishing our military strength and adopting an unenforceable contract as a substitute to protect us would go down in history as the greatest mistake free men could make in a time of peril.

President McKay declared:

"Force rules in the world today, consequently, our government must keep armies abroad, build navies and air squadrons, create atom bombs to protect itself from the threatened aggression of a nation which seems to listen to no other appeal than compulsion." (Ibid., p. 304.)

This parallels the historic statement by George Washington when he vigorously warned:

"There is a rank due the United States among the nations that will be totally lost by the reputation of weakness. If we would avoid insult we must be able to repel it, if we would secure the peace it must be known that we are at all times ready for war."

Some timid, vacillating political leaders proclaim that communism is something we will have to learn to live with . . . whether it is Khrushchev, or some other leader. The present communist system, they declare, will continue because there is no alternate system to replace communism. The policy of increasing power, of pushing their system outward and using the communist party, they say, will go on.

Such a negative attitude writes off the hundreds of millions behind the iron curtain as a lost cause. Surely no courageous, liberty-loving citizen will treat the communist secret combination as "something we will have to learn to live with."

There is a more courageous and sounder point of view. President McKay expressed it in these words:

"Men will be free. I have hoped for twenty years that the Russian system would break up. There is no freedom under it, and sooner or later the people will rise against it. They cannot oppose those fundamentals of civilization and of God. They can't crush their people always. Men will be free." (Church Section, Deseret News, November 6 1957, in an article entitled, "President McKay receives Senator Kennedy at Church Offices.")

What is the official position of the Church on communism? In 1936 the First Presidency made an official declaration on communism which has never been abrogated. I quote the concluding paragraph:

"We call upon all Church members completely to eschew communism. The safety of our divinely inspired constitutional government and the welfare of our Church imperatively demand that communism shall have no place in America"

We must ever keep in mind that collectivized socialism is part of the communist strategy. Communism is fundamentally socialism. We will never win our fight against communism by making concessions to socialism. Communism and socialism, closely related, must be defeated on principle. The close relationship between socialism and communism is clearly pointed out by Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, of August 6, 1961, in these words:

". . . Both socialism and communism derive from the teachings of Marx and Engels. In fact, the movements were one until the split over methods of approach, which resulted after the Russian revolution in 1905.... The aim and purpose of both was then and is now world socialism, which communism seeks to achieve through revolution and which socialists seek to achieve through evolution.

"The industrial achievements of the U. S. are the result of an economic system which is the antithesis of socialism. Our economic system is called 'capitalism' or 'private enterprise' and is based on private property rights, the profit motive and competition.

"Both communism and socialism seek to destroy our economic system and replace it with socialism; and their success, whether through evolution by socialism or through revolution by communism or a combination, will destroy not only our economic system, but our liberty, including the 'civil' aspects as well....

". . . The 'common ground' of socialism and communism is a factor to which the American people should be alerted. Without a clear understanding that communism is socialism, the total threat and menace of the cold war can never be comprehended and fought to victory."

When socialism is understood, we will realize that many of the programs advocated, and some of those already adopted in the United States, fall clearly within the category of socialism. What is socialism? It is simply governmental ownership and management of the essential means for the production and distribution of goods.

We must never forget that nations may sow the seeds of their own destruction while enjoying unprecedented prosperity.

The socialistic-communist conspiracy to weaken the United States involves attacks on many fronts. To weaken the American free-enterprise economy which outproduced both its enemies and allies during World War II is a high priority target of the communist leaders. Their press and other propaganda media are therefore constantly selling the principles of centralized or federal control of farms, railroads, electric power, schools, steel, maritime shipping, and many other aspects of the economy-but always in the name of public welfare.

This carries out the strategy laid down by the communist masters. John Strachey, a top official in the Labor Socialist party of Great Britain, in his book entitled The Theory and Practice of Socialism said:

"It is impossible to establish communism as the immediate successor to capitalism. It is accordingly proposed to establish socialism as something which we can put in the place of our present decaying capitalism. Hence, communists work for the establishment of socialism as a necessary transition stage on the road to communism."

The paramount issue today is liberty against creeping socialism. It is in this spirit that President McKay stated:

"Communism is antagonistic to the American way of life. Its avowed purpose is to destroy belief in God and free enterprise.... The fostering of full economic freedom lies at the base of our liberties. Only in perpetuating economic freedom can our social, political, and religious liberties be preserved." (Excerpt from Inaugural address for Dr. Henry A. Dixon, President of USU, delivered by President McKay at the USU fieldhouse, Logan, Utah, Monday, March 18, 1954.)

Again President McKay warned, citing the words of W. C. Mullendore, president of Southern California Edison Company:

"During the first half of the twentieth century we have traveled far into the soul-destroying land of socialism and made strange alliances through which we have become involved in almost continuous hot and cold wars over the whole of the earth. In this retreat from freedom the voices of protesting citizens have been drowned by raucous shouts of intolerance and abuse from those who led the retreat and their millions of gullible youth, who are marching merrily to their doom, carrying banners on which are emblazoned such intriguing and misapplied labels as social justice equality, reform patriotism social welfare." (Gospel Ideals, p. 273.)

It is significant that 118 years ago this month the Prophet Joseph Smith, after attending lectures on socialism, made this official entry in church history: "I said I did not believe the doctrine." (History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 33.)

No true Latter-day Saint and no true American can be a socialist or a communist or support programs leading in that direction. These evil philosophies are incompatible with Mormonism, the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

What can priesthood holders do? There are many things we can do to meet the challenge of the adversary in our day.

First, we should become informed about communism, about socialism, and about Americanism. What better way can one become informed than by first studying the inspired words of the prophets and using that as a foundation; against which to test all other material. This is in keeping with the Prophet Joseph Smith's motto, "When the Lord commands, do it." (Ibid., Vol. 2, p. 170.)

The Foundation for Economic Education, Irvington-on-Hudson, New York on which President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., served as a board member, continues to supply sound freedom literature. We should know enough about American free enterprise to be able to defend it. We should know what makes it possible for six percent of humanity-living under our free economy-to produce about one-half of the earth's developed wealth each year.

We should know why paternalism, collectivism, or unnecessary federal supervision will hold our standard of living down and reduce productivity just as it has in every country where it has been tried. We should also know why the communist leaders consider socialism the highroad to communism.

Second, we should accept the command of the Lord and treat socialistic communism as the tool of Satan. We should follow the counsel of the President of the Church and resist the influence and policies of the socialist-communist conspiracy wherever they are found-in the schools, in the churches, in governments, in unions, in businesses, in agriculture.

Third, we should help those who have been deceived or who are misinformed to find the truth. Unless each person who knows the truth will "stand up and speak up" it is difficult for the deceived or confused citizen to find his way back.

Fourth, we should not make the mistake of calling people "communist" just because they happen to be helping the communist cause. Thousands of patriotic Americans, including a few Latter-day Saints, have helped the communists without realizing it. Others have knowingly helped without joining the party. The remedy is to avoid name-calling, but point out clearly and persuasively how they are helping the communists.

Fifth, each priesthood holder should use his influence in the community to resist the erosion process which is taking place in our political and economic life. He should use the political party of his choice to express his evaluation of important issues. He should see that his party is working to preserve freedom, not destroy it. He should join responsible local groups interested in promoting freedom and free competitive enterprise, in studying political issues, appraising the voting records and proposed programs, and writing to members of Congress, promoting good men in public office and scrutinizing local, state, and federal agencies to see that the will of the people is being carried out. He should not wait for the Lord's servants to give instruction for every detail once they have announced the direction in which the priesthood should go. Each member should exercise prayerful judgment and then act.

Sixth, and most important of all, each member of the priesthood should set his own house in order. This should include:

1. Regular family prayer, remembering especially our government leaders.

2. Getting out of debt.

3. Seeing that each member of the family understands the importance of keeping the commandments.

4. Seeing that the truth is shared with members of the family, with neighbors, and with associates.

5. Seeing that each member is performing his duties in the priesthood, in the auxiliary organizations, in the temple, and in the civic life of the community.

6. Seeing that every wage earner in the home is a full tithepayer and fulfilling other obligations in financial support of the kingdom.

7. Providing a one-year supply of essentials.

In doing these things a member of the Church is not only making himself an opponent of the adversary, but a proponent of the Lord.

In the prophecies there is no promise except to the obedient. To a modern prophet the Lord said:

"Therefore, what I say unto one, I say unto all: Watch, for the adversary spreadeth his dominions, and darkness reigneth;

"And the anger of God kindleth against the inhabitants of the earth;

". . . I give unto you directions how you may act before me, that it may turn to you for your salvation.

"I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." (D&C 82:5-6, 9-10.)

May God give us the wisdom to recognize the threat to our freedom and the strength to meet this danger courageously.

Yes, perilous times are ahead, but if we do our duty in all things, God will give us inner peace and overrule all things for our good. God grant it may be so, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

***************************************************
You might also want to listen to another warning from Ezra Taft Benson. It can be played by following this link: Ezra Taft Benson's Warning on Socialism and Communism.

Ezra Taft Benson became an apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1943. In 1953, he was appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture by President Eisenhower. He severed as President of the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985-1994.

Caucus 2010 Results for PR20

2010-03-24T09:44:00.003-06:00

Precinct Officers:

Chair: Christy Gomm
Vice Chair: Evan Frederickson
Secretary: Gina Martine
Committee: Mark Holden
Committee: Ben Beckes
Committee: Steven Reid

State Delegates:
John Liu
Christy Gomm (from chair position)
Lisa Shepherd (from county party position)
Keri Witte (from leg officer position)

County Delegates:
Steven Reid
Arturo Soza
Todd Burton
Evan Frederickson (from vice chair position)
Christy Gomm (from chair position)
Lisa Shepherd (from county party position)
Keri Witte (from leg officer position)

Caucus 2010

2010-03-24T09:05:00.012-06:00

What a crazy night we had and I loved it!

To start out, we had no idea so many people would show up. In 2006 they had 25 people, in 2008 we had 34 people, this year our total was 65+ (I had to hand in the papers, before I counted them, but I think it was 69). It took awhile for people to get signed in. I knew more people were coming this year, but not that many more and not 30+ right when it was time to start. We had 14 people who were newly registered or changed their affiliation. It was so great to have everyone there. A special thanks to my amazing husband for working the registration desk!One of the things that should happen is that the meeting starts on time. However, we had so many people come right before 7, that I was asked to start late.

We went through all the normal business: prayer, flag, pledge, caucus rules, reading the county platform, and asking for donations (we had $104).Then it was time to elect precinct officers. I gave the candidate and balloting rules. I had planned on doing multiple balloting (which is what they told us to do in our training), where the lowest vote getter is removed from the list and then you re-vote. A few hours before the caucus I was told that was against Roberts Rules. I looked it up and sure enough, Roberts Rules states it is by a majority vote. However, once I started to tell the rules, I was told that it had to be a 50%+ majority. Next time, someone from my precinct needs to move that it be a simple majority vote. The election time would have been so much faster if we could have done it that way.

I was planning to run for chair again, so I turned the meeting over to Lisa Shepherd. You shouldn't conduct the election for a race you are entering. Keri Witte nominated me. Thanks Keri! That had not been planned ahead of time. To my surprise, no one decided to run against me. Lisa left plenty of time for it and still no one. No speeches for me! I was elected by acclamation.

Next, we voted for vice chair. Evan Frederickson won.

For secretary, Gina Martine was elected by acclamation.

For the first time we are having a precinct committee. They will help with whatever needs to be done. Some of the things will be cleaning up the rolls, while doing a registration drive, later this year, helping candidates when needed, and so on. Our committee members are Mark Holden, Ben Beckes and Steven Reid.

We balloted twice for state delegate. John Liu is now our state delegate.

We had to ballot multiple times for each of our county delegates. Because of a tie after multiple ballots, one of the candidates withdrew, but later won a position. Our county delegates are Steven Reid, Arturo Soza, and Todd Burton.

Due to a misprint we had actually elected a 4th county delegate, but had to remove his name, because we had lost another county delegate. I had to talk to our leg and county and then I talked with him and he was kind and understanding.

The reason we lost delegates is because we had a lower voter turnout for the last state races for governor, attorney general, auditor and treasurer. This is the only time they calculate our precincts votes to determine how many delegates we get for both the state and county. It was heartbreaking to lose those positions. We lost delegates in both. Lesson learned: GO VOTE! Your vote does make a difference in more ways than you might know. Also, when you vote in the next state elections for those 4 previously mentioned races, be sure to cast a vote in all 4 of those races. We are having a governor election this year, but that won't count to change our delegates, because it is a special election and the other positions are not also included.
Overall, it was democracy in action. The room was hot and stuffy. Apparently you needed some code or something to turn the air conditioning on after hours. Balloting took forever. Ok, the balloting didn't take forever, that actually went really fast, it was the discussions that took forever! It was all good though. It was important for the neighbors to ask questions of the candidates and to hear their responses. It was a long meeting (we had to end before 10 p.m. or finish our meeting outside on the lawn - we finished before 10). Despite the late hour and stuff room, I think the general feeling was that people were happy to be part of the process and to help make a difference.

Go Caucus

2010-03-10T09:24:00.004-07:00

You keep hearing about making a change, making a difference, grass roots efforts, and so on. This is it. This is where YOU personally can make a difference. This is one of the many freedoms we have that makes our country great and what men and women of our armed forces are dying to protect.

This is what I wrote, on this blog, 2 years ago after the last caucus meeting. It is still true today.

Have you ever felt like your vote doesn't count?

Here is my plug for caucus (A meeting, especially a preliminary meeting, of persons belonging to a party, to nominate candidates for public office, or to select delegates to a nominating convention, or to confer regarding measures of party policy; a political primary meeting) meetings.

Your vote most certainly does count at a caucus meeting. We had almost 40 people there and only 33 who were voting. We had races where the winner won by only 2 votes. This is true grassroots politics at it's best, paper ballots and all! Be sure to come in 2010 - we need our voices to be heard. You can do this by showing up and participating. This is where a few hours of your life can really make a big difference!

Caucus Time!

2010-03-10T09:00:00.009-07:00

Yay! It is time to caucus again! In Utah, both the Democrats and Republicans are holding their caucuses Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 7 p.m. Please contact your precinct chair for more information. Below is just some general information for the Republican caucuses and details for the caucuses in my area.

Who?

Anyone is welcome to attend and observe. Everyone attending will need to sign-in.

Who can participate (speak, nominate, and vote)?

U.S. Citizens that reside in the precinct, are registered Republican or unaffiliated, and are 18 years old by November 2, 2010. You should also be in general agreement with the party’s principles and platform.

Who is eligible to hold an office or be a delegate (speak, nominate, vote, and run for election)?

U.S. Citizens that reside in the precinct, are registered Republican, and are 18 years old by November 2, 2010. You should also be in general agreement with the party’s principles and platform.

What?

We will be caucusing to elect new precinct officers and delegates. Other items of business include: review the party platform, nominate individuals to serve as election judges, and raise money for the county party (please bring a couple of dollars to donate).

Caucus: a group of people organized around a particular issue, candidate and/or political party.

Precinct: the smallest political subdivision of our state (these boundaries apply to all political parties).

Delegate: a person elected to represent your precinct in county and/or state conventions.

When?

TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2010 At 7 p.m.

Where?

Provo Precincts 19, 20, 24 and 31 will caucus at Lakeview Elementary School located at 2899 West 1390 North in Provo.

Why?

1) To educate, organize, and mobilize party members at the grass roots level;

2) To elect precinct officers for a two year term; and

3) To elect delegates for a two year term to represent the precinct at the state and county conventions.

Other Details:

What to bring?

A photo id and current address id (drivers license is best) – these are needed if someone contests your residence, if you are new to the area, or if no one at the caucus can vouch for who you are.
A writing instrument
A smile!

What if I am Unaffiliated?

You are welcome to participate in the Republican caucus. However, you cannot run for/or hold an office, nor be a delegate. Also, you will not be able to vote in a Republican Primary Election (June 22, 2010).

What if I am Independent?

This is an actual political party. Unless you reregister the night of the caucus and change your party affiliation, you will not be able to participate in the Republican Caucuses. I have found, from doing high school voter registration drives, that many teenagers think they are unaffiliated when they choose Independent.

Am I registered to vote? What party am I registered under?

You can visit the state website to see if you are registered to vote.

You can contact your precinct chair to see if you are registered and to what party you affiliate.

What if I am not registered to vote or registered to the wrong precinct?

You can register/reregister at the caucus. Rolls have already been printed, so it is best that you register when you show up to the caucus, instead of sending it to the county office. You will need either your driver’s license # or the last 4 digits of your social security # to register. If you are registered to the wrong precinct you will just need to reregister when you arrive. This may happen if you have moved.

Save some time at the caucus and print the registration form and fill it out before you come.

I want to run for office and/or be a delegate. What should I know and do?

Tell your neighbors to come and vote for you.
You will have to declare if you support the county party platform, and specifically tell of things you do not support.
Know that you will be asked things like what you stand for, what current candidates in state and county elections do you like and/or support, and if you have been asked by anyone, including a particular candidate or special interest group, to run.
Know that you will be available to attend the upcoming conventions and trainings (dates are listed below).
Know that, if you are elected, your contact information will be made public (with exceptions for law enforcement officials).

Precinct PR20 will be electing the following:

Precinct Chair (automatic state and county delegate)

Precinct Vice Chair (automatic county delegate)

Precinct Secretary

Precinct Committee (3 members)

Election Judges (3)

State Delegate (1)

County Delegates (3)

Now that I’m a Delegate, what should I know and do?

Be sure your contact information is correct. Attend training meetings. Prepare a folder with sections for each race and subsections for each candidate. Prepare for debates, cottage meetings, phone calls, house visits, events, etc. Participate in online discussion groups and emails. Checkout websites, blogs, podcasts, Facebook pages, etc. Build relationships with candidates and other delegates. Communicate what you learn with voters in your precinct. Study the convention agenda, rules, and proposed resolutions and amendments. Attend the convention(s)!

Now that I'm a Chair or Vice Chair, what should I know and do?

Besides the delegate responsibilities you must attend Central Committee Meetings (held at least quarterly), run your caucus, organize party activities such as voter registration, fundraising, campaigning for republican candidates, writing letters to the editor, etc.

Dates of Upcoming Events

Within 2 weeks after Caucus - Training meeting (your district will decide which day)

March – May – Meet the candidate events

April 24 – County Central Committee Meeting & Utah County Republican Party Convention

April 27-29 – Training Meeting (your district will decide which day)

May 8 – State Convention

May 21 – Primary Election mail-in registration deadline

June 7 – Primary Election walk-in voter registration deadline

June 8 – 19 – Primary Election Early Voting

June 22 – Primary Election

August 28 – County Central Committee Meeting

August – BBQ & training

October 4 – General Election mail-in voter registration deadline

October 18 – General Election walk-in voter registration deadline

October 19 – 31 – General Election Early Voting

November 2 – General Election

November 6 – County Central Committee Meeting

Mid-November – Training Meeting (your district will decide which day)

County Central Committee Meetings are also scheduled for January 8, April 23, August 27 and November 5 in 2011 and January 14 & April 28 in 2012

Click here for the County Republican Platform

Voter Information for Provo Precinct 20

# of Registered Voters: 1046

The political party breakdown of the 1046 voters:

523 Republican

426 Unaffiliated

83 Democratic

4 Independent

3 American

3 IND American

2 Socialist Workers

1 Green

1 Natural Law

Please contact your precinct chair, if you have any questions.

Have a great day!

Political Parties

2010-03-05T13:14:00.004-07:00

One of the questions I was asked a lot while doing high school voter registration is:
What are the different political parties?

Only 4 parties have officially registered with the State of Utah. They are:
Constitution
Democratic
Libertarian
Republican

Other Parties:
Desert Greens (affiliate of Green)
Green
Independent
Personal Choice
Pirate
Reform
Unity
Write-in

You can makeup or write-in any party you choose. However, they will not become an official party of the State of Utah, unless they register.

ELECTION INFORMATION

2010-03-05T13:01:00.004-07:00

I was asked what positions will we be voting on this November? So I thought I'd give you a bit of information about our state offices.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 2, 2010.

State & US offices you will vote on are:
* U.S. Senator - 6 year term - No Term Limit - 2010, 2016
Bob Bennett (Republican) – first elected 1992 - re-elected: 1998, 2004.

* U.S. House of Representatives - 2 year term - No Term Limit – 2010, 2012, 2014
Rob Bishop (Republican) – First elected 2002

* U.S. House of Representatives - 2 year term - No Term Limit – 2010, 2012, 2014
Jim Matheson (Democrate) – First elected 2008

* U.S. House of Representatives - 2 year term - No Term Limit – 2010, 2012, 2014
Jason Chaffetz (Republican) – First elected 2008

* Governor - 4 year term – No Term Limit – 2012, 2016, 2020
Gary Herbert (Republican) – succeded to Governorship 11 August 2009
*** Special 2010 election for Governor to fill out remainder of term

* Lieutenant Governor - 4 year term – Elected on ticket with Governor – 2012, 2016, 2020
Gregory Bell (Republican) – entered office 11 August 2009

The year dates are the dates of upcoming election years.

Other Offices:

*U.S. Senator - 6 year term - No Term Limit - 2012, 2018
Orrin Hatch (Republican) - First elected: 1976 - re-elected: 1982, 1988, 1994, 2000, 2006

*Attorney General - 4 year term – No Term Limit – 2012, 2016, 2020
Mark Shurtleff (Republican) – first elected 2000 – re-elected: 2004, 2008

*Treasurer - 4 year term – No Term Limit – 2012, 2016, 2020
Richard Ellis (Republican) – first elected 2008

*Auditor - 4 year term – No Term Limit – 2012 – 2016, 2020
Auston Johnson (Republican) - Auditor since July 1995; first elected 1996; re-elected: 2000, 2004, 2008

*Utah State Senators – 4 year term – No Term Limit – half up for election every 2 years – 2011, 2013

*Utah House of Representatives – 2 year term – No Term Limit – 2011, 2013, 2015

High School Voter Registration

2010-02-11T09:37:00.009-07:00

Picture by PATRICK SMITH/Daily Herald (those are my hands there on the right!)

Yesterday I had the opportunity to help with voter registration. I went to West Lake High School in Saratoga Springs. That has to be the biggest and nicest high school in the state! I was there with Councilman Michael McOmber, Kraig Thorn, Paul Ure and the mayor, Mia Love. I have helped with a couple of other high school registrations, but this had to be the most entertaining.

The mayor was great. She went around trying to get the students to register. You can read about it in today's Daily Herald.

Some students reactions are hilarious. Many do not want to vote. Councilman McOmber reminded a group of boys that there are men and women dying today so that they may have this right to vote. When they said they didn't want to vote, I told them, "but you do want to register!" That always worked.

Most of them (everyone at my table) asked what is naturalization. Most didn't know about the parties and as the newspaper article states, none of them knew who the Vice President of the United States is (Joe Biden), and most didn't know who's the governor of Utah (Gary Herbert). What the article doesn't mentioned is Mia also asked some of them who's the mayor of Saratoga Springs and most of them didn't know that either.

I know my kids couldn't answer all those questions, because just last week one of them asked me who's the Vice President of the United States.

Isn't it interesting how little 17 and 18 year olds know about their own government? Everyone out there that has contact with youth, please share some CIVICS 101 with them. You don't have to know everything and have all the answers. These youth, who will one day run our government, should have a basic understanding of how it works. This isn't something you can expect them to learn in school!

While the Constitution is framework for our government, you should all go read the Declaration of Independence. I think you will find it interesting to know all the things King George was accused of doing and know why we Declared our Independence.

Anyone who will be 18 years old or older by November 1st should register to vote. You will need to have or know either your Driver's License # or the last 4 digits of your Social Security #. Lots of students were not able to complete their registrations because they didn't know either of these #s and there wasn't someone home so they could get it.

There is a high school competition going on. The High School who gets the most students to register during one of these registration drives will be given a U.S. Flag that was flown over the U.S. Capital Building. This is being done courtesy of U.S. Congressman, Jason Chaffetz.

To find out if you are registered to vote click here.
If you need to register click here. You will need to print the form, fill it out and hand or send it in.

UCRP Central Committee Meeting - January 21

2010-01-22T12:40:00.005-07:00

Just a few observations (things that drive me crazy) about the meeting before I summarize what I heard. For the members of the UCRP Central Committee the biggest reason you are even at the meeting is to vote (it is not to receive information - they send out enough emails and point us to websites to get all the information). There are always a lot of bylaw proposals (items we vote on), but the party chair always thinks that they should put those items of business at the end. I've heard that they think people will just leave after its over and not stay, yes its true they will, but as it is, people leave before they even get to the bulk of why they are there. The problem with leaving it until the end is that the meeting always gets adjourned before you are through. To end these meetings all someone has to do is ask/call adjourned and then everything stops, they take a vote and if the majority of people are done (which always seems to be the case), then they stand adjourned. Meeting over!

In the time we were allotted we could have gone through all 7 items of business, but there is always someone who didn't do their job and has to have the whole proposal explained to them word for word which makes it take at least 3 times as long to get through. Instead of having the presenter explain/read the proposal and have debate if needed. I think our chair needs to take better control and follow the rules. He seems to forget rules from one meeting to the next and obviously play favorites.

Not to mention that I sat next to a guy that huffed and puffed the entire time after the first half hour. Seriously, just go home if its that bad!!!

Although I am obviously venting, I have people ask me how these meetings go and I want them to know how it is for me!

On to the meeting ...

The beginning... prayer, pledge, Taylor Oldroyd welcomes everyone, plays one of Scott Brown's campaign you tube videos. He makes his own amendment to the agenda and after some debate about changing the order or the bylaw proposals says, "I'm not opposed to bylaws and discussion, that's why I put it on the agenda."

Doyle Mortimer is our parliamentarian.

Moving through party business:

Ryan Frandsen and Richard Jaussi approved as new Steering Committe members.
217 of the 546 committee members where in attendance.
Lynn Taylor (Treasurer) is moving, this was his last meeting.
Curt Bramble would like a party income statement along with the budget.
Lincoln Day dinner - utahlincolndinner.com (prices are $1500, $800 & $50) Amity Shlaes author of The Forgotten Man is the keynote speaker.
2nd Tuesday of each month is the C&B Committee Meeting.
Saturday, January 30th a panel discussion will take place.
Oppose Ethics Initiative website www.responsibleethics.com

Next they had a panel discussion, moderated by Taylor Oldroyd. Panel Members were Rep. John Dougall, Deidre Henderson, Steve Diamond, Thomas Wright, Doug Cannon, and John Curtis. The discussion all revolved around increased apathy and voter frustration, low turnout, and growth of government. I loved the panel discussion. Below are some excerpts (though highly summarized and most answers refer to the National Republican Party).

Doug Cannon - voters are angry. The republicans lost sight and spent too much. You can't fix runaway spending with ludicrous spending. We were not fiscally responsible.

Steve Diamond - We didn't have a core in place. Democrats are consistent, that is their core.

Mark Madsen - voters are upset and not sure who to be angry at. People are mad at property tax being raised. They need to be educated. He asks them in the last school board bond how did you vote? Most of the time they have never voted. We need to educate people.

Deidre Henderson - Republicans need to fess up to past mistakes, have a positive plan of action and follow through. No pie crust promises (easily made, easily broken).

John Dougall - Party is trending left (bigger government). The republican brand has been tarnished. We need to stand for something different.

Steve Diamond - Republicans doubled the size of government in 4 years that is more than democrats ever did. Utah is not a free state, most of it is owned by the federal government. Washington needs to get off others backs and quit trying to control everyone.

Thomas Wright - We are not working hard enough. We have been out worked. National Party tarnished our brand. They lacked common sense and accountability. We need to go door to door and talk to our neighbors about the good job Jason Chaffetz is doing, local politics and voter registration.

Doug Canon - Voters are turned off. They feel neither party represents them. Fighting amongst ourselves turns people away. Rather we need to engage people into discussions.

John Dougall - The vast majority of people do not understand the constitution. We need to find a principle that benefits them and explain why/how the constitution supports it.

Mark Madsen - principles are more important than parties or labels. Ethics reform is a liberal agenda. He calls Utah the Sharecropper State Masters of Washington.

John Curtis (joined the discussion later) - Principles over anything else is important. People who say I am right because I am republican or nevermind what I say or how I act, is a huge problem.

Diedra Henderson - Republicans seem to be issue driven, not principle driven.

Steve Diamond - I no longer ask politicians about the issues, only want to know how they make their decision. Once I know, I'll always know their principles.

John Dougall - They say "best managed state" not "well managed", graded on a curve! People think that elected officials can solve all their problems. Elected officials should leave you free to govern yourselves.

Doug Cannon - Those inalienable rights mentioned are faith based.

John Curtis - Public servant - if you take advantage of your office or are arrogant that turns people off. You must serve, not rule.

Mark Madsen - came up with 13 principles of good government. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...." We should put more emphasis on the Declaration of Independence. It's a government laundry list. We should all read it and see the things they accused King George of doing.

Thomas Wright - From the beginning there were opposing views. The art of compromise has been lost. He behooves us to compromise a little more. Right now there is a huge drug problem in America and when we bicker amongst ourselves we look bad and out of touch.

John Dougall - Centralize more and more. Federal land is a high stake game.

Steve Diamond - We need to rally around principle to have common ground instead of fight with each other.

Diedra Henderson - Loves the Tea Party movement, but fears of them breaking away from the party. We need to encourage people to be involved. If they are not involved they have no business complaining. Encouragement not coming top down, has to be from the bottom up.

Mark Madsen - polarizing is high stakes. Republican party needs to adhere to Republican principles. Utah has preserved civility in the legislature. He said he can track the breakdown to federal government civility to the end of the cold war. If Salt Lake City media says it is good, it is probably bad thing.

John Curtis - Compromise is different than common ground. When talking about zoning people divide, but when talking about building neighborhoods they come together. We need to find the common ground and come together.

Lastly, we discussed some of the bylaw proposals. B105 (filling vacancies both years) passed. Everything else was either sent back to the C&B committee or we didn't get to it.

Villages at Celebration

2009-10-07T06:49:00.004-06:00

As expected, the project (Villages at Celebration - it's funny how not even the developer likes this name, he told us that Provo City gave it that name) is a go. The city council approved all 3 parts (annexation, and changing the zoning twice) last night.

I find it interesting several of the city council members (both from the stand and after it was done) addressed us saying we need to watch this project in the future, to make sure what was agreed upon tonight is really what happens in the future.

The two things I am most worried about is crime and traffic. Crime because they are building out in fields at the edge of town. The traffic, because I'm worried about the kids that walk and ride to school on the main road (the only road for a few years) to get to the development. I am so happy that they changed the size of the homes that will go next to me (they now have bigger lot sizes) and that they took all the town homes off the street with the school. However, the developer's traffic study said that once the whole thing is built, the development will have 25,000 vehicle trips a day, which is the same as 900 East (4 lane road). He told us this was the traffic projection once the whole project is built. I realize not all of this traffic will go on 1390 N., but a lot of it will, not to mention that the high school will be built just south of this development which will bring even more traffic (that wasn't studied) down this street also.

Now that they are moving forward with this, I hope that it is as grand as everyone claims it will be! I'm thrilled to have new neighbors across my street. Hopefully more youth will move in that are my kids ages! My older kids seem to be the oldest by far, in the streets around us.

West Side Development

2009-10-06T17:26:00.008-06:00

Tonight is supposed to be the final city council meeting about the Villages at Celebration development. The city council, all along has been in favor of this development, and I am sure they will pass it tonight.

The developer came up with a revised plan to try and make some of the people happy, which I am grateful that at least we were able to make some difference. I am happy with most of the changes. Please don't get me wrong, I think development is a good thing, as long as you do it right and I don't think that right now is the right time to be spending so much money on a project at the edge of town.

The parts that have irritated me, are how much everyone (the city council and neighborhood chair) seems to think there are so many people, who live here, that are in favor of this development. I have yet to hear more than a handful, but they keep telling me there are soo many out there. Many people have come to me saying they don't want this development at all. A few neighbors went around one night, just in the few streets right next to the development are were able to get 40 + signature to petition the development, 17 people emailed me saying they were opposed to this development right before the last city council meeting. About 16 people addressed the city council in opposition to the development at the city council meeting. Not to mention anyone that emailed their concerns over the development directly to the city council members and the mayor.

I realize that this development is a shoe in (read the following 2 messages).

From Cindy Clark (this was not sent to me, but forwarded on):
Sorry for the delay in contacting you. I understand the feelings that you have--I think I know your concerns--they are the ones that I would have too if my neighborhood was involved with this kind of development. I believe you are right when you say this will probably pass tonight. After discussing it and trying to come to grips with the issues on the westside, it seems that this will be the best opportunity for the right kind of growth that most of you living in the area will want eventually. Yes it will be expensive and the city needs to make sure the infrastructure will be there first. We've been assured it will-without it there could be no project. Hope to see you tonight. Allison, are you still willing to help Steve in your area?
Cindy Clark

-------------------

From Sherrie Hall Everett:

Dear Neighbors,

Many of you have been very involved in the ongoing discussions regarding the large planned development that is being proposed in our neighborhood. These discussions began prior to my being the Neighborhood Chair and prior to being elected to represent this District on the Council. After a long protracted process this issue is finally before the Council for a vote this evening.

Many of you have been very supportive over the years of creating a plan that allows the remaining land to develop in a way that makes sense and creates what I personally believe could be a real gem for our city. However, in recent months we have heard some opposition from a group of neighbors that do not want anything developed and want to preserve open space.

While open space would be great, there is not funding in the city to purchase property and keep the land in open space. The priorities of the city are far greater on essential services.

What you should know is that the majority of land owners support the annexation and planning process. There is no effort to end the opportunity to farm or maintain agricultural lands, only to plan for the future and avoid the kind of piecemeal development that has occurred typically on the West side of the city. This development will build out over the next 15-20 years and is a plan for how that development will occur. It is important to have this vision as part of the General Plan so that transportation, infrastructure and planning needs can be addressed. It is also important to have this plan articulated to help us work on funding for critical future road plans that increase connectivity and safety for our residents west of I-15. The School District is also very interested in this type of planning for them to anticipate the needs for elementary schools, middle schools and high schools in the city. Also without such plans, retailers will not consider providing shopping to the West side. They want to be able to look at demographics and rooftops in the overall plan before they will commit to come.

In an effort to alleviate concerns and help work toward a good outcome, I'm attaching the latest round of adjustments to accommodate the neighbors, closest to the development.

In the neighborhood meetings that I have led and also the ones led by Don Allphin, there has been an ongoing majority of support. It would be important to show the continued support of our neighborhood for this planning and forward-thinking effort. Please come tonight to Council and help represent the entire neighborhood on this important matter.

If for some reason you are unable to attend, please send your thoughts, comments, support via email to me.

Thank you for your interest,

Sherrie

-------------------

Cindy seems a bit patronizing, telling us that eventually we will want this (we just don't know it yet) and Sherrie doesn't seem to remember that the we had a neighborhood meeting where about 100 people were there and overwhelming (I'd guess 95%) were there because they completely disapproved of the project.

Oh well! I guess I'll be living in a construction zone for the next 15-20 years! I will add the new development plan to my google group site.

Yahoo!!!

2009-09-15T21:20:00.005-06:00

The results aren't official yet, but the report for my precinct came in and I'm so happy to report that 219 people voted. Nice Job! Way to Go! I'm so glad that so many were willing to exercise their freedom today, with their right to vote!

:) I think that number will go up because provisional ballots aren't recorded yet. Early ballots might not be in that number either.

Check the Election Results

2009-09-15T19:21:00.003-06:00

As the results come in tonight you will be able to view them at:
http://electionmap.provo.org/

GO VOTE TODAY

2009-09-15T09:31:00.003-06:00

Just a Reminder: Tuesday, September 15th is Provo’s Municipal Primary Elections. Please Go VOTE! Good Luck to all the candidates!

New this year – you must provide identification when you vote (valid ID includes a photo ID issued by the state or federal government, such as a Utah driver license or US passport; or two other forms of ID showing the voter’s name and address, such as a current utility bill or bank statement).

Following is a list of candidates pertaining Precincts Provo 20 & 24 (west of Geneva Road & north of the river) – also Precincts 31 & 23:

*PROVO MAYOR CANDIDATES*
* Don Allphin — www.donallphin.org
* Steve Clark – www.stephendclark.com
* Ammon S. Cunningham — provomayor2009.blogspot.com
* John Curtis — johncurtis.org
* Neil Mitchell — neilmitchellforprovomayor.com
* Andrew P. Thompson — 801-373-4834 (*WITHDRAWN*)

*PROVO CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES (CITYWIDE 1)*
* Laura Cabanilla – laura4provo.com
* Carl Mayo — carlmayo.com
* Coy Porter — www.coyforcouncil.com
* Howard Stone — www.howardstone.org
* Lindsey Wiblin — wiblin@cougar.netutah.net

For your information there are 2 candidates running for office from precinct 20 – Carl Mayo for City Council & Don Allphin for Mayor.

The primary election will whittle the field of candidates down to two candidates per open seat. The General Election will be Tuesday, November 3, so mark your calendars! Remember that federal law requires employers to allow employees time to vote.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Precincts 20 & 24 - vote at Lakeview Elementary (2899 W 1390 N), in empty classroom down the west hallway of the school (by kindergarten classes).Precinct 31 (east of Geneva Rd & north of 820 N) - vote at Westridge Elementary (1720 W 1460 N).
Precinct 23 (east of Geneva Rd, south of 820 N, and north of the river) – vote at Freedom Academy (1190 W 900 N).

If you have any questions about where your polling place is, visit the Lt Governor's site at: https://gva1.utah.gov/elections/polling.aspx

If you are not registered to vote, Please go to the following web address, print the form and send it in.You won’t be able to vote on September 15^th, but if you get it in by the deadlines you will be able to vote on November 3^rd.You must be 18 years old by November 3^rd to register. The last day to register by mail is October 5^th. The last day to register in person at the County Clerks Office is October 19^th. http://elections.utah.gov/VoterRegistrationForm.pdf

Villages at Celebration

2009-08-31T17:57:00.006-06:00

There is a large amount of land that Provo City has asked a developer to make a concept plan, Specific Plan Development, as its called. This land is all part of Utah County (346.72 acres) and Provo wants to annex it. Part of the land is owned by Provo School District. Other land is owned by farmers, and the developer.

The Developer is Gardner, Plum & Associates. Apparently the city council really likes the work these guys do, so they want him to develop it. I along with many of my neighbors have been trying to fight it. Tomorrow night (September 1, at 7:p.m.) is the City Council meeting set to decide if it should go forward or not.

Here are all immediate problems I see with this development (it looks pretty on paper, for the most part, but here are some of the realities):

CRIME - This development would be out as far west as you can go at the north of Provo. The housing scheduled for the first 2 phases (which is all the developer's representative said they would build and leave it up to someone else to buy the land and build the rest) has already been approved, by the planning commission (which we felt like we were lied to about, because everyone kept saying it was a city council decision), to be smaller homes, on smaller lots, with the approval to have only 5 feet between each home - essentially adding 210 starter homes on skinnier streets. Also the only street in and out of the development (first 2 phases) would be lined with town homes. Police have told us that with higher density housing like this, our crime rates would go up, especially if it is tucked away in a corner like it is. Just last week a gang member tagged my neighbor's house. Can't imagine what they will do if this development gets to go forward.

SAFETY - This development (phases one and two = 200 homes) is only 1 block away from the Lakeview Elementary School. The street the school is on, is the only street that goes into this development. It's just a wide neighborhood street, not a major road. We already had a kid hit by a car last school year, just imagine adding 400 + more cars on this street.

COMPLETION - The developer's rep, has said that this entire plan is probably a 15 year project. I'm afraid that this will start like other projects and never get finished. They might get started, but that doesn't mean they won't stop at 3 years and not complete it. Or what many have done, is once the project is approved and they get the first few phases done, then they sell it and since it is already zoned for certain things it makes it easier for the new developer to make even more changes, that we might not like.

THE PLAN - Like I already mentioned basically what we are looking at is 200 started homes all wrapped up in a pretty bow. Everything else on the plan is not going to be built by this developer, according to their own spokesman. Every thing on the plan is likely to change since every step will need to be approved by the city council, so the new owners can come in with a different plan. This plan has already gone through some changes. They took out some of the green space, and a church, and added more houses. I'm sorry, but quality of life issues need to be addressed. Overall this plan would add around a 1400 houses. In that same amount of houses from west of I-15, from the river to 2000 N. there are 4 churches (3 LDS and 1 other).

Long term issues with this plan, if it goes through:

UNIVERSITY AVE. SIZE ROAD - The road through the middle of the plan is a University Ave. sized road, which is approx. 2 blocks west of the school. It really divides this development in half. If put in, it would also force the school district to have another situation like Provo High, where kids have to cross a major road to get to their ball fields. Which by the way, the developer's rep. told the planning commission that the school will just have to sell their land, if they won't do it that way, because they will lose.

INFRASTRUCTURE - As of right now, there is not an approved plan to even have water out to this development (except for the first 2 phases, because they put the pipes in just a few weeks ago, before the city council meetings). It's absurd that the city would approve a project before they even have funding or a way to get the basics down. This water project is a $18 million project, that they seem to think 200 homes are going to pay for the whole thing, because they said it wasn't going to cost any of us any money. I highly doubt that a project this expensive will never cost any other property owners a cent.

I'm out of time for now. As you can see there are many issues with this plan overall, and I haven't even hit half of them!

Planning Commission report with latest site plan (it's on the very last page, page 31):
http://provo.org/downloads/comdev/pc_staff_report_august_12_2009_-_item_1.pdf

Phases 1 & 2 is what they are planning to go ahead with right away (possibly phase 3 also). The orange lots are smaller than the Cobblestone homes across the street to the east. You have to zoom in, but you can see all the town homes along 1390 North and so on.

Upcoming Elections

2009-08-12T09:43:00.004-06:00

Apparently I took a summer hiatus! Now it's time to gear up for some up coming elections.

August 27, 2009 - election for county recorder and republican committees and legislative district officers (must be a central committee member to vote for this election). Candidates can be found here: http://utahcountygop.org/declared-candidates/

September 15, 2009 - primary election for non-partisan city races (mayor and citywide council member - also 2 districts). Candidates can be found here: http://provo.org/index.php?module=ibcms&fxn=elections.listofcandidates

November 3, 2009 - general election for non-partisan city races.

March 23, 2010 - precinct caucuses (Republican and Democratic parties)

Great Campaigning Info by LaVarr Webb

2009-06-09T20:52:00.000-06:00

Tuesday Buzz
Written by LaVarr Webb & Associates

Four Phases of a Utah Campaign

Utah has a unique election system that is more complicated, and probably more difficult, than most state election processes. Candidates in intra-party contested races have to run four very intense and different campaigns, each with distinctive strategies and requirements. By election day, candidates who make it to the end feel they’ve run an exhausting, harrowing, political gauntlet – and they have. But the process forces a candidate to focus on both grassroots and mass media, and prepares a candidate for service.

Here are the four phases of an intra-party contested campaign:

1. From starting date (right now!) to Neighborhood Caucuses (March 23, in 2010). Objective: Get supporters to the party caucuses to win state delegate slots. Mount statewide grassroots organizational and communications effort to win support of likely caucus attendees, focused on opinion leaders, previous delegates, political insiders/activists, and new potential supporters. Requires hundreds of individual and small-group meetings, phone calls, numerous direct mail pieces to keep the buzz going, build coalitions, win support of opinion leaders and interest groups; run mini-campaigns in each voting precinct in the state. Maintain sophisticated database of all contacts, who’s for, against, and neutral. Build “dashboard” to track progress and “see-at-a-glance” progress. Use e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

2. Caucus Night to State Convention. Objective: Now that delegates have been selected, pursue their support with all manner of direct and indirect contact. Lots of small-group meetings, lunches, breakfasts, etc., with direct mail, e-mail, and phone calls. Develop county convention strategies, and prepare for state convention presentation and strategy. Update database/dashboard with all relevant info so proper data and intelligence is available at all times.

3. Convention to Primary Election. Objective: Extend reach to all Republican or De mocratic voters with broader communications/paid media. Still strong focus on grassroots. Figure out winning number (50% plus 1); target, target, target to reach them.

4. Primary to General Election. Objective: Finally, fight the candidate of the opposing party. Again figure out winning number and how to reach it. Target to make it happen.

April 28th Neighborhood Meetings

2009-05-09T16:15:00.001-06:00

On April 28th we had 2 neighborhood meetings. One was the Lakeview Neighborhood and the second was the Neighborhood Watch. I have posted my notes about these meetings on my Google Group. If you are in my neighborhood, please sign up! There is a link on the sidebar. Look for My Lakeview Neighborhood Group.

2 Things that Bothered Me about the Convention

2009-05-08T14:22:00.005-06:00

So now that the convention is over and done with and all disputes have been washed under the table, there are a couple of things that I hope never happen again.

The first one is just a irritation of mine, because of my trying to change a delegate. I was told that there is no way that I could change a delegate. I was told that it wouldn't be fair, the candidates wouldn't get the new delegates information in time and because they needed time to get the delegates credentials, among other reasons.

So why is it that Marian had a special meeting the morning of to approve her own appointments? There was no notice for the candidates, except for the meeting right before, if it was even mentioned there. Why were their credentials previously made up? Why can't you play by the rules? Why is there always so much secrecy? This is the stuff that I don't like about our party.

Here is the other thing that really irritates me. In the race for vice chair, the majority of the delegates at large did not know that Don Larsen was going to withdraw. Many had already voted on their ballots before convention even started. Largely in part, because not everyone had a pen and were asking to borrow one.

Don had a number of the votes. In fact, it was a large enough percentage that Mark did not win by 51%. Lowell only lost by 10 votes. It is my guess that if those delegates would have voted correctly that the race may have gone the other way. So delegates not voting properly is one issue, but the party should have acknowledged what had happened with the votes and issued a re-vote, or second ballot, since you had to win by 51%. But that would be too much work and "our guy" won anyway so let's just leave it. There was already a 2nd ballot printed, that we all had in our packets.

Again, I realize that nothing can be done about these things it's just irritating that so many of these things happen. And to think, these are just the ones I know about, how many others are there that I don't?

It is my hope that the new leadership will run things differently. That they will be more open, honest, and fair in their dealings. That they won't hold themselves to different rules than everyone else.

Vote for Lisa Shepherd

2009-04-25T22:05:00.000-06:00

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

2009-04-25T21:59:00.006-06:00

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

2009-04-25T21:55:00.019-06:00

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

2009-04-19T23:07:00.005-06:00

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

2009-04-16T17:46:00.006-06:00

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

2009-04-16T17:13:00.003-06:00

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

2009-04-13T16:05:00.003-06:00

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

2009-04-13T12:24:00.007-06:00

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

2009-04-13T08:27:00.003-06:00

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

2009-04-13T07:36:00.011-06:00

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

2009-04-13T07:03:00.004-06:00

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!

2009-04-06T12:09:00.001-06:00

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

2009-04-06T11:51:00.012-06:00

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

Neighborhood Watch Organizing Meeting

2009-03-30T08:12:00.022-06:00

My notes from the Lakeview Neighborhood Watch Organizing Meeting, Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The area covered in the Lakeview Neighborhood Watch is basically the Lakeview Elementary School boundaries. The area is then divided into districts: North, Northwest, East, Central, Southwest, and South. I took some pictures of the map. They didn’t turn out well at all, but you can get the idea and see what area you are in. (see end of post for zoomed in pics)
Attendance: I counted over 70 people at the beginning of the meeting, but people kept coming in. If I had to guess, I would think 90-100 people were there.

Recent major crimes in our area: Drive-by shooting (drug related), Amelia Earhart was broken into yesterday (Monday, March 23) and several thousands of dollars of equipment were stolen (complete computer labs, etc.).

Officer Jensen spoke to us and answered some questions. He is the Police officer over our neighborhood. The following items are all things that he talked about.

He talked about the importance of our neighbor taking down a license plate number and calling in the drive-by shooting and offered a round of applause for him.

Provo City currently has 8 patrol cars out on the day shift, 9-10 on the swing shift, and 7-8 on graveyard.

Criminals look for the weakest, easy targets (people, cars, homes, etc.).

Make your home a hard target. Things you can do: light it up (keep your outside lights on all night), remove bushes that block the view from your front door, make sure your windows are locked, have solid core front doors, make sure you have a deadbolt lock that goes at least 1” into the wall, make sure your door hinges are screwed into a stud, and make sure you don’t have property left around your yard (bikes, especially ladders that can be used to access higher windows, etc.). Get an operating home security system.

Make your car a hard target by using the car alarm (red blinking light will stay on). Vehicles that are broken into usually have something valuable in sight.

Take inventory of all your property. This includes all the serial #’s for everything. Keep it in one book. Better yet, use a binder and include photos of your items, house, rooms, cars, etc. Pawn shops are required to enter data (serial #s). So if your item is stolen and you have a serial number the likelihood of finding your property goes way up.

Time of day most crimes happen – Thefts are late at night and assaults are random.

Crimes on the river trail are mostly graffiti and some lewdness up in the neighborhoods.

How bad is our area? It goes in spurts. We are a good community. We are in the middle, there are worse areas of town and there are better areas of town.

Other issues for our area: graffiti and street racing.

Graffiti should always be called in (801-85-CRIME). Graffiti is usually done by two types of people (taggers) – the artist type and gangs. The artsy ones will paint pictures usually to show off their work. Gangs are usually 3’x3’ sections tagging their gang name. These are usually done by youth in our own area. The best sign of knowing if your child is involved in this is to check their hands. Taggers always get paint on their hands. The other thing is to check their notebooks. Taggers often practice (doodle) their designs before they paint them.

Gangs in Provo include (there are several others): PBL, RJ, ABG, LBZ, STG. These gangs do not have borders and some have been around for 5-6 years. They do have colors for instance PBL is red and RJ blue. They don’t necessarily wear the colors all the time, but if they are going to the mall to hang out on a Friday night they most likely would.

Recently there was a gang fight at the mall (Provo Towne Center) involving 4 members from one gang and 6 from another. That night 1 was arrested. Officer Whatcott worked on this and 3 others were arrested later. The mall is not considered a known “hangout” for the gangs. It just happens to be a place that youth like to be.

Street Racing is also a problem for our area. If you see it happening please call it in. Most likely the officers won’t be able to do anything, but you might get lucky and have an officer already in the area. Also calling it in provides a record of the problem. Speed bumps are not something that Provo City will allow. All Provo City’s residential areas have a speed limit of 25 mph unless otherwise stated. We can put up signs on the side of the road. Officer Jensen has a bait car that he leaves out on the roads, this seems to help.

He said that we need to take care of our own neighborhoods. We need to keep our yards well kept. We need to obey city parking laws (cars must fit on your driveway). These help keep our neighborhoods safe and as a bonus, keeps our property values up. Parents need to watch their children. Crime in our area is mostly done by people in our area and not necessarily gang affiliated. Parents should check their kids’ backpacks, bedrooms, and sketch books. We need to obey noise ordinances. 7:am – 10:pm has a higher decibel allowance. If a noise is highly irritating or wakes you from a dead sleep call it in.

We will have a safer neighborhood if we will stand together vs standing alone. Adults taking walks at night is another thing we can do to deter crime. We need to know our neighbors and the vehicles that they drive. This will allow us to know of those vehicles that are out of place.

One thing that we can all work on is describing people and vehicles. Officer Jensen said that this is a learned skill and that we all should practice this (including our kids).

Provo City Police (when in doubt error on the side of calling it in)
Emergency 911
Non-Emergency 801-852-6210
Graffiti 801-85-CRIME or graffiti.provo.org

Clarifications:
Neighborhood Watch is what we are starting; it’s a foot-patrol sort of thing.
Mobile Watch is coming. We have to establish a Neighborhood Watch first. This is driving around the neighborhood to look for out of place things, etc.

McGruff House:
RaDeen Hatfield spoke about McGruff Houses. They were started in Salt Lake City in 1982. They are homes to provide temporary havens for children in dangerous situations. Adults at a McGruff house would be responsible to make phone calls to help the child either to their parents or the police. Questar also has McGruff Trucks. This is a self administered program. We decide how many houses. Participants are required to pass a background check (it’s really quick) and be trained. We would spend about $30 for signs. We would be required to have 3 sponsors. We would need one community sponsor (which could be our Neighborhood Watch), one school sponsor (which would be Lakeview Elementary School) and one Organization sponsor (which could be Lakeview Elementary PTA). McGruff houses are not bathroom stops, you wouldn’t give out Band-Aids or give children rides. Also an adult does not have to be home at all times. All people in the home must know and understand what a McGruff house is.

Lakeview Neighborhood Watch Organization (elections were held):
President: Lawrence Law
Vice Pres.: Chris Medina
Secretary: Deena Lane

The election cycle is every 2 years in September. Elections will be held this year, so those elected will be in office until September.

Each district had there own separate meeting where District leaders were named.
NW District:
Leader: Christina Dunn
Assistant: Herb Greer
Secretary: Jason Dunn

I do not know about the other districts. You would need to contact Lawrence Law to find out.

Where we go from here - The District leaders will meet and get some training. They will get back to their districts and get people to actually go on patrol. Then late next month (April) there is going to be a training for all those that would like to be a part of the neighborhood watch (patrol) and what your responsibilities will be, etc. So for now, I guess we wait until we hear more from our district leaders.

Thank you so much to everyone who has come together to make this possible and to those who will help in the future to make and keep our neighborhood great!!!

District Pictures (you can click on picture to enlarge it):

North District:

Northwest District:

Southwest District:

East District:

Central District:

South District:

I keep having problems everytime I send out a neighborhood email. Both my gmail and hotmail accounts don't like the amount of emails going in and out and I'm too cheap to upgrade to a paid subscription. So I am trying something new. I will send emails out via a google group. Please join if you like getting this type of neighborhood information. I set it to our neighborhood only and it might ask you what is your address. Sorry, I've not figured it all out yet!

Subscribe to My Lakeview Neighborhood

Email:

Visit this group

Our Local Legislators

2009-02-23T11:39:00.004-07:00

After the Central Committee Meeting, our local legislators came in and addressed us. I was really glad to have the opportunity to have all but 2 of the local legislators there for us to talk to. However, this was 3 hours long. I think in the future they should not allow public questions, and limit each person to 5 minutes. This would have cut the meeting in half, easily. Then after everyone has spoken, they could allow questions, because often times the question asked of one legislator was better answered by another.

Legislators were asked to tell about their opinions, what they are working on, and other happenings.

I wrote down two of the names wrong, so I'll just leave them as ?'s for now, maybe someone can let me know who they were.

Steve Sandstrom - Dist. 58
Government grew too fast and expanded budget too quickly.
We need to cut $600 million from the state budget.
A cut of 10-15% for each program is not the end of the world.
Tabled gay abortion bill in house.
Utah wants to opt out of the Real Id Act (requires a radio frequency chip to be embedded in your drivers license). 21 other states have already opted out.
Tell the federal government to stay out of our business we are a sovereign state.
10th Amendment rights are being trampled on. Our state should decide where we drill, not the federal government.
House Bill 357 - bill to carry loaded concealed weapons.
HJR8 - bill to protect secret ballots with unions.

Patrick Painter - Dist. 57
Deals a lot with land and water rights.
HB51 - bill that the state engineer can't forfeit your water rights.
Working on a resolution endorsing the use of coal - technology that can split hydrogen out of coal and use it to power turbines and much cleaner than other alternative fuels.
Leases in Carbon & Duchesne county to open drilling fields.

Michael Morley - Dist. 66
Need to once in awhile clean house and trim the fat (in regards to the state budget).
Against raising fees to increase the general fund.
Bill to do away with frivolous lawsuits from people who move next to farms and then sue over complaints that are agriculture related (smells, noises, etc.)

Francis Gibson - Dist. 65
He was appointed to the Judiciary Business & Labor and Education Committees.
Health Care is his field.
He said this important to do more listening and when we speak make it worth while.

Lorie Fowlke - Dist. 59
Dealing with land issues and blocks on land leases and sales.
HJR8 - this resolution does protect secret ballots (applies to unions) and preempts federal legislation.
Families are being attacked.
The way to win is to frame the argument the right way.
She recommends the 15% budget hit for education come from Social Security and Retirement.
School Districts should have the flexibility to make cuts where they want.

I wrote Daw & Dougall so I'm not sure which one spoke, but I think it was Daw - Dist. 60
There are perverse tax code violations.
Health Care is not market base.
We are not really in control of our doctors, benefits, etc.
We need to put individuals back in charge, not employers and insurance companies.
Would like employers to take insurance $ given to an internet portal and the employee picks which policy works best for them. If the employee changes jobs and both employers use this portal, the employee's insurance won't have to change.
If there is excess money then it could go in a health savings account.
Birth place of health savings accounts is Missouri.
The biggest detractors to this system is large insurance companies.

???-
Bonding is being done for a science building at UVU and something out by Thanksgiving Point.
Rates and constructions costs are at a all time low.
*comment - we don't need anymore debt
`response - bonding is a process we go through in this state. We need to bond to keep our state moving forward.

Becky Lockhart - Dist. 64
Revenue is down $329 million.
Working on Health Care Reform, called Mandate Light. You could get a policy that doesn't offer everything, so your premium can come down. You could pick and choose whatever coverage you want.
Common Ground Initiative
It takes 38 votes in the house and 15 in the Senate to get anything done.
*comment - Energy Solutions center offers an economic solution.
`response - mention something about business subsidizing government, not the other way around.
*comment - Increase cigarette tax
`response - Senate tabled bill in their committee to do this. Other revenue enhancements (taxes) are gas, motor vehicle, food, liquor, and cigarettes. Sin taxes fund programs and we aren't being honest when we earmark that money.
*comment - thoughts on former speaker Curtis' rapid jump to lobbyist.
`response - What he did is not illegal. There is currently a Revolving Door Bill, that is passed states that a legislator cannot be a contracted lobbyist for one year after leaving office. Most legislators who become lobbyists aren't very successful.

Keith Grover - Dist. 61
Common Ground Initiative
Encourages everyone to email and contact their legislators.
SB48 - UEA and unions don't want this to pass. It would allow professionals (such as auto mechanics) to teach in public schools without a teaching certification or card.
Initiative that would allow Police to intervene in activity that might be perceived as wrong (such as gang related things). Before they could only intervene if someone was actually breaking the law.

Kenneth Sumsion - Dist. 56
Abortion Litigation Trustfund Bill
North Dakota passed a bill saying life begins at conception.
Figg Engineering is the company that would build the toll bridge across Utah Lake from 8th North in Orem to Pelican Point. The study came back that there would be no wetland impact. Working on getting Wild Life Division lease.
Transparency needs to be greater in all levels of government: school, city, state, etc. (mostly referring to financial data). State website should have ledgers of all state programs, entities, etc.
Bureaucrats say citizens don't care about that info.
Sex offenders should have to register with their local city policy not just the state corrections.
If a program doesn't protect, feed or educate, the whole program needs to go.
Downturns make America great.
Camp Williams Veteran Cemetery is in disarray. We shouldn't use government funds to take care of it, we should involve our communities.
*comment - Gramma Request Bill
`response - this is there to protect certain identities... Dougall response - Record should be public, but in some instances they need to be kept from the public... Bramble response - the issue is if an attorney can use the Gramma Report as discovery, can you get a fair trial.
*comment - who decides what records are made public?
`response - the State Advisory Board
*comment - The DNA of a baby is different than it's mothers (making it a separate human being).
`response - Jailed for 2 murders if you kill a pregnant woman.

Craig Frank - Dist. 57
When contacting a legislator, please put your name and precinct # in the subject line.
Visit le.utah.gov and plan to spend awhile.
Craigs website - underthedome.org
one of his precinct chair's blog - hollyonthehill.wordpress.com
Looking for Sin Tax - tax cold caffeine!
Time to stop the madness.
Marriage License increase fee of $10 was killed because it didn't correlate with abuse in and out of the home, which is what they wanted to earmark the money for.
People who own land north of Utah Lake are worried about eminent domain.

??? -
Revenues are declining, have to be careful with it.
Common Ground Iniative
DUI Bill
Choose Life license plate - $ goes to agencies that promote adoption.
HB272 - Highway & Byway Issues, when getting federal money there are always strings attached.

Margaret Dayton - #15
Controlling deer population.
Forestry Fire and Lands - people will now be responsible if a forest fire is started by their abandoned fire.
Working on saving concurrent enrollment - give $19 million in scholarships.
*comment SB91 - protecting cell phones
`response - it passed the Senate it is still in the house.

David Hinkins - #27
Questar pipeline from Green River to Castle Valley to Utah County
Westridge Mine shutdown and various other companies closing does affect us.
85% of power bill is the cost of the fuel.
$16 million power bill in Castle County is mostly from the gas companies.

Curt Bramble - #16
If physician performs an illegal abortion it's a 2nd degree felony from Roe v. Wade and Danforth.
Criminal restitution has statue of limitations, a new bill would eliminate it. If you have a monetary amount you have to pay you will have to pay it back instead of just waiting out the time and not paying.
Utah's capital punishment, requiring Utah's Supreme Court to follow state statutes.
Energy Solutions only accepts low level A waste (gloves, clothing, etc.). 99% of the waste comes from out of state. 5% of their capacity has been set aside to bring in waste from foreign countries. Right now a cubic foot is $20 domestically. However, they can charge $200-400 for the same amount internationally. Low level waste comes from many things, cell phones, exit signs, x-rays, etc. Low level radio active waste is not nuclear waste. A company in Utah that does medical sterilization brings in more radio active waste than the Energy Solutions Clive facility ever would. Over time radio active waste breaks down (half life of several 100 years). The facility will be filled with low level waste, it's just a matter of it we will accept it from overseas. Waste will come wither we want it or not. Question is, do we want the money?
Autism - impose mandate on health insurance companies.
Cigarette tax if too high will promote smuggling. Right now there are earmarks so they oppose.

Mark Madsen - #13
Reaction to cut funds is always to cut services.
65% of Education budget must be used in the classrooms.
If cigarettes and alcohol are drugs then our state's biggest drug dealer is the state, since they control all alcohol sales.
Ludicrous to think that legislators stand to gain.
*comment SR1 - work program is blatant support of illegal immigration.
`response - Senate votes 2 times and then it can go through on the 3rd vote. There are misconceptions on how Social Security and FICA work. ... Bramble response - Federal Government failed on illegal emigration. The federal government will not enforce the law. If states are left to enforce it the federal government needs to get out of the way. I voted for it to make a statement to Washington.
*comment - question about ethics reform

Central Committee Meeting - actual business

2009-02-23T11:32:00.002-07:00

There were lots of items told to us, answers to peoples questions:

Define a Quorum - 40 precinct chairs and vice chairs.
How many current members? 238 current precinct chairs and vice chairs.
How many total delegates? 1200
We need to be informed on Parliamentary Procedure and Robert's Rules.

We discussed one of 3 proposed amendments. It was edits and additions to Bylaw 9 - Committee Procedures.

Those present wished to have another meeting to discuss the other 2 amendment proposals. A meeting will be scheduled in March.

The Utah County Convention is April 25 at Canyon View Jr. High.

Central Committee Meeting - Jason Chaffetz

2009-02-23T11:03:00.002-07:00

I have to say, I have been so excited to have Jason Chaffetz in Washington D.C. He is open and honest and seems to live what he preaches (see CNN's Freshman Year). He is making himself known and I think all the publicity is working for him. Thanks for your service.

He had the opportunity to address us at the beginning of our meeting.

He completely opposed and voted against Obama's latest economic stimulus bill, the single biggest debt that our county has ever had, 787 BILLION DOLLARS. He is not happy with the lie that any bill that goes through congress will see the light of day, before it is voted upon. This was a promise made by Pres. Obama, stating that any bill would be posted online, for the world to view before it would be voted on. In fact, if you go to PolitiFact (I mentioned them in a previous post, they have a list of all the promises made by Obama and are keeping track) they said that he broke promise No. 234: Allow five days of public comment before signing bills.

This bill was over 1000 pages long. No congressman was able to read the whole bill, because by the time they were given it, to the time it was voted on, no one could have possibly read the whole thing. It was less than 12 hours. Not to mention, that it was difficult to read, it was by no means a polished copy, it was riddled with hand written notes, edits, etc. On some instances, it was hard to deceipher what exactly was being talked about. This bill is full of pork projects (roads and bridges, $191 million in restitution to filipinos for autrocities during WW2, $650 million for coupons for transition to digital TV, and so on). The very thing that the Democrats accused the Republicans of doing (if you noticed the vote all the house republicans voted against this bill).

Jason also mentioned his disappointment that as one of Obamas first acts as President he overturned the Mexico City Policy, that stated that money sent to other countries could not be used for abortions, now they can.

Jason is one of 54 freshman congressmen. He was among 18 who went to the Pentagon to meet with the Sec. of Defense, who said the thing that keeps him up at night is the Chinese with 1 trillion dollars in treasury notes that he can't do anything about.

If you are ever in Washington D.C. Jason would love to have you stop by to see him.

http://chaffetz.house.gov/

Central Committee Meeting

2009-02-23T10:43:00.002-07:00

On Saturday, we had the Utah County Republican party Central Committee Meeting.

As part of being elected as a precinct chair or vice chair, it is your responsibility to go to these meetings, there are 4 a year. At this meeting, is where the party business takes place. Robert's Rules of Order are set in place.

In my short time as chair and vice chair I have attended a few of these meetings. It has been my observation that not much ever gets done. They always schedule something right after this meeting so that they can't go over time. Which in theory is a nice thing, except for that in one short hour you can only get to one agenda item. Normally there are many items, but they just table them (sweep them under the carpet), usually never to be heard of again. Those that govern these meetings always get what they want. If they don't want a motion to come before the quorum (have to have 40 precinct chairs & vice chairs present) to vote on, those items will be placed last on the agenda, an agenda which half the time is never presented, so we have no idea what is going on.

It's a very frustrating process and I am sure it could be handled much better. I guess they also have a problem of notifying people of these meetings. They send out a postcard to inform you. However, I know from experience that these are not always sent out. Luckily, I have a Legislative Chair, who gladly keeps us informed. Also, I don't understand why they don't email us. They made such a big deal about getting our email address and then an even bigger deal about letting us use them, but they worked it out and were sending out tons of messages right before the elections. So why not use that avenue in addition to sending out postcards. Also a large percentage of these people are on facebook, so why not send out an invite to the event, whenever there is one? I know they already have a group set up.

I know these things don't have much merit to anyone, but those who have to go to these meetings, but I figure the more information there is about how things are going, the better the understanding and maybe someone who knows more, can help come up with a solution.

Neighborhood Meeting

2009-02-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

The Lakeview North Neighborhood will hold a meeting this Thursday, February 12 at 6:00 p.m.
Location: Lakeview Elementary School 2899 W 1390 N Provo

Neighborhood Meetings are for all adults living in the area.

Items on the agenda include a safety update, a Block Grant proposal that will create sidewalk near the school, a community development update with some advance notice of the Master Plan for the Lakeview area, a transportation update, and discussion of a possible future "special service district" along Geneva Road, also a legislative update by Keith Grover (our state representative).

We need your input and your support.

Any questions, call Lakeview North Neighborhood Chair, Don Allphin @ 375-9104

Fight FOCA

2009-01-28T08:48:00.005-07:00

This was sent to me:

{Hey everyone, it only took me just a minute to follow the link and sign this. If you haven't read about the Freedom of Choice Act before, it is worth looking into.

Dear Family and Friends,
As most of you know, Obama made a public announcement that he is going to sign the Freedom Of Choice Act, which will allow all types of abortions including partial birth abortions, also allowing babies who are born alive due to botched late term abortions, to be set aside without any medical care or nourishment and left to die (most of these babies have no medical problems and most of the ones that do, have things like cleft palates, club feet, things that are correctable).

This Bill could also make it mandatory for doctors and nurses to perform this murderous act even if they do not want to do so. This act also allows under age teens to have an abortion, even partial birth abortions, without parental consent.

Catholic Bishops have pleaded with Obama not to go ahead with this horrible murder of innocent babies. They have also told Obama that if he persists in signing this Bill which would require even Catholic Hospitals to perform these acts of murder, they will have no choice but to close all Catholic Hospitals. Please let us join with these courageous Bishops who will go to any length to change Obama's mind.

Please take a minute to sign this statement and let our voices be heard. This is a great, informative website. You can click on the video of Obama's speech to the Planned Parenthood group where he promised that the first thing he would do if elected President would be to sign the Freedom Of Choice Act.

Please let your family and friends know about this Bill and ask them to also sign this petition. Please click on the web site below. It will take less than a minute of your time, doesn't cost anything and God will bless you for standing up for Him and His commandment, "Thou shalt not kill."

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing" Click on the link below to sign petition:
http://www.fightfoca.com/}

I'm not sure about the Catholic hospitals closing, but Obama did say that he would sign this ACT. I'm sure, to make a big difference, the Fight FOCA site is going to need more signatures. They currently only have 596,921.

Here's the info about it from PolitiFact -

Barack Obama Campaign Promise No. 501:

Sign the Freedom of Choice Act

"Throughout my career, I've been a consistent and strong supporter of reproductive justice, and have consistently had a 100% pro-choice rating with Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America. ... And I will continue to defend this right by passing the Freedom of Choice Act as president."

Sources: Obama Statement on the 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

Provo Westside Connector EIS Project

2009-01-28T08:37:00.001-07:00

ALTERNATIVES SELECTED FOR DETAILED ANALYSIS

The Provo Westside Connector EIS project team is conducting a detailed analysis of two alternatives being studied in the EIS, in addition to a “no build” alternative. The project team is currently evaluating these alternatives to determine the impacts of each on the natural and built environment.

The project website has updated information regarding the two alternatives selected for detailed analysis in the EIS. I invite you to visit our project website (www.provowestsideconnector.com) and encourage your neighbors and friends to learn more about this study.

We welcome any comments or questions you may have regarding these alternatives at any time throughout the EIS process.

Thanks!

Bethany M. Hyatt

Public Involvement Coordinator

Before You Pass It On

2009-01-28T08:27:00.002-07:00

There are a lot of emails floating around with false information about many things political. Before you pass them on, please check the references made in them (person's name, place of employment, etc.). I have found that nearly all the emails I am sent with statistics are untrue. A simple google search will usually let you know! Often times you can know, if it's not true, if there are spelling mistakes. Most professionals (usually who these emails are attributed to) use spell check.
:)

Message from National Committeeman Bruce Hough‏

2009-01-28T07:48:00.003-07:00

Dear Friends,

As you may be aware the party is electing a new national chairman; and more specifically your national committeeman, committeewoman, and chairman, are casting three of the 168 votes that will be cast. Please go to my blog at www.brucehough.blogspot.com for information on all the candidates and on my recent piece about ethics and transparency in this election. I welcome your views and input.

Best regards,

Bruce R. Hough
Utah, National Committeeman

The Official Utah 2008 Election Results

2009-01-28T07:31:00.002-07:00

Presidential:
62.3% McCain
34.7% Obama
0.9% Nader
0.7% Barr
0.6% Other

Senate:
NO RACE

Gubernatorial:
77.7% Huntsman
19.7% Springmeyer
2.6% Other

House District 01:
65% Bishop
30.4% Bowen

House District 02:
63.3% Matheson
34.6% Dew

House District 03:
65.8% Chaffetz
28.1% Spencer

UTAH COUNTY:
78% McCain
18.4% Obama
0.8% Barr
0.7% Nader
0.9% Other

The Obameter

2009-01-28T07:27:00.004-07:00

The St. Petersburg Times' PolitiFact has established a way of tracking Obama's promises.

"PolitiFact has compiled about 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on our Obameter. We rate their status as No Action, In the Works or Stalled. Once we find action is completed, we rate them Promise Kept, Compromise or Promise Broken."

Obameter can be found at: http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

Buy American

2009-01-12T07:57:00.002-07:00

Help to make our American Economy Strong.

Buy American made products.

Puppets

2009-01-12T07:51:00.004-07:00

Some political fun.
Paper puppets of the Politicians from last years election.

http://folduscandidate.com/

Vacated Senate Seats

2008-11-04T23:30:00.002-07:00

Since both Barack Obama and Joe Biden are U.S. Senators (Illinois and Delaware) you might wonder what will happen to their Senate seats, especially with Biden, he was running for both the senate and vice president. He won both races. He will continue to be the senator until he becomes the vice president in January.

Come January, the governors of those states will appoint a person to fill that seat. This is the policy whenever a senate seat is vacated. The governors of both those states are Democrat.

Election Results

2008-11-04T21:57:00.001-07:00

Local Election Results
http://electionresults.utah.gov/xmlData/main.html

History is Made

2008-11-04T21:34:00.003-07:00

Over an hour ago the National Election Broadcasts declared Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. I have to admit that this has me down. However, history has definitely been made. I hope that he can become the great leader that our country needs.

Poll Watcher

2008-11-04T21:27:00.004-07:00

Tonight Lisa Shepherd & I got to be poll watchers. I could see how in close local elections this would be a helpful thing, but tonight there wasn't much going on. A poll watcher gets to look at the books of the people who have voted and can call people and tell them to come and vote.
We looked over some of the voting books, and I have to say that I am so proud of our precinct. I have no idea what the percentage of voters were, but it's got to be high. I couldn't believe how many people voted. Even the bad weather couldn't keep us down. Good Job Everyone!!!
On the news last night they said that 340,000 Utahan's voted early. I think that this made a huge difference in wait time at our location. I was told by the election workers that people were lined up by 6:30 a.m. That the first hour was a little hectic, the lines were long, etc. However, this quickly died down and they were able to get people in and out fairly quickly. When we showed up to poll watch there wasn't a line at all. People were able to come right on in, sign the book and Vote.

GO VOTE!

2008-10-31T10:03:00.001-06:00

"It is imperative that American Citizen's become alerted and informed regarding the threats to our welfare, happiness, and freedom. No American is worthy of citizenship in this great land who refuses to take an active interest in these great matters. Stand up for freedom. No matter what the cost. It can help to save your soul. And maybe your country. May God give us the wisdom to recognize the dangers of complacency, the threat to our freedom, and the strength to meet this danger courageously."

--President Ezra Taft Benson

Obama on Freedom of Choice Act

2008-10-31T10:00:00.000-06:00

Obama said that one of the first things he will do as president is Sign the Freedom of Choice Act (which would remove all restriction on Abortion). He believes when he is president that he will be able to appoint at least one Supreme Court Justice, which will likely overturn Roe Vs. Wade, allowing abortions at anytime.

Here's a video link about it:
http://americaschoicenow.com/

Obama's 30 minute ad

2008-10-29T22:35:00.002-06:00

Here's an article about the ad:

Obama's prime-time ad skips over budget realities
By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer – Wed Oct 29, 9:18 pm ET

Quotes from the article:

Obama's assertion that "I've offered spending cuts above and beyond" the expense of his promises is accepted only by his partisans. His vow to save money by "eliminating programs that don't work" masks his failure throughout the campaign to specify what those programs are — beyond the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

THE FACTS: His plan does not lower premiums by $2,500, or any set amount. Obama hopes that by spending $50 billion over five years on electronic medical records and by improving access to proven disease management programs, among other steps, consumers will end up saving money. He uses an optimistic analysis to suggest cost reductions in national health care spending could amount to the equivalent of $2,500 for a family of four. Many economists are skeptical those savings can be achieved, but even if they are, it's not a certainty that every dollar would be passed on to consumers in the form of lower premiums.

THE FACTS: His proposals — the tax cuts, the low-cost loans, the $15 billion a year he promises for alternative energy, and more — cost money, and the country could be facing a record $1 trillion deficit next year. Indeed, Obama recently acknowledged — although not in his commercial — that: "The next president will have to scale back his agenda and some of his proposals."

Republican Party Document Review Committee

2008-10-29T07:51:00.003-06:00

Message from our Legislative District 61 Chair:

It is my belief that the work of the party also consists of support of our party documents. Many individuals have expressed concern over different parts of the bylaws.

Our district is a pro-active district full top notch citizens. Some of those extremely smart people also happen of political activists. We would like to form a committee of interested persons to review the Party Documents together. If you have not been contacted and would like to be involved, please email me.

We welcome all views and opinions. This will be a working committee hopefully with individuals who will engage in conversation and study of our documents to stir the best ideas.

This committee will meet just days after the elections.

Vote for John McCain

2008-10-27T13:05:00.008-06:00

I am not a great writer. I am not articulate and charismatic. I am not an expert on economics and foreign policy. I am not privy to U.S. Intelligence information. I am not a war veteran. However, I am an American. I love my country and I want us to continue to do our part to save our freedoms and build this great nation up.

I am worried about this upcoming presidential election. In our current economic tailspin, I am even more saddened that Mitt Romney didn’t get the Republican nomination. This is the area of his expertise, however, I will move on…

I do not like either of the 2 main gentlemen running for the office of President of the United States. I really do not like McCain. He bullied his way to where he is. I think he’s been part of the government problem, but I’ll admit, that I think that about anyone who has been in politics over 10 years. It’s been a hard road for me to think that I will vote for him, which I will.

The reason for writing this is more to express my thoughts about the other candidate. I have had so many people ask what I thought about all this, so I decided to throw it out there. There is indeed something about Barack Hussein Obama. He is very articulate and charismatic. It would seem that his eloquent oratory has truly taken our nation by storm.

I have many family members and friends that are voting for Barack. Some truly align themselves with his extremely liberal beliefs (He was voted the most liberal Senator of 2007). Some are voting for him only because they refuse to vote for McCain. Some are claiming they are voting for him because McCain is too liberal (I really don’t understand this one). There are others, who freely admit, that they want to be able to say that they voted for the first African American President. Then there are those who are voting for him because he looks “presidential,” even his wife, Michelle, wanted him to look more presidential and made him quit smoking in public!

I feel that unless you align yourselves with his beliefs and truly believe that he will be the best candidate to act according to your own morals and desires then voting for him otherwise is extremely irresponsible. Voting is a freedom that we are fortunate enough to have. We should be responsible. Learn about the issues and the candidates, and no, getting all your information from your TV does not count!

After McCain gained the Republican Nomination, the only reason I could find to vote for him is because our next president will indeed appoint Supreme Court Judges. This will make a huge impact on our rights and liberties. I want to insure that the Judges have a moral compass more aligned with my beliefs. I am pro-life. I don’t like guns, but think that we should have the choice to own them if we choose to. I threw that last line in there because very recently (June 2008) there was a case that could of changed our 2nd amendment had it of passed and the final vote was only one vote shy of passing (5-4 decision). This is a scary thought to me that our constitutional rights and freedoms could so easily be changed by one person, one Supreme Court Judge.

Besides the worry of whom Barack Obama might put in as Supreme Court Judges, I have come up with many reasons or red flags that have me worried about having him as our next President. I will go through these in no particular order. He really has done some great things and he has an amazing family tree (I love family history, so I really can appreciate this). I don’t wish to attack any of those things and the only reason I bring up certain things is to point out the inconsistencies in what he said and what is documented as actually happening. I’m sure that I have also made mistakes in my writing, since my facts are only as good as the information received from the research I have done. The point I’d like to make it that there just seem to be an awful lot of things, too many of them if you ask me.

It’s always a red flag when the media loves a politician, and they sure do love Barrack!
It’s a red flag when the possible future leader of the free world won’t put his hand on his heart and salute the flag. (A picture of this was published in Time magazine on September 16, 2007 at Indianola, Iowa where six Democratic presidential candidates appeared. It was Iowa Senator Tom Harkin's annual "meat and greet." Pictured are: Senator Barack Obama, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Senator Hillary Clinton, and Senator Harkin's wife, Ruth. Not seen in the picture are three other candidates who were standing out of view on the right side of the platform, Senator Chris Dodd, Senator John Edwards, Senator Joe Biden.) Barracks response: “My grandfather taught me how to say the Pledge of Allegiance when I was 2,” Obama said, his annoyance obvious. “During the Pledge of Allegiance you put your hand over your heart. During the national anthem you sing.” I am told he did not sing the anthem either, besides does he not watch the Olympics? Even all the athletes know to put their hand on their hearts. They are proud to honor their country.
I’m not sure that Mr. Obama is proud to be an American. The whole not saluting the flag. He has returned to wearing a flag pin on his lapel, but had refused to for some time during his campaign. He is photographed reading the book THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD, a book about the demise of America. At least I know that John McCain loves his country. He has fought for it and nearly died for it.
He wants a nationalized Health Care System. This would be wonderful. I like the idea, in theory. The reality is that the government screws up every organization they take over. It will cost the tax payers an absurd amount of money to fund this, which is the reason I brought this up, because Barack claims this won't raise taxes. Everyone I’ve talked to that has had to have medical stuff done in Canada and Great Britain say that it’s a mess. Things you could go to your pediatrician for on the same day you call in, would take about 2 months in those countries. How do you think millions of people’s health care was going to be paid for?
The Democrats keep saying there were surpluses when Bush took office. I don’t understand how we can have a national debt with surpluses. Obama said in the 2nd debate, “But I think it's important just to remember a little bit of history. When George Bush came into office, we had surpluses. And now we have half-a-trillion-dollar deficit annually. When George Bush came into office, our debt -- national debt was around $5 trillion. It's now over $10 trillion. We've almost doubled it. And so while it's true that nobody's completely innocent here, we have had over the last eight years the biggest increases in deficit spending and national debt in our history.” Funny how it’s congress that approves the spending.
Barack Obama told a Selma audience that the 1965 March on Selma resulted in his conception. However he was born in 1961.
While addressing civil rights activists Sen. Barack Obama traced his “very existence” to the generosity of the Kennedy family during JFK’s administration, which he said paid for his Kenyan father to travel to America on a student scholarship and thus meet his Kansan mother. However, Contrary to Obama’s claims, the Kennedy family did not provide the funding for a September 1959 airlift of 81 Kenyan students to the United States that included Obama’s father. According to historical records and interviews with participants, the Kennedys were first approached for support for the program nearly a year later, in July 1960. The family responded with a $100,000 donation, most of which went to pay for a second airlift in September 1960. This was also before Kennedy took the oath of office.
Barack didn’t even think that he should run for president (at the time Jimmy Carter also agreed with him), “I am a believer in knowing what you're doing when you apply for a job. And, I think that if I were to seriously consider running on a national ticket I would essentially have to start now before having served a day in the Senate. Now, there are some people who may be comfortable doing that, but I'm not one of those people." After only one year in the US Senate he announced his candidacy.
His church, the one that he went to every week for 20 years up until several months ago, preaches hatred against Christians and Jews (no matter their color), and white America. They also didn’t do anything to feed the hungry children in their own city. It’s a great thing about living in America, we have freedom of religion. But it’s hard for me to believe that after 20 years some of the preaching’s haven’t sunk in.
Barack’s half brother, Malik Abongo “Roy” Obama wanted a Muslim burial for his father at the time of his death, as Obama himself states in his book "Dreams From My Father". Obama admits that Abongo felt that the black man must "liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European culture." He embraced Islam and changed his lifestyle to shun pork, and drinking and other western trappings. He sees the west as a corrupting force.
Barack said that his father was a goat herder and a proud freedom fighter. His father was a privileged, well educated youth who went on to be a part of one of the most corrupt and violent governments Kenya has ever had.
Barack says that his family has strong ties to African Freedom. His cousin Raila Odinga has created mass violence in attempting to overturn a legitimate election in 2007, in Kenya. It is the first widespread violence in decades. When Odinga lost the elections, his followers have burned Christians' homes and then burned men, women and children alive in a Christian church where they took shelter. The current government is pro-American but Odinga wants to overthrow it and establish Muslim Sharia law. Obama SUPPORTED his cousin before the election process here started. Brarack’s half-brother, Abongo Obama, is Odinga's follower. Barack interrupted his New Hampshire campaigning to speak to Odinga on the phone.
Barack says that his grandmother has always been a Christian, but in her own interviews she has stated that she does her daily Salat prayers at 5:a.m.
Barack’s family has an uncommon amount of associations with radical people. People like Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and Bernadette Dohrn. Also associations with men like Tony Rezko. Maybe these really can all be explained away, but it’s just another red flag.
Barack Hussein Obama says that his name is African Swahili and that he is half black. His name is actually Arabic and 'Baraka' (from which Barack came) means 'blessed'. Hussein and Obama are also Arabic. Barack Hussein Obama is 50% Caucasian from his mother's side and 43.75% Arabic and 6.25% African Negro from his father's side. While Barack Hussein Obama's father was from Kenya, his father's family was mainly Arabs. Barack Hussein Obama's father was 12.5% African Negro and 87.5% Arab (his father's birth certificate states he's Arab).
Barack said that he never practiced Islam, but he practiced it daily at school in Indonesia, where he was registered as a Muslim. In his book, he states that he got in trouble in Koranic Studies for making faces. Kristoff from the New York Times said that in February 2007: Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated; Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as 'one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.'
Barack once stated that because he lived in Indonesia that he had more foreign experience. He lived there from the ages of 6 to 10 and couldn’t even speak the language.
Barack says that he doesn’t take PAC money or have lobbyists. He actually took a lot of PAC money and reports show that he has over 50 lobbyists.
Barack tends to vote “present” a lot (over 130 times). We need someone who will make a decision, not coward behind a present vote or try to cry that you mis-voted when you do vote against what you had told your constituents.
Barack claims that he has always been against Iraq. First of all he wasn’t in office to vote against it and since he has been in office he has voted to fund it every time.
Barack claims that without him there would be no Ethics Bill and that it was hard to pass. In reality he did not write or introduce the bill and it only took 14 days, from start to finish, to pass the bill.
Barack claims that he alone took on the asbestos Altgeld Gardens. What he doesn’t mention is that he was one person in a large group of people that helped to remedy Altgeld Gardens.
Barack said that his Economics Bill would help America, but it lost 99-0, he even voted against his own bill.
Barack claims that no one on his campaign contacted Canada about NAFTA, but the Canadian Government issued the names and a memo of the conversation that his campaign had with them.
Barack claims that he passed over 900 bills in the Illinois State Senate. He actually passed 26, most of which were created by a fellow Senator and given to Barack to assist in a future bid for higher office.
Barack claims that he is tough on terrorism, but he missed the Iran Resolution vote and his friend, Ali Abunimah, supports the destruction of Israel.
In the last 6 months 292 people were murdered in Chicago, 221 were killed in Iraq. Senators Barack Obama & Dick Durbin, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Gov. Rod Blogojevich, House leader Mike Madigan, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, and Mayor Richard Daley are the leadership in Illinois, all are Democrats, and they are all blaming each other for this since there are no Republicans.
The Illinois State pension fund is $44 Billion in debt (worst in the country), Cook County (Chicago) sales tax is 10.25% (highest in country), and the Chicago school system one of the worst in country. I just worry about how Barack might try to fix Washington when the state he represents is such a mess.
In the October 7, 2008 debate Obama said, “Well, we may not always have national security issues at stake, but we have moral issues at stake. If we could have intervened effectively in the Holocaust, who among us would say that we had a moral obligation not to go in? If we could've stopped Rwanda, surely, if we had the ability, that would be something that we would have to strongly consider and act. So when genocide is happening, when ethnic cleansing is happening somewhere around the world and we stand idly by, that diminishes us. And so I do believe that we have to consider it as part of our interests, our national interests, in intervening where possible. But understand that there's a lot of cruelty around the world. We're not going to be able to be everywhere all the time. That's why it's so important for us to be able to work in concert with our allies. Let's take the example of Darfur just for a moment. Right now there's a peacekeeping force that has been set up and we have African Union troops in Darfur to stop a genocide that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. We could be providing logistical support, setting up a no-fly zone at relatively little cost to us, but we can only do it if we can help mobilize the international community and lead. And that's what I intend to do when I'm president.” No matter our reasons for going into Afghanistan and Iraq doesn’t he realize that this is exactly what we are doing for the citizens of these countries? He is telling Bush that he is bad for doing the same things he claims that he will do.
Another big red flag is that he seems to want to disarm America. He said, “As president, I will end misguided defense policies and stand with caucus priorities in fighting special interests in Washington. First, I’ll stop spending 9 billion dollars a month in Iraq. I am the only major candidate that opposed this war from the beginning and as president I will end it. Second, I will cut tens of billions of dollars of wasteful spending. I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. I will not weaponize space. I will slow our development in future combat systems and I will institute an independent defense priorities board to ensure that defense review is not used to justify unnecessary spending. Third, I will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons. To seek that goal I will not develop new nuclear weapons. I will seek a global ban on the production of missile material and I will negotiate with Russia to take our ICBM’s off air-trigger alert and to achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals. You know where I stand. I’ve fought for open, ethical and economical government my entire public life. I don’t switch positions or make promises that can’t be kept. I don’t posture on the defense policy. I don’t take money from federal lobbyists for powerful defense contractors. As president, my soul priority for defense spending will be protecting the American people.” Does he think the most powerful nation in the world has no enemies? He just told the whole world his military strategy. He has no idea how to be Commander In Chief. Even I know that when in battle you don’t let the enemy know what your next plan of attack is. I value my freedom and am so thankful to all those who serve our country and fight the battles in other countries to keep us safe. It reminds me of the words to a song that my kids always sing at their patriotic programs… “Freedom isn’t free. You have to pay the price. You have to sacrifice for you Liberty.” There is much to be said about the war in Iraq. I hate war. I always wish that there was another realistic option. I wish that people would make better choices and lead their nations to greatness, to serve their people, not dictate over them. What a better world this would be if all leaders valued every soul and allowed and encouraged them to be and do better. To me it doesn’t matter the cause… the reason… the he said… the you said… they voted… I didn’t… crap. We are at war with terrorists (somebody who uses violence, especially bombing, kidnapping, and assassination, to intimidate others, often for political purposes) of all kinds. Terrorists attacked us on our own soil and we had weapons. There are terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. They will be fighting us on American soil if we disarm America.

Sorry this is so long… I’ll jump down now!

Candidates, Issues & Judges

2008-10-27T12:05:00.005-06:00

Names in Red are the REPUBLICAN candidates. I also stated my opinion on voting for the issues and judges! Enjoy!

We will be voting on the following:

President of the United States of America & Vice President running mate:

John McCain – Sarah Palin
Barack Obama – Joe Biden
Charles Baldwin – Darrel Castle
Bob Barr – Wayne Root
Gloria La Riva – Eugene Puryear
Ralph Nader – Matt Gonzalez
Cynthia McKinney – Rosa Clemente

U.S. Congressional District 3

Jason Chaffetz
Jim Noorlander
Bennion Spencer

Utah State Governor & Lieutenant Governor

Jon Huntsman, Jr. - Gary Herbert
Dell Schanze - Joey Hobbs
Bob Springmeyer - Josie Valdez

Utah Attorney General

Mark Shurtleff
Jean Welch Hill
W. Andrew McCullough

Utah State Auditor

Auston Johnson III
Clare Collard
Richard Proctor
Mike Stoddard

Utah State Treasurer

Richard Ellis
Dick Clark

Utah State Senate District 13

Mark Madsen
Kenneth Peay

Utah State House of Representatives District 61

Keith Grover
Deon Turley

Utah State School Board District 13

Kyle Bateman ("School board member, Provo Freedom Academy; commissioner, Utah County Planning Commission; 23 years active in business administration; service on numerous nonprofit and for-profit boards.")
C. Mark Openshaw ("I have four children in the public school system, my wife is the PTA president - I, my family, and our future is invested in the system.")

VOTE - does someone want to weigh in? I'm leaning toward Openshaw.

Constitutional Amendment A – amends provisions relating to the filling of a vacancy in the office of Governor and Lieutenant Governor, the process for determining the disability of those offices and the exercise of powers when temporarily disabled.
VOTE YES

Constitutional Amendment B – amends provisions relating to a permanent state trust fund. It expands the sources of money that can be placed in the trust fund.
VOTE YES

Constitutional Amendment C – moves the beginning date of the annual general session of the Legislature to start one week later, instead of starting on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and ending one week and one day (extra day because of Presidents Day) later than the constitution already states.
VOTE YES

Constitutional Amendment D – modifies the provision requiring the Legislature to divide the state into congressional, legislative, and other districts, to be no later than the annual general session.
VOTE YES

Constitutional Amendment E – provides an exception to the general rule that would allow the State to invest in stocks and bonds with money from the State School Fund or with money from certain land granted to the state by the federal government.
VOTE – would someone like to weigh in on this?

JUDGES – we are voting whether to retain the judge for another term. Before the judge stands for this retention election, they are evaluated by the Judicial Council. Any judge that you are voting on has been certified by the Judicial Council that this person is qualified for this retention election.

We are the FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
VOTE YES TO RETAIN ALL THE JUDGES

EARLY VOTING

2008-10-27T12:03:00.001-06:00

I mentioned before the locations where you can go to vote early. I thought it was worth mentioning again.

Early Voting: Weekdays October 21 - October 31 at the locations and times listed below. Bring your ID and proof of address (utility bill).

Utah Community Credit Union - Hours 1 to 5 p.m., 1364 North Commerce Drive, Saratoga Springs

American Fork Library - Hours 3 to 7 p.m. (3 to 5 on Oct 31), 64 S 100 E, American Fork

Utah Valley University, Sorensen Student Center - Hours 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., UVUSA Office (SCI05), 800 W University Parkway, Orem

Utah County Administration Building - Hours 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., 100 E Center Street, Room LL900, Provo

Spanish Fork National Guard Armory - Hours 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., 2801 N Main, Spanish Fork

Tune In - Presidential Debate

2008-10-07T08:30:00.004-06:00

Tonight at 7:p.m. is the Town Hall Debate between McCain & Obama.
The event will be hosted at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and is being moderated by NBC's Tom Brokaw.

ABC's Match-O-Matic

2008-10-03T16:26:00.001-06:00

Just for fun, you can answer some questions and see which candidate best matched your answers.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/MatchOMatic/fullpage?id=5542139

Caution: This is just for fun and must note that this is done by a media outlet (always biased). As a voter, you must be responsible and study the candidates and make an educated decision on who you think will be better for you and our nation.

143 Days

2008-10-03T16:24:00.000-06:00

This was sent to me and I thought it was interesting (yes, I know the # of days in now more, but still...):

You couldn't get a job at McDonald's and become district manager after 143 days of experience.

You couldn't become chief of surgery after 143 days of experience of being a surgeon.

You couldn't get a job as a teacher and be the superintendent after 143 days of experience.

You couldn't join the military and become a colonel after a 143 days of experience.

You couldn't get a job as a reporter and become the nightly news anchor after 143 days of experience.

BUT....

From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee, he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate. That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working.

After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World .... 143 days. We all have to start somewhere. The senate is a good start, but after 143 days, that's all it is - a start.

AND, strangely, a large sector of the American public is okay with this and campaigning for him. We wouldn't accept this in our own line of work, yet some are okay with this for the President of the United States of America? Come on folks, we are not voting for the next American Idol!

Republican Victory Office Needs You!

2008-09-30T09:35:00.000-06:00

Volunteer Anytime!

That's right. With the new Republican Victory Office in Provo - you can volunteer for John McCain and Sarah Palin anytime you want! You only have an hour a week? Perfect. Go to www.tinyurl.com/phonebank and choose the time that works for you!

What can I expect?

At the Victory Office you make outgoing phone calls to Colorado or New Mexico - important swing states this election. They have a script for you to use and you just ask a few simple survey questions. The information we gain helps Republicans run an even more effective, and more personal campaign in those states!

Questions: apiner@rnchq.org

Mike Duncan - RNC Chairman

2008-09-30T09:33:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow morning from 10:45 am-12:00 noon the Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan will be in Utah visiting the Provo Victory Office. He'll be joined by local Congressional candidates Jason Chaffetz and Bill Dew.

Come and help us welcome the Chairman to the great state of Utah!

RNC Victory Office
746 E 820 N Provo
Across the Street from Cougar Copy
Wed. Oct. 1st, 10:45am
Parking will be available behind the building - no one will be towed that morning.

Please RSVP to: apiner@rnchq.org

Town Hall Meetings with Jason Chaffetz

2008-09-23T14:18:00.002-06:00

September 23rd
· Elk Ridge Town Hall Meeting - 7:30 pm - With Mike Morley and Mark Madsen at Liberty Academy.

September 27th
· Juab County Visit - 10 am - 160 North Main Street, County Commission Chambers, Nephi
· Beaver County Visit - 2pm - Beaver Senior Citizen Center

Debates

2008-09-23T11:26:00.000-06:00

Presidential Debates
· Friday, September 26, 7:00 pm - First presidential debate

Vice-Presidents Debates
· Thursday, October 2, 7:00 pm - Palin/Biden debate (the only vice-presidential debate)

Utah Debates
District 3:
· Wednesday, October 1, 7:00 pm - Daily Herald Debate at UVU
· Monday, October 6, 9:00 am - Mark Maxon Show debate AM 630
· Monday, October 13, 6:30 pm - KSL-TV Conversation with the Candidates
· Friday, October 24, 7:30 KUED Debate
· Wednesday, October 29, 9:00 pm - KBYU Debate

Milken Institute's Best Area to Live In

2008-09-12T17:18:00.002-06:00

The Milken Institute came out with a new ranking this week.
They deemed the Provo/Orem area as the
#1 "The best city/area to live in".

ELECTION DAY

2008-09-12T17:13:00.003-06:00

Presidential Election Information

Election Day: November 4, 2008 - 7:00 am to 8:00 pm

Early Voting: Weekdays October 21 - October 31 at the locations and times listed below. Bring your ID and proof of address (utility bill).

Utah Community Credit Union - Hours 1 to 5 pm, 1364 North Commerce Drive, Saratoga Springs

American Fork Library - Hours 3 to 7 pm (3 to 5 on Oct 31), 64 S 100 E, American Fork

Utah Valley University, Sorensen Student Center - Hours 10 am to 2 pm, UVUSA Office (SCI05), 800 W University Parkway, Orem

Utah County Administration Building - Hours 8 am to 5 pm, 100 E Center Street, Room LL900, Provo

Spanish Fork National Guard Armory - Hours 3 to 7 pm (3 to 5 on Oct 31), 2801 N Main, Spanish Fork

In-Office Registration:Utah County Clerk's Office - October 7 - October 20, 8 am - 5 pm.

Absentee Ballots: Please call the Utah County Clerk's Office at 851-8128 to request an absentee ballot and an application form will be mailed to you. Please have all absentee requests made as early as possible and all applications in the mail as soon as possible to ensure your ballot arrives in time for the election.

You may check your registration and obtain your polling place location and sample ballot by going to the Lt. Governor's web site: http://elections.utah.gov/ OR by calling the County Elections Clerk at 851-8128.

Central Committee Meeting

2008-09-12T16:53:00.006-06:00

Last night we had our Utah County Republican Party Central Committee Meeting. The legislators all got shirts with their last name and district #.There wasn't really any items of business, just lots of information about upcoming events and a few speakers.

Jason Chaffetz spoke about meeting our soldiers, spending the last few days in Sevier County, going to see miners in coal mines, and going to Alaska where he and several others, including Governor Palin, spoke in favor of drilling in ANWAR. As Vice President, Sarah Palin will help to bring drilling in ANWAR.

Our Legislative District had the best attendance. We had 25 officers/delegates there. I believe there are about 13 districts and our district has 22 precincts.

Things to note:
The RNC (Republican National Committee) has opened an office at 746 E. 820 N., in Provo. They can be reached at 374-9968. For the next 6 weeks The Utah County Republican Party will share the office with them. Just so you know they only have 5 McCain/Palin signs right now so give them a week or so before they get more in. They are also in need of volunteers to help with the phone banks. If you can help please stop by.

ELECTION WANT ADS
(thanks for this info, Lisa):

WANTED: Voter Registration.
DEADLINE is October 6 for this election.
Fact:Utah has the lowest percent of registered voters in the U.S.

WANTED: Poll Workers. Hours: 6:00 am to 9:00 pm on November 4, 2008. Pay ranges from $100 for poll workers to $180 for poll managers. Attendance at training sessions is mandatory for all poll workers. If interested, call the elections office: 851-8130.

WANTED: Informed and United Republicans. The RNC has crafted a new National Republican Party Platform. Each state had two members work on it. They had great consensus and feel it is the best ever! To read the platform, go to: http://www.gop.com/2008Platform/

WANTED: Your attendance. Bring your family. A public celebration commemorating the signing of the US Constitution will be held at the Provo Tabernacle on September 17 at 7pm.

Save the U.S. Treasury $5M

2008-09-12T16:44:00.002-06:00

This was sent to me - just something to think about!

A president's pension currently is $191,300 per year.

Assume the next president lives to age 80.

Sen McCain would receive ZERO pension as he would reach 80 at the end of two terms as president.

Sen Obama would be retired for 26 years after two terms and would receive $4,973,800 in pension.

Therefore it would certainly make MORE economic sense to elect McCain in November.

How's that for non-partisan thinking?

Attempted Child Abduction

2008-09-08T16:43:00.002-06:00

Last week there were 2 attempted child abductions.

The first was around the Lakeview Elementary School. The man (20-30 yr) had a dark complexion, wavy hair, and a mustache. He was in a light blue truck.

The second was around Amelia Earhart Elementary School. This time the man was driving a white minivan, but the description is the same. The police believe this is the same man.

Please use this as a reminder to talk to your kids about stranger danger. It's always good to talk to them and help them to understand so that if they are ever in a terrible situation that the will instantly know what to do.

If you near these schools when kids are coming and leaving, you might want to spend a few minutes outside or watching out your window to make sure that the kids passing your yard do so in safety.

Why Women Should Vote

2008-09-05T16:56:00.004-06:00

This was sent to me. I do not know who the original author is. I did do some research to see if the stories were true. Although I didn't look at every account, I did find supporting material from the National Archives and other resources. I think all women should understand what it took to have the freedom to vote.

.....

WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE - {author unknown}

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.

And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

(Lucy Burns)

They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

(Dora Lewis)

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

(Alice Paul)

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because- -why, exactly?

We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' {Christy's side note - this movie came out in 2004} It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say.

I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.'

The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.

History is being made.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

Meghan's Blog

2008-09-05T16:26:00.003-06:00

Check out Meghan's blog for a first hand account of life on the political trail with her father, John McCain.

http://www.mccainblogette.com/index.shtml

Republican Convention

2008-09-02T07:11:00.003-06:00

The Utah State delegates are blogging about the convention. To have a first hand account of what is going on there in Minnesota - check out the site: http://leadershipthatdelivers.com/

Sarah Palin

2008-08-29T08:52:00.004-06:00

It seems that we don't know to much about Sarah. This is what I've found out:

She likes cheeseburgers and moose burgers.
She likes to hunt and fish.
She plays the flute.
She likes to snowmobile.
She owns a float boat.
She is a hockey mom.
She was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, in 1964.
She moved to Alaska shortly after she was born.
She played high school basketball (point guard).
She won the Miss Wasilla pageant.
She was 1st runner up to Miss Alaska.
She received a scholarship to the University of Idaho.
She got a bachelors degree in journalism.
She was a sports anchor in Alaska.
She worked as a commerical fisherman with her husband.
She is a PTA member.
She served 2 terms on the Wasilla, Alaska city council.
She served as mayor of Wasilla.
She was elected as president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.
She served as Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
She was elected as Governor in 2006.
She was the first woman Alaskan Governor and youngest at 42 years old.
She put a stop to the Bridge to Nowhere project.
She is pro-life.
She supports capital punishment.
She opposes same sex marriage.
She is a life long member of the NRA (National Rifle Association).
She eloped with Todd Palin (her high school sweetheart), a native Yup'ik Eskimo.
Todd works for BP, an oil field on the North Slope.
She has 5 kids: son - Track (18 yr. old son, will be leaving for Iraq next month), daughters - Bristol (17 yrs.), Willow (13 yrs.) and Piper (7 yrs), and son - Trig Paxson Van Palin, who has Down syndrome (4 months, born April 18, 2008).
She returned to work 3 days after giving birth!

McCain's Vice President Pick

2008-08-28T07:28:00.007-06:00

It is being reported that John McCain has finally settled on a running mate. This person will be officially revealed in a noontime rally on Friday (tomorrow) in Dayton, Ohio. That evening they will be in Pennsylvania at a minor league baseball stadium, located southwest of Pittsburgh. On Sunday, they will be in the St. Louis Missouri area at a minor league baseball stadium. This event will also feature Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee — the GOP presidential finalists who effectively divided the vote three ways in Missouri's Super Tuesday primary.

Speculation is that one of these 3 men will be announced as the running mate:
former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

I'm still hoping for Mitt!

Update (Friday morning): I have to admit that I am somewhat shocked that McCain had it in him to pick a women, the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, to be his running mate. I guess the analysts had that one all wrong!!! I'm excited though. What an election year this is turning out to be!

Drive the Speed Limit

2008-08-22T11:19:00.003-06:00

Yesterday on the way to school one of the students was hit by a car. It wasn't the driver's fault the child was crossing through a red light. Thankfully the child was not hurt at all, neither was the bike or car for that matter. But it was definitely a wake up call. We have all been so worried about all of the kids making it to school safely, especially around Geneva Road. After this accident they had the police issuing tickets. At last I heard they issued over 40 speeding tickets yesterday during school.

Please, please, please for the safety of our loved ones drive the speed limit. Which is greatly reduced in a school zone!!!