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DEER VALLEY — Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney kicked off his fourth annual private retreat for his big-money donors Thursday that's expected to focus on the GOP's future with Donald Trump as its presumptive nominee.
But Boyd Matheson, head of the Utah-based Sutherland Institute, said Thursday he hopes to hear more about policy during the three-day private event, not the politics of the controversial billionaire businessman and reality TV star.
Romney was set to deliver a speech to nearly 300 business, government and other leaders gathered at the Stein Ericksen Lodge through Saturday to discuss current and future challenges facing the country and how leadership can be strengthened.
"The two times that I've attended the event, it's not about Mitt Romney giving a speech. It's about him really leading and fostering big ideas and meaningful discussion, really elevating the dialog," Matheson said.
It's a side of Romney that Matheson says he wishes voters in the 2012 race for the White House could have seen. The event, started during that campaign, attracts major "firepower" from both parties, he said.
This year, that includes House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who is launching a new anti-poverty initiative at the same time the GOP is working to counter Trump's potential impact on Republican control of the House and Senate.
Matheson said he anticipates there will be more attention among participants on those races than the top of the ticket, despite continued efforts by some conservatives to find a third-party candidate.
Last month, Romney turned down a plea to run as an independent candidate this November made by leading conservative William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard magazine.
The magazine ran an "open letter" to Romney this week, urging him to run.
There will always be a push for Mitt Romney to get in the race. People are looking for something to grab onto.
–Boyd Matheson
Romney has been Trump's chief critic, labeling him a fraud and a phony in a widely covered speech at the University of Utah in March. He has said he won't vote for either Trump or the presumptive Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"There will always be a push for Mitt Romney to get in the race," Matheson said, describing many voters as having "buyers remorse" after the 2012 election. "People are looking for something to grab onto."
The retreat is known as E2, for "experts and enthusiasts." CNN reported anti-Trump donors including Meg Whitman, CEO of HP Enterprises, are expected to "make the rounds."
Other attendees, according to the cable news channel, include Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. Sasse is seen as a "Never Trump" holdout, while Cotton has advised the presumptive nominee on military issues.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus; Leon Panetta, who served as U.S. Defense Secretary under President Barack Obama; and James Baker, who served in both the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, will also be there, CNN reported.
