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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Former Senate President Al Mansell, R-Sandy, has resigned from the Legislature five months before his term expires in a move that will allow the GOP to appoint a candidate to fill his seat months before the November general election.
Republican delegates from District 9 are scheduled to meet Monday to choose a replacement for Mansell. That will likely be Wayne Niederhauser, who won last month's Republican primary and was endorsed by Mansell.
Early resignations in election years typically are a way to give a hand-picked successor a few months as an incumbent.
Mansell, 62, had served in the Legislature since 1994. He said he was leaving now because there are too many other demands on his time. Those include several business ventures with his sons as well as his involvement with a new industrial loan bank.
"I decided it's probably the right time. I've been there 12 years," Mansell, the former head of the National Board of Realtors, said. "I've come to really enjoy being in the Senate. It has been a great experience for me. I do it with some mixed emotions."
Mansell said he has no plans to become a lobbyist.
Although Mansell supported Niederhauser in the primary, he said his decision to step down was not made to boost his candidacy. Niederhauser faces a challenge in the November 7 election from Democrat Trisha Beck, a former House member.
"I think it will be a help," Niederhauser said. "It's not going to be the salvation. It's not going to be what makes or breaks the campaign."
Salt Lake County Republican Party Chairman James Evans said if Niederhauser is elected by delegates on Monday to fill out the remainder of Mansell's term, he'll go into the election with several months of Senate experience.
But Evans said, "Wayne doesn't need any extra help to win that seat. Senate District 9 is a solidly Republican Senate district." Evans said that Beck's "being somewhat well-known in the district doesn't' equate to being a strong candidate."
The primary race between Niederhauser and Bryson Garbett was the most costly legislative race of the current election cycle, with spending by each candidate approaching $100,000.
Mansell's resignation takes effect Wednesday, the next interim day of the Legislature. Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, who took over the leadership of the Senate from Mansell two years ago, said he will be missed.
"Al was a friend and a mentor," Valentine said, describing Mansell in a posting on the Senate majority's blog site as "sincerely caring about good public policy; being tough on the outside but having genuine compassion on the inside."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
