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SALT LAKE CITY — In one corner, we have Republicans. And in the other corner, we have … Republicans.
Utah's dominant political party — the GOP owns a supermajority in the Utah House and Senate and in January the state's six-member congressional delegation will all be Republican — is experiencing dissension that could be played out in a federal courtroom.
A longtime GOP political consultant says party Chairman James Evans created a "deep schism" in the ranks with a legal challenge to changes the Utah Legislature made to Utah's unique system for selecting candidates for elected office.
"His lawsuit directly contravenes the will of most mainstream Republicans and the vast majority of Utahns. He is making it clear that mainstream conservatives are not welcome in the party — which is apparently controlled by the extreme right wing," Lavar Webb wrote in an email.
The email is a response to Salt Lake County Republican Party Chairman Dale Ash's request for donations to the annual Lincoln Day Dinner in February.
"It would be stupid for me and the thousands of other Republicans who support Count My Vote to contribute to the Republican Party at any level," wrote Webb, the publisher of UtahPolicy.com who writes a column for the Deseret News. "I don’t contribute to organizations that are trying to destroy things I hold dear."
Webb was among several prominent Republicans, including former Gov. Mike Leavitt, who backed a citizen initiative called Count My Vote to change how the party chooses candidates.
Related:
Utah GOP plans to sue state over Count My Vote compromise
The Utah Republican Party plans to file a lawsuit against a compromise reached by lawmakers on an initiative to change the state's unique system for selecting candidates, state GOP Chairman James Evans said Tuesday.During the 2014 Legislature, lawmakers reached a deal to stop the initiative petition drive to replace the caucus and convention system with a direct primary election in exchange for creating an alternative path to the ballot. SB54 gives candidates the option of bypassing the current system, and instead gather voter signatures for a place on the primary ballot.
Ash said if there's a rift in the party, it existed before the lawsuit.
The decision to file the lawsuit did not come without debate and the county's GOP Central Committee nearly unanimously supported the legal challenge, he said.
"We just don't do things willy-nilly," Ash said, adding he doesn't consider himself anything but a mainstream Republican.
Funds for the lawsuit are already set aside and denying money to the Republican Party isn't going to change the outcome in the courts, he said. But, Ash said, it would inhibit the party's ability to advance qualified conservative candidates and to get conservative voters to the polls.
Evans defended his decision to file the lawsuit Tuesday on KSL Newsradio's "Doug Wright Show." He said here's a serious constitutional question about whether the state can tell a private organization how to choose its nominees to run for political office.
"What is the resistance to getting that question answered?" he said.
His lawsuit directly contravenes the will of most mainstream Republicans and the vast majority of Utahns. He is making it clear that mainstream conservatives are not welcome in the party — which is apparently controlled by the extreme right wing.
–Lavar Webb, UtahPolicy.com
In response to Webb's email, Evans said there's a concerted effort by certain Republicans to deprive the party of funds because they don't like the effort to get the question answered in court. He said the email underscores the biggest concern over SB54.
"If you don't do what some people want, they will deprive you of money. Is that the relationship we want between donors and candidates?" Evans asked, adding that the current system diffuses the power of money.
Count My Vote supporters want to increase voter participation through more open primary elections. Under the caucus and convention system, candidates with enough support from party delegates can secure a nomination without a primary election.
Webb said SB54 is the most important political reform in many decades in Utah. He noted that he sent copies of his email to big GOP donors and other key leaders suggesting they contribute to Count My Vote to fight the lawsuit.
Evans said he considers the Republican Party a "big tent" despite Webb's assertions.
"We can fight about this. That is what is strong about our party," Evans said. "At the end of the day, I hope we have a better solution."
