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TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (AP) — Utah Republican Party leaders have voted to comply with a new state law changing the candidate nomination process, heeding Gov. Gary Herbert's call to end infighting over the issue.
Herbert addressed more than 120 members of the GOP State Central Committee in Taylorsville on Saturday before they voted overwhelmingly to participate in the 2016 election as a qualified political party.
He told them it was a mistake to denigrate supporters of the 2014 law, which was a compromise between the Republican-controlled Legislature and Count My Vote, a group comprised of mostly moderate Republicans who pushed to dump the caucus nominating system, KSL reported (http://bit.ly/1Kwu0sQ ).
"I'm sad to see some of the turmoil we see. I've called it kind of a civil war inside the Republican Party," Herbert said.
Utah Republican National Committeewoman Enid Mickelsen also pushed for compliance with the law. "Let's bury all this talk about a civil war," the former congresswoman said.
The central committee is scheduled to meet again in late June, but delegates at the party's state convention in August will have the final say.
The 2014 law gives political parties two paths to choosing candidates. One path would require a party to use primary elections. The other path preserves the state's longtime caucus and convention system by requiring any candidates emerging from that nominating process to square off in a primary election against candidates who collect signatures.
If the law remains in place for next year's elections, supporters argue more moderate candidates would match up in primary elections against more hard-line candidates picked by the caucus system.
The Utah Republican Party has filed a federal lawsuit against the law, maintaining it violates the party's constitutional right to determine how it picks its candidates. The party recently lost a bid for a preliminary injunction against the law.
Before Saturday's vote during a four-hour special meeting, committee members met in a closed session with attorneys hired to represent the GOP in the lawsuit.
James Evans, the Republican state chairman, declined to discuss the session, but he said the lawsuit "continues to go forward."
Herbert said he wasn't opposed to the party continuing the lawsuit, but he warned that could be risky.
The central committee on Saturday also passed a new mandate that Republican candidates sign a disclosure statement saying where they stand on the party platform.
Taylor Morgan, executive director of Count My Vote, said the actions taken by GOP leaders would encourage greater participation in Utah elections.
Backers of Count My Vote have been pushing for changes since 2010, when three-term U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett was ousted at the GOP convention amid the rising tea party movement.
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Information from: KSL-TV, http://www.ksl.com/
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