Utah Political Corruption, Buckshot Caucus, and Count My Vote

My name is Dave Bateman. I’m the CEO of Entrata—a local software company I started while at BYU 15 years ago. I’ve never been very political, but advocates of the Caucus System reached out to me a few months ago and asked me for my financial support to protect the GOP from bankruptcy, and to help preserve Utah’s Caucus System. I’m happy to report that I negotiated down, and just paid off the last portion of the GOP’s $400,000 in legal debts last night, leaving the Party on firm footing financially. That’s not why I’m emailing.

I believe Count My Vote’s signature-gathering path will cause generational harm and corruption to Utah’s political environment. I’m emailing you to share a small glimpse of the corruption already occurring, which is what we can expect for generations in Utah if Count My Vote succeeds.

Distributing and Distorting My Private Divorce Court Documents

Because I bailed out the Party, those advocating for Count My Vote have come after me and my family aggressively. I went through a difficult divorce a couple of years ago, which my family is still fighting to recover from. Mysteriously, my “private” court divorce documents were somehow flagged as “public”, which only a Judge or Court clerk can do. Subsequently, a man named Daryl Acumen (who is a strong advocate of Count My Vote and appears to be a close confidant of GOP Chairman Rob Anderson) somehow obtained my private divorce court documents. The documents contain confidential information about my children and my finances, and sent them to a reporter named Ed Wallace. Despite sending a cease and desist letter reminding Daryl Acumen that distribution of these private documents is illegal in Utah, he continues to publish distorted information from the documents online.

Soliciting My Employees to Falsely Accuse Me of Sexual Harassment

Count My Vote advocates have formed a group called “Buckshot Caucus”, of which GOP Chairman Rob Anderson, Rep. Mike Mckell, Senator Kurt Bramble, Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox, and Senator Todd Weiler are members, among other prominent political figures in Utah. The group recently reserved a suite at a Jazz game and a member invited one of my employees to attend. My employee was approached in the suite by someone who was later described to me as a “political attorney”. The attorney asked her to participate in a scheme to solicit an employee of my company into making false sexual harassment claims against me. In return, the attorney allegedly promised the person who made the fraudulent claim a million dollars. I’m so thankful both employees who were solicited refused to go along with the dastardly plot and came forward to warn me.

Members of the SCC are Being Attacked

The media is in bed with Count My Vote because they will make millions from primary-election advertising if Count My Vote succeeds. The media is mischaracterizing those pushing to restore the Caucus-Convention System as a small group of fringe extremists. The legislature passed SB54 to protect their own incumbencies and ensure their re-election. Does it not seem sketchy to anyone that the State legislature decided to change the rules on how they themselves get elected? Yet the legislature who created this disaster joins in on mocking the State Central Committee for protecting their first amendment rights. Now, I can admit this video is kind of funny. What’s not funny is they ended the legislative session early, and didn’t have time to vote on a bill to protect QPP status for Republican candidates before adjourning; however, they had time to make this video and have a party to celebrate the conclusion of the session.

The legislature, just like the media has been pushing an absolutely false narrative. I’ve contacted 140 of the approximately 170 members of the SCC. 101 of those 140 SCC members reported they are in favor of a single-path Caucus-Convention System. Every vote taken to attempt to restore the Caucus-Convention System passes with a super majority of support, whether it’s an emergency meeting or a special meeting. 120 out of 128 SCC members voted overwhelmingly in November to continue the SB54 litigation. 73.9% of 850 delegates who answered a survey I conducted want a single-path Caucus-Convention System. 80.9% of 1,000 2016 Caucus Attendees surveyed are also in favor of a single-path Caucus-Convention System.

A member of the State Central Committee reported after the February 24 SCC meeting that his job was threatened if he continued to fight to save the Caucus-Convention System. Members of the SCC who voted on February 24 for the new bylaw have also been subject to electronic communications harassment. Count-My-Vote-affiliate Daryl Acumen has set up a process to bombard State Central Committee members’ email accounts with so many emails that they haven’t been able to communicate effectively during the weeks leading up to Caucus night. Acumen has spread lies all throughout the Utah GOP membership about actions recently taken in the meeting. During this same meeting, Chairman Anderson called for a closed-door Executive Session, wherein no recordings are permitted, nor are members allowed to even share the contents of the discussion outside the meeting. However, Chairman Anderson’s Assistant Executive Director Peter Simonsen secretly recorded the meeting from the Chairman’s lectern while he was standing there. The video was subsequently leaked to Daryl Acumen for use in his harassment of SCC members.

Why the SCC Made the Bylaw Change

The recent bylaw change was necessary to effectively litigate SB54. The Party bylaws have never allowed candidates to gather signatures. However, the existing bylaw needed an enforcement mechanism or it was meaningless. A bylaw change was made so candidates who violated the bylaws, after signing an agreement not to, would forfeit their membership until one day after the general election. Party attorneys cannot litigate against the encroachment of SB54 effectively without this. Moreover, any organization has the right to 1) define their rules and processes, and 2) to define them—especially a political organization.

Count My Vote is terrified of this new bylaw, because it is SB54’s death knell. News articles were run to suggest the change would somehow interfere with Mitt Romney’s campaign, which is patently untrue. While the new bylaw was bold, it was only implemented in the 1st and 2nd congressional districts in 2018. These districts were chosen because no one had yet declared intent to gather signatures during this election cycle. Unlike the false rhetoric from Chairman Anderson, the bylaw was implemented carefully to not bring harm to candidates, or change the rules on anyone mid cycle.

Rob Anderson Unilaterally Edits Party Bylaws Himself, and Submits to the LG Office as the Official Party Bylaws

After a super majority of State Central Committee members on February 24th voted to implement this new bylaw change, the Party’s Constitution and Bylaw’s Committee Janice Legler certified and signed the new bylaws. Officer Lisa Shepherd did also, and emailed the bylaws to the Lieutenant Governor’s office, as the Party is required to do by law. The new certified bylaws were published to the Party website utah.gop. This is where things start to get weird–and I mean weird.

The LG’s office refuses to accept the bylaws from anyone besides Rob Anderson, stating “We will need to receive these bylaws from him.” No one in the Party ever remembers the LG’s office refusing to accept bylaw changes from the Party secretary.

Outrageously, Chairman Anderson edits the certified party bylaws himself and submits a fraudulent and uncertified copy of the bylaws to the LG’s office omitting the new bylaw passed by a super majority of the SCC. See Anderson’s edits here Brazenly, Anderson apparently also made edits to elements of the bylaws changed as far back as 2015. The Chair clearly does this in an attempt to thwart the Party’s attempts to litigate SB54.

While the LG is in Buckshot Caucus, to be fair, the referenced correspondence was with Justin Lee, the Director of Elections, not Spencer Cox.

Chairman Anderson Breeches Contract with Me

Chairman Anderson committed to me that if I paid hundreds of thousands to support the Party, he would not interfere with the SCC’s efforts to litigate SB54. He deceived me just like he deceived the delegates at Convention last May when he promised them “I am not the Count My Vote candidate.” Chairman Anderson fought me at every step from paying off the debt, but finally signed the agreement. Then he brazenly breaches his contract with me in every way conceivable—even breaking State Law by creating and transmitting counterfeit bylaws to the LG’s office. Here is the language from the contract Rob Anderson personally signed with me:
“No UTGOP officer, committee, or employee shall, without express direction from the SCC, move to dismiss any part of the Litigation or act in any way to delay, impede, circumvent or limit the Litigation or other efforts to repeal and/or overturn SB54.”

We Cannot Tolerate These Actions, We Must Come Together & Fight This
Please consider running to become a County delegate this year if you’re a proponent of the Caucus-Convention System. County delegates selected this year will vote to elect a new State Central Committee next year. We have to get organized or we will lose this fight. Please visit KeepMyVoice.org to volunteer to be part of the coalition to preserve and protect the Utah GOP’s First Amendment Rights.