Less than one week ago, KeepUtahFree.org posted an article “GOP Chair Pulling A Fast One To Dissolve the SCC at Convention? . . .” expressing concern that Chairman Anderson, or his fellow Buckshot elites, might try to dissolve the State Central Committee (“SCC”) at the State Convention. Despite being accused of being conspiracy theorists, it turns out our concerns were well founded.
The deadline for submitting Constitution & Bylaw (“C&B”) amendment proposals for the upcoming State Convention was May 22, 2018 @ 5pm. Up until 3pm on May 22, the Chair of the C&B Committee had access to the system where proposals were being submitted. Mysteriously her authorization was revoked just hours before the deadline. Repeated requests were made of the Chair to release all the proposals, but he did not fulfill the requests.
The C&B Committee has to act quickly after the deadline to determine which proposals go to the State Central Committee and which proposals go to the State Delegates, and notify the delegates accordingly so delegates have adequate time to vet the proposals. Why wasn’t the Chair releasing the proposals? What was he trying to hide? The public pressure caused by KeepUtahFree’s article resulted in Anderson exposing the nefarious plan.
View Delegate Amendment Voting Guide, as well as more info about the State Convention here.
Buckshot Caucus Members Make Proposals To Neuter the Utah GOP’s Governing Body
Before releasing proposals to the C&B Committee, Anderson disregarded the procedures outlined in the governing documents and usurped the authority form the C&B Committee by emailing all proposals to the State Delegates himself. In the email, Anderson insists that all proposals be voted on at Convention, which is unreasonable because doing so would take hours, and detract from candidate nominations.
After denying the C&B committee the right to distribute amendment proposals properly, Anderson finally released ALL BUT ONE proposal to the Committee. Among those received, the committee quickly discovered two proposals (one from Karece Thompson & one from Carolina Herrin) that were designed to gut, dilute, and obliterate the State Central Committee as we now know it. Chairman Anderson’s circumvention of the bylaws demonstrate his complicity in the ruse.
Anderson Hides Diane Christensen’s Amendment From The C&B Committee
Buried in the 17 amendment proposals sent by Anderson to the delegates was a third SCC-wrecking amendment that Anderson NEVER FORWARDED TO THE C&B COMMITTEE. It’s suspected Chairman Anderson’s strategy here was to put this 3rd amendment on the Convention agenda by claiming the C&B Committee never made a decision on it. The 3rd amendment proposal was the worst of all and was submitted by Buckshot-Caucus-Member Diane Christensen.
Here’s a summary of the contents of the 3 proposals:
Sneaky Coup Attempt #1: Carolina Herrin Proposal
Carolina Herrin–member of Buckshot Caucus–who recently attended the Buckshot Caucus Suite at the Jazz game in January 20, 2018 where Todd Weiler initiated his attempts to extort GOP Donor Dave Bateman. Ms. Herrin’s proposal immediately and retroactively expels all State Central Committee members having spent more than 10 years on the Committee. This would allow a special SCC meeting to quickly be convened before counties could replace the expelled members, and bylaws could be completely changed by the disproportionately liberal SCC members remaining.
Sneaky Coup Attempt #2: Kerece Thompson Proposal
Karece Thompson was recently recruited by Buckshot Caucus Member Daryl Acumen (formerly Daryl Bradshaw) to the Republican Black Caucus. The Republican Black Caucus lost its SCC auxiliary status because Mr. Acumen never held elections, claiming “we don’t need them. Everyone does whatever they want to do.” Acumen also stated “I don’t give a fu** what the SCC thinks.” Essentially, the group was a Trojan Horse to win Buckshot Caucus an unearned seat on the SCC. One of the members of the predominantly white group was none other than Senator Curt Bramble. Here are the details on Mr. Thompson’s amendment proposal:
- Allows 2/3 of delegates at Convention to vote to immediately expel 54% of the State Central Committee
- Allows the Chair to hold a vote at Convention, even though not on the agenda, to remove all 105 at-large delegates from the State Central Committee, changing the composition of the SCC to lean strongly progressive
- The 105 expelled members can be replaced; however, that process could take months. Immediately after removal of the 105 at-large SCC members, a special meeting could be called by the remaining progressive members wherein the Party bylaws could be completely be gutted and altered without approval from State delegates
- Neuters the voice, role, and influence of Counties regarding governance over State Party business
- Creates inequity by requiring that innocent SCC members are booted for the perceived wrongs of other SCC members. It’s fundamentally unfair and is overreaching. It’s like firing the entire Federal government, because the U.S. President is impeached
Even Sneakier Coup Attempt #3: Diane Christensen Proposal
This is the proposal Chairman Anderson hid from the Constitution & Bylaw Committee, and is likely the proposal Buckshot was really trying to sneak into the State Convention. It’s sponsor Diane Christiansen is a member of Buckshot Caucus and a long-time supporter of Buckshot Godfather Curt Bramble. The problems with Ms. Christiansen’s proposal would give any person who cares about the Utah GOP great pause. Here are the details (using the assumption that there are an average of 7 auxiliaries with voting rights):
- Christensen’s amendment proposal immediately kills 37 of the more conservative State Central Committee positions, leaving approximately 140 members (depending on the number of approved auxiliaries). Most of those lost seats come from Utah’s largest counties (e.g. Salt Lake, Utah, Weber, Davis, Iron, & Washington). This provision would give Salt Lake County with a population 1,029,665 the same voice on the State Central Committee as Daggett County with a population of 1,059. Why in the world would Buckshot advocate for this change? Because they can manipulate the results of Daggett County much easier than Salt Lake County.
- The proposal allows 20 members to hold a vote outside of a State Central Committee meeting to vote off the 58 remaining at-large State Central Committee members. Yeah, so 14.2% of the SCC can vote unilaterally can oust 41% of the SCC, and the 41% don’t even get to participate in the vote.
- Historically 61% of SCC Members attend any given meeting. That means out of 140 remaining numbers, 85 members would attend a typical meeting. Christensen’s proposal would require 50% (70 members) to attend a meeting in order for business to be conducted. This means that a rogue chair who wanted to shut down the Party’s ability to conduct a meeting would only have to talk 15 additional people into staying home to prevent business from being conducted. Click here to see how Rob Anderson has already attempted this repeatedly.
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Prevents a member of the State Central Committee from serving more than 2 terms (except for unelected political leaders of course who can remain endlessly).
Do These Proposals Have The Same Author?
There are resounding similarities in the formatting, structure, and even provisions of the three proposals. Click here to view proposals side by side. Entire paragraphs are identical from one proposal to the other. When challenged in a Facebook forum, Karece originally asserted that his work was original stating “All I can say is I submitted the proposal. Whatever happened to my words or formatting in regards to similarity after the fact is not in my control.”
After being confronted with the mathematical probability (less than 1 in 20 trillion) that his amendment proposal would mysteriously be worded the same as the other SCC-wrecking proposals, coupled with his inability to defend or even explain the mechanics of his proposal, Karece buckled and admitted he in fact did not write the proposal.
All three proposals have obvious ties to buckshot Caucus who has been slowly undermining the Utah GOP for years. The only plunder remaining for Count My Vote / Buckshot Caucus is the State Central Committee. The SCC is the only thing standing in the way of Count My Vote obtaining complete control over Utah politics. They will stop at nothing to destroy the SCC.
Could the State Delegates Really Be Duped Into Destroying the SCC?
A major effort has been underway in the Utah GOP to deceive, confuse, and mislead GOP members and delegates into thinking a small minority of State Central Committee members (the gang of 51) are using guerrilla tactics to seize control of the SCC. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A survey of SCC members was commissioned and taken in January of 2018. 101 members out of 140 members who took the survey are in favor of a single-path Caucus Convention System. As evidence, the following video demonstrates the overwhelming resolve the SCC has to carry out the SB54 lawsuit. This video is taken during a regular SCC meeting on January 27, 2018 where 129 members of the State Central Committee were credentialed. Notice only 3 people vote to drop the lawsuit. Kathleen Anderson, Daryl Acumen, & Dana Goff.
Why The Press Is Pushing The False Narrative of the “Gang of 51”
First, approximately 46 SCC members are required to call a special meeting. Just because 51 members called a meeting, doesn’t mean only 51 support the agenda in the meeting. The media is squarely behind the effort to destroy the caucus-convention system because they have everything to gain from its demise. Consequently, the media has joined up with the small, radical, Buckshot-Caucus contingent to spin the mainstream SCC into appearing radical. The media will make millions of dollars because of all the new primary elections carried out as a result of SB54. Moreover, primary voters are heavily influenced by the media, giving the media a huge say in the outcome of Utah’s elections if SB54 stays in effect. The media is utterly biased and cannot be trusted.
Don’t Believe The Daryl Acumen Nonsense
Daryl Acumen produced a short video where contents were completely taken out of context in an attempt to falsely depict conservatives in a quarrelsome SCC meeting during the January 27, 2018. The video falsely depicted the State Central Committee as being overly aggressive and bullying toward Chairman Anderson. Nothing could be further from the truth. Acumen then email spammed a massive contingent of Utah Republicans to mislead them regarding the “gang of 51”.
Acumen set up two emails kmv@utahgop.org and gangof51@utahgop.org and sent tens of thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of emails to Utah Republicans asking them to swarm kmv@utahgop.org and gangof51@utahgop.org inboxes. Here’s the catch: Acumen set these emails up so every time someone emailed these inboxes, it would relay the responses to each conservative member of the SCC that Acumen was targeting, resulting in these individuals being harassed by nearly 1,000 emails each. It massively interfered with their ability to prepare for Caucus night on March 20th. Some even mentioned it interfered with the jobs and livelihoods.
Watch the distorted video from Daryl Acumen painting the “Gang of 51” as extreme.
Now watch what really happened during the January 27, State Central Committee Meeting
The Sargent in Arms Chairman, Jim Phelps, who Anderson asked to remove SCC member Layne Beck from the meeting publicly acknowledged it was Chairman Anderson who was out of order because he failed to acknowledge Layne Beck’s Appeal From The Ruling of The Chair. State Central Committee members are not extreme, but rather are resisting an intransigent Chair who breaks every rule, and deceives at every opportunity. KeepUtahFree.org encourages all delegates to reach out and get to know your county’s State Central Committee members. You probably learned by now that you can’t trust Daryl Acumen or Rob Anderson, so don’t buy into their “gang of 51” nonsense.