Noall Knighton Weber County GOP Vice-Chair

This Saturday is the Weber County GOP Convention.  Being a Delegate I have received the call to attend. I have mixed feels about attending since it is Easter Weekend and I have a lot of family events planned. However I am excited for someone who is running for Vice-Chair.

Noall Knighton is running and I know he would be perfect for the job.  I have served under his leadership in the Leg District and I have been very impressed with his dedication to the party and leadership skills.

Here is his resume:

Party Experience:

State Delegate
County DelegateMember of the Central Committee of WC Republican
PartyChair of Leg 10
Vice Chair of Leg 10
Precinct ChairCo-Chair for state party golf tournament
Held fund raisers for local candidates
Hosted a campaign  kick-off  fund raiser for Rep. Wallis to unset a 6 term democrat
Volunteered at the WCR Party Booth at the County Fair
Walked neighborhoods to support GOP candidates

Community Experience

President of Breakfast Exchange Club
President of Utah Opticians Association
President of Ogden Golf and Country Club
Party contact to Weber 9/12 group

Professional Experience

President of Knighton Optical
Development Director at Ogden/Weber Applied Tech College
Business Broker at United Business Brokers
Fledgling career as a billboard model 

Personal

 Married to Julie Knighton ( Thanks to her high tolorance and low expectation, that has lasted over 30 years)
Two sons, Eric and Alex
Mother is Ellen, who we are blessed to have live in our home
Hobbies include golf, photography, and reading
Favorite book read of all time:  Atlas Shrugged (The Movie is great!)
Photographer for the Ogden Raptors
Host family for Ogden Raptors

Politics

 I believe the US Constitution outlines the role of the federal government.  I have a strong belief that we should follow those principals.

I am a strong supporter of the free enterprise system and support efforts to eliminate government from competition with the private sector.

Favorite quote:  The government that governs best is the government that governs least

Political decisions are best when made closest to the people.

You can contact him at noall@comcast.net or (801) 726-9944

I hope to see you support Noall this weekend. Even it is just to vote and then go to an Easter Egg hunt.

Comments welcome

Final Results and Thoughts

The Standard Examiner reporter Di Lewis has written a nice summary of today's Weber County Convention. You can find the post here: See Here She outlines the final results for us, but for those not wanting to click the link you can see it here:

1. Weber County Treasurer
1. Darcy L. Kruitbosch 176 34.92%
2. John B. Bond (I) 328 65.08%
2. Weber County Clerk/Auditor
1. Ricky Hatch 322 63.76%
2. Alan D. McEwan (I) 183 36.2%
3. Weber County Sheriff
1. Brett R. Haycock 167 33.2%
2. Terry L. Thompson 336 66.8%
4. Weber County Commissioner
1. Kerry W. Gibson 377 74.95%
2. Kenneth A. Bischoff (I) 126 25.05%

With 98% attendance, you can tell people are very excited to be involved in politics. I was amazed at the atmosphere and level of participation. Though we had the usual lame resolutions during the last half, the majority of the meeting was great and well worth the time. The attendance to Leg District 10's meeting was nearly 98% as well and very exciting. I expect this summer to be a fun time for politics.

Thanks all for reading and for your comments.

LIVE: Voting Results

Straw Poll: US Senate Straw Poll

• Bennett 22.75%
• Eagar 27.68%
• Lee 32.19%

Weber County Candidates:

• Jon Bond Treasurer wins nomination with over 60%
• Ricky Hatch Clerk/Auditor wins nomination with over 60%
• Terry Thompson Sheriff wins nomination with over 60%
• Kerry Gibson Commissioner nomination wins with over 60%

NO PRIMARY! Holy Cow man, crazy stuff. I will post final totals soon. I wasn't allowed to tweet from inside the room but it was awesome!

LIVE: Local Candidate Speeches - Weber County Republican Convention.

Jan Zogmaister - County Commissioner - She wants feedback from everyone so she can give us what is important. On the website they have listed their goals for the next 4 years and want all of us to look and give feedback and how we can improve it.

Ernest D. Rowley - County Recorder/Surveyor - Reducing our costs by $4,000 a year by moving to a paperless system. Made many policy changes to make recording titles easier and more efficient.

John Ulibarri - Assessor - Talking about the things he has done to save us money and also that he wants our respect.

Darcy Kruitbosch - Treasurer - Husband is introducing her. Has 18 years experience and doesn't ask for endorsments. We should change people when we are still happy with them, not when we are made with them. Invoked the memory of Thomas Jefferson.

Jon Bond - Treasurer - Nila Dayton nominated him. Jon says he has kept our money safe, refinanced our bonds to drop our tax burden by $1.3 million and received a AAA Bond Rating. Only one of three counties that have this. Reduced printing cost by $20,000 for tax notices.

Clerk/Auditor - Ricky Hatch - Top Priority - Make Election Process the best in the state and improve Audit system to ensure no money is lost. - Masters in Account with 18 years experience. Just called Auditor and Clerk as Sexy Office.

Clerk/Auditor - Alan D McEwan - Incumbent Auditor, 30 year CPA and has three points. 1. Experienced in all functions, 2. Don't use tax payers money to find projects 3. balanced the budget.

Sheriff - Brett Haycock - 23 years experience in the Sheriff's office, thanking former sheriffs for helping him get to where he is today. Thanking everyone, family, etc. Lots of thanks. Saying "I WILL" a lot, sounds like an Obama "YES WE CAN" speech.

Sheriff - Terry Thompson - Sheriff Slater endorses Mr. Thompson for the 28th Sheriff of Weber County. Loves Law Enforcement, wants to protect us. Let us do the right thing for the right reasons.

Commissioner - Kerry Gibson Introduced by all his kids and wife. Knows hard work because of his youth on a dairy farm. Nothing can be accomplished without reaching across divides. As a former legislator he knows how to do this. will never vote for a wage increase nor a tax increase.

Commissioner - Bischoff - Endorsed by Craig Deardan. Very emotional and sounds defeated. Says he lobby ed for the triple A bonds and consolidated the 911 services and building services to lower costs.

LIVE: Governor Candidate Speeches - Weber County Republican Convention

Richard Martin - Talking about a potential Future Financial Meltdown and that we need to be more prepared. He owns a financial services company and thinks Utah is not on track and that he should take control to help us earn more money and be the richest state in the country.

Daniel Van Oaks Jr. - Is talking about Government for the People and is putting me to sleep at the same time. He is also thinks we can randomly pick people off the street and do a better job in government. He is trained to be governor in the private sector.

SuperDell Schanze - No Show

Gov Herbert - Explaining the cuts we have made to make our system more efficient and how he is managing the budget. Pew Foundation says we are the best managed state and Forbes says we are the best for Business.

LIVE: Congressional Candidate Speeches

Mike Ridgway - says he is on a mission and is talking about standing up for Nancy Lord. Not sure where he is going with this

Rob Bishop -Rob Bishop - We are not the part of "NO" we are the party of "HELL NO. I love it!

Using my position to put pressure on the government so we can control the boards and control the problems. Returns to the Constitution. He is now the chairman of the 10th Amendment Committee.

LIVE: Senate Candidate Speeches at Weber County Republican Convention

Tim Bridgewater: Cut spending dramatically and remove the ear marks. He will protect the boarders.

Merrill Cook: Talking about Banking and his time on the Banking committee. He is giving his a history lesson of what has happened over the past 12 months. Like we didn't notice.

Leonard J Fabiano - I won't take any money...nice try on that one dude.

David Y. Chiu and Cherilyn Eager are no shows - lame, I guess you are not serious.

Jeremy Friedbaum - Wasted our time! He got up and used this is a chance to call Senator Bennett to the table and wanted everyone to make a statement to vote him out.

Mike Lee - Talking about the American Revolution and how we were under tyranny by a government that wouldn't recognize the colonies and their laws. He is making the comparison of then to now.

Senator Bennett - says, "If I believed all the things about me, I wouldn't vote for me either." He explained all the Republican Accomplishments when they were in charge. Who will be the best equipped to handle the changes of the future. He said, "Rivers of cash into the budget because of "our" tax cuts."

LIVE: Weber County Convention Update

10:33 am - Rules Adopted, Motioned and Seconded. (yeah we started that late)

10:35 am - Amended Agenda passed with Hatch speaking first

10:35 am - 574 Possible Delegates - 507 in place.

10:38 am - Senator Hatch Speaks - Makes sure we all know his wife attends the temple. Very passionate speech about preserving America. He is invoking a lot of motion talking about terrorists and Obamacare.

LIVE: Weber County Convention Can't Start on Time

I am sorry, but people go out of their way to be here. Show us some respect and start on time. I don't care if people aren't in their seats, start. Half of the people who should be on stage are just taking their dear sweet time. Nearly 15 minutes late! Come on Matt Bell.

LIVE: Attending the Weber County Republican Convention

One of the more festive conventions I have been to in awhile. This really has brought back memories of the 2004 Gubernatorial Campaigns. Lots of people, lots of signs and it is looking great. I have worked the crowd and seen who I want to see so now we are just waiting for the convention to start.

Mike Lee and Terry Thompson seem to be the big names of today. They have lots of signs and scores of people wanting to talk to them.

Will keep you posted.

Outrage in the Party

The Standard Examiner had a very interesting Op-Ed piece from Steve Olsen, the new Weber County Democratic Chairman and former Republican. (See Here) Mr. Olsen mentioned a number of things that have been on my mind as of late with regards to the GOP. I didn't agree with all of Mr. Olsen's opinions but I did agree with his feelings the party has moved towards outrage and hate.  I attended the Weber County GOP convention and chose to get involved in my Legislative District. But I have chosen not to post (until now) regarding my experience because of some inner feelings regarding what I experienced.

  

One constant theme of the meeting was of hate and outrage because of the Democratic majority in congress and our current president.  Though I may disagree with the Democratic philosophy, I do respect the fact they won their elections.  During Republican control we often played the part of the martyr.  Every time we were attacked, we responded "typical Democratic move to attack the other side."  We hinted to the idea we would never drop to their level.  Now the tables have turned and so has our attitudes.  This is part of Mr. Olsen argument, the party has begun changing for the worst. 

  I do not know Steve Olsen nor do presume to do so.  But I agree the outrage and hate I am hearing from my own party has made it frustrating.  Why does hate need to be theme of every meeting I attend or conversation I have?  Why can't it be messages of optimism or strategy to improve the Grand Old Party. 

Outrage has become the mother’s milk of movement conservatism. True believers can’t survive without their weekly dose of indignation.

Mr. Olsen sentences above are something that has really jumped out at me, for it is something I run into daily.  Why is this hate so prevalent?  I am reminded of what writer George Bernard Shaw said once, "Hatred is the cowards revenge for being intimidated."  Is the reason for such hatred because of intimidation from the other side?

Don't get me wrong.  I know vocal and forceful opposition is needed to help our cause grow. I am the first to criticize my leaders and say what I don't like, just read my blog. But there is a big difference between this and what I have seen as of late.  I have seen people yell and scream about evil and Satan in government.  How does this advance the party?  How does this advance our cause? I love the party and am happy to be apart of it.  Through college I considered myself a Democrat and moved more towards the middle as I moved to Ogden and a great man named Nolan Karras inspired me to full Republican membership.  His spirit of working together and analyzing the situation for a better party and government is what has kept me going.  

Our party needs to rise higher than before and stop hating if we are to succeed.  Saying this is easier said then done. We may be losing great Republicans and even some soon to be Republicans because of our hate and outrage.  Hate only spells failure in my book and I hope we are fighting for success.

Weber County Republican Convention

This years Weber County Republican Convention started out it in it's usually way. A few simple booths from the candidates that want your vote. Candidates and their families are racing for sign location. The ones who show up late end up scrambling. This year it was The Attorney General - Mark Shurtleff's advance team appeared to be about an hour late in setting up and were scrambling with their disorganized van of signs and ladders. A few served ice cream, cookies, pop corn, and displayed their free shirts. It reminded me of my brief time spent in politics as an advance team director and how crazy those times could be.

I saw our councilmen Wayne M. Smith at the convention, he was having a healthy conversation about fishing. You see this was a time for many people to catch up. Many old time Republicans took the time to swap stories or talk about Obama vs. Clinton and the Iraq war.

The chairmen kept things moving fairly quickly, he instigated a one clap rule for all applause, which tended to fade away from time to time. But we were moving very quickly. I was disappointed that our potential republican candidate, Brent Wallis, from Leg District 10 did nothing to campaign. Since the reason we keep losing on the republican side is that republicans are voting for the democrat (which I may do, D. Edger "Ed" Allen I hear is a good man). I will need to gather more information on each candidate before I make a decision on anything.

The exciting race of the day (for me to watch) was that of Ryan Wilcox. He is running against incumbent Glenn Donnelson in House District 7. Ryan campaigned excellently. His booth was very visible, he had water, popcorn and cotton candy for everyone. Every booth had food from his booth on their table, displaying his logo. He had girls walking through the bleachers passing out more food, some from other campaigns. A group of women stood in the door way getting everyone to put on a Ryan Wilcox sticker. At one point all I could see were Ryan Wilcox stickers and District 7 didn't have 100 delegates, but that is how many stickers it seemed like! The campus of Orion Junior High School was covered with Ryan Wilcox signs. I almost forgot who Glenn Donnelson was. As Uncle Lewie said in Lost in Yonkers, "This kid has moxy." Well it was no surprise for me to learn he beat Glenn by one vote, forcing the race to a primary. This will be one to watch.

Though it indirectly affects South Ogden, it is Weber County and we need to watch and support our Weber county representatives. In the end it was well worth the visit.