Utah political caucuses to be held Tuesday

Utah political caucuses to be held Tuesday - Salt Lake Tribune

Tomorrow is an exciting day in Utah Politics. Both major parties will be holding their Caucus meetings. For those that have never attended nor understand the caucus meeting, this is where some of the real elements of our political world take place. Each county in Utah is divided into precincts. Each precinct will then hold a caucus meeting. At this meeting a chair, vice chair, state and county delegates will be elected. The meeting is attended by people who live in the precinct and have registered to vote (you can register there). The Chairperson runs the meeting and the newly elected chair will run the next meeting in two years. The delegates will vote at either the county or the state conventions of each party.

Many candidates running for state wide offices will begin campaigning heavily to state delegates starting next month. Especially those candidates who will face a primary. The same thing will happen to county delegates and people running for county offices. In 2004 we had nearly eight candidates running for Governor. After the Republican Convention we only had two. The reason? The delegates voted Nolan Karras and Jon Huntsman through to a primary and eliminated the rest. Do you see now why the Delegates are so important? Furthermore do you see why caucus meetings are so important? In major election years, candidates will actually train people to go to caucus meetings and get elected as state delegates. This will increase their chances of winning. The average citizen only gets a say in this process if they attend their caucus meeting and help elect good precinct leadership. The average voter isn't important at this point, the delegates and caucus goers are.

I live in South Ogden 2 or SOG002, and I look forward to my caucus meeting tomorrow to be part of this amazing process.

To find out more go to this website http://kued.org/productions/voteutah/voter/caucus.html

Also you can go to http://www.wcrgop.org/elections.htm for republicans
http://www.weberdemocrats.org/caucus.html for democrats

Insider Perspective of the Utah Caucus System

There is a tremendous amount of debate in Utah about the "Count My Vote" initiative that seeks to eliminate the need for neighborhood caucus meetings and move towards direct primaries.  Supporters of the caucus system will argue this removes real choice and discussion from the voter because now "big name ID" and "big money" can buy the election from uninformed voters.  Count My Voter supports argue a small group of delegates can't represent their neighborhoods affectively.  I am here to give you personal experience as a delegate recruiter, trainer and converter and in my experience how big money is no different, if not worse in the caucus system.

For some quick background: I have been a state delegate, county delegate, and caucus chair.  I have believed in this system because I have seen it work in my favor in the past.  I am not a career political operative; however, I have worked or consulted on a number of political campaigns since 2000 in various roles from volunteer to full time staffer.  Two of these campaigns would be considered major political campaigns.  In the campaign I am about to share with you I was hired as the Statewide Advance Team Director.  Now I will preface my experience with the opinion that this candidate was and is an amazing person and I would say the most honest and hardworking candidate I have ever seen.  Needless to say, we played the delegate game like everyone else.

During this campaign I really had two jobs, one was to organize events for the candidate and prepare the venues before the candidate arrived.  My second job was related to delegates.  Every week for months prior to the neighborhood caucus meetings I would recruit as many people to attend delegate trainings.  Every candidate holds these trainings and it is considered Utah Politics 101.  Some of these meetings would be filled with food, drink and always printed instructions on how to go to your caucus meeting and get elected as a State Delegate.  Lots of time and money is spent in organizing these events.  Invitations are made, people are called, locations reserved, instructions printed, and food is often provided.  Each staffer on the campaign had a quota of delegates they needed to bring to the convention, but we all worked as a team to recruit and convert. 

You see the life of a delegate is fun.  One of the big selling points for us in our delegate recruitment was the power to make decisions in the political process, the second selling point was the royal treatment you would receive.  Candidates we will wine and dine you to get you to vote for them.  

As part of our recruitment process we often looked for the following type of people because of their ease in getting elected: young, college bound, first time caucus attendees and the innocence of no political agenda. In fact you were instructed to never give your full allegiance to any candidate in the meeting (though secretly you had been recruited and essentially paid off with glory and promises of free food, t-shirts galore) and make sure to tell them how you look forward to voting with what the neighborhood wants.  You were instructed to bring as many of your friends as you can to vote for you and if possible rehearse the nomination process.

This process is still in affect today as you can see from the previous senate races.  Interesting to note that Dan Liljenquist didn't even get elected as a state delegate in his own caucus meeting.  Why?  Senator Hatch has way more experience (and money) in recruiting delegates for caucus meetings.  They were well trained to take Dan out.  

Having attended dozens of these meetings, I can tell you these delegates rarely get out and talk to their neighbors.  Many never return and report, some will never return to another caucus meeting once their candidate has been elected.  Some delegates may return, but it is rare.  Of all the delegates I recruited none of them returned to their caucus meetings.  Most of these delegates would report to me after their election and tell me how their caucus meeting went and how they were able to get elected easily by following our simple instructions.

Once the caucus meetings were over, I then moved into Delegate Conversion mode.  Campaigns will then spend every penny possible visiting delegates and treating them to meetings, dinners, and speaking events.  Some events took place at nice restaurants others in the homes of delegate supporters.  Part of my job was to organize meals, t-shirts, invitations, and donations for all these delegates.  Essentially buying their vote through food and prizes mingled with education of the issues.  Seasoned delegates new this process well, they would milk it for every penny.  Some asked for extra food, additional drinks and would even hold you hostage if they didn't get the right t-shirt size or their steak cooked medium rare.

After a few months of delegate missionary work we moved our efforts to the convention.  The plans for the state convention go back all the way to delegate trainings.  Our booths are chosen and paid for with big bucks because one must pay to play in the world of politics.  Then marketing firms are hired to design and plan the perfect booth.  Our campaign spared no expense on food and brochures, since we were going up against people with bigger name ID and way more money.  Our plan was to have chocolate chip cookies baking while people came in so they would connect the smell of home baked cookies with our candidate.  However convention rules required us to use the food services of the convention center.  Being the Advance Team Director, I was tasked with the duty of solving this problem.  I called the food services director and asked them how much a cookie cost on their menu, we then agreed we would purchase a cookie for every cookie we gave away if they allowed me to bring my own (the same went for the milk that was donated by a local dairy).  They agreed to the deal since this wasn't about their food and more about big money. 

The day of convention delegates act like it is Black Friday.  They go booth to booth scooping up hats, t-shirts, bags, food and more.  People visit the candidates they hate simply to get their swag.  You can see them walking around like tourists returning from a hard day at Disneyland.  Covered in buttons, stickers and literature, many waddle around talking to candidates not even in their district to pick up their prizes.  Some will be in the main hall debating rules and procedures but the rest will play their candidate bingo card and get all they can.  Many campaigns will setup a private room for their staffers and candidate to sit and relax; in addition, special delegates and donors are invited to come and partake of the free food that will be in there.  This particular time we had a chocolate fountain (back when they were a novelty and not a household appliance) and we were told to invite special delegates who were 100% confirmed to swing by for a quick snack if needed (this usually meant they were donors as well).

Now this process may have changed a little, but having attended all my caucus meetings since this time and many before (note this will be the first I will miss in many years) I will say the process has not changed much.  Remember I had one of the more conservative and I would say the most honest candidate in this race.  So imagine what the rest were doing.  Currently special interest groups are now more involved and they will also train and push for delegates related to their cause as well.  Banks and Credit Unions are the most famous for this as of late. 

In defense of the system, it is wonderful to get together with your neighbors and discuss politics and the future of our state and country.  However in my opinion, nearly everyone who comes to these meetings has a secret agenda of who they want to vote for and who campaigns have trained them to vote for.  

So if you think this is a fair representation of your neighborhood and you don't mind these delegates will essentially be trained operatives for the candidate, bought and paid for--then the caucus system is for you.  If you think otherwise of the caucus system, you're naive at best. Direct primaries will in reality cost the candidates more money since you no longer have to focus your time on a select group of 4000 people but instead on a much larger group.  But from my insider perspective, big money and big name ID affects the caucus system even more when it is limited to small group of people.  

Caucus Meetings - March 23, 2010

Caucus Meetings are coming up. Some of you may call these precinct meetings or neighborhood meetings, but either way they will be happening all over the state on March 23, 2010 at 7 pm.

This year is sure to be an exciting year with many county and state wide races playing out. The grassroots politics begins this year with each of these meetings; therefore I encourage you to attend your neighborhood caucus meeting and help choose who will represent you at your county and state conventions. Our caucus meetings haven't been this exciting for nearly six years.

Each meeting will choose state and county delegates whom will go on to help choose who will go on to primaries or represent your party in the upcoming elections.

For the Weber County Republicans you can find your caucus information at the following website:

Weber County Republican Party Blog: 2010 Weber County GOP Neighborhood Caucus Meeting Locations

For the Weber County Democrats you can find your caucus information at the following website:

http://www.wp.weberdemocrats.org/?page_id=7

For those in South Ogden 2 and Republican, the caucus meeting will be at my house at 7 pm. See ya there.

South Ogden 2 - Caucus Meeting

Tonight was our caucus meeting. As usual our attendance was fairly low. In total we had eight (nine if you count my son). It was a good meeting and we had a healthy discussion about city council representation. I am sure I will be posting about this conversation later.

All in all the meeting went smooth. The pledge of allegiance was recited, Judy Hunter gave a prayer, we read the state party platform and then we elected our precinct officers.

• Precinct Chair: BenJoe Markland
• Precinct Vice-Chair: Delena Markland
• Secretary/Treasurer: Judy Hunter
• County Delegates (3): BenJoe Markland, Delena Markland and Judy Hunter
• State Delegate (1): BenJoe Markland

Grassroots at its best! Now if you have an opinion about county or state offices you need to talk to your delegates. Remember they are the ones who are making the decisions for you at the conventions.

Caucus Meeting Results - Anyone But Bob

Last night was our Neighborhood Caucus Meetings and it was great to see all the people come out. This year we had over 20 people in my tiny little living room, compared to the six the last time, this was a great turn out. The meeting went off without any problems and we elected some new officers this year. Once again I will be representing South Ogden 2 as the Precinct chair, my wife as the Vice Chair. But we have added a new Secretary Trisha White.

Where things really got heated was in State Delegate debate. You could tell everyone was there to talk about Bob Bennett. What is to be done with our Senator? A healthy debate broke out regarding the issue and a straw poll was cast. More than half agreed they would support Anyone But Bob. Some of our more mature participants weighed in on Mr. Bennett's seniority, however the young crowd cried foul on seniority and said now is the time for someone new and who is a real Republican.

After the meeting I spent the rest of time with our Leg Chair collecting packets. Nearly 90 of the precincts in Leg 10 all shared the same sentiment--Anyone But Bob. Also, as I have following the pulse of the Utah political climate on Twitter and Facebook, the results seem to be similar.

With these kinds of results, I don't anticipate a slow demise like Chris Cannon had, I predict an all out war with Bennett losing.

If you are Bennett supporter you better come up with a better reason than seniority; if you are a Anyone But Bob supporter then your candidate better prove to have the "MOXIE" to win and take charge.

Interesting night and an interesting election to come.

Reader Notes: My Visit with Senator Bennett

One of our faithful readers and state delegates had an opportunity to listen to Mr. Bob Bennett and he has passed on his notes of the meeting. Remebmer these are his notes and not necessarily my opinion; however I thought they were worth reading:

Thanks Michael!

HEALTH
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He wanted to put to rest any concerns about his age or health. He is
currently 76 years old and says he is in perfect health. He said his
father lived to be 96 and his mother lived to be 95. I can confirm
that he was very energetic both physically and mentally and seemed
much younger than he was. He is also very TALL. I'm 6'3" and usually
look down on most people. He's easily 6'7". Just something that
surprised me.

ANGER
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He also acknowledged that there was a lot of anger against incumbents
this election cycle. He said that it's never wise to make a choice
based on anger and that the best decisions are made based on calm,
rational thought.

I spoke with some of the other delegates there before Sen. Bennett
arrived. One delegate said that, in his caucus of about 70 people,
there was quite a bit of anger and animosity towards Sen. Bennett and
that anybody who showed an inkling of defense towards the senator
would not have been voted through as a delegate. I told the other
delegate that I find the whole "Anybody-But-Bob" movement distasteful.
To say that you would vote for "anybody BUT somebody" puts you on a
dangerous road where you possibly blind yourself to the best choice.
In my opinion, Pres. Obama was elected not because he was the best
candidate, but because he was so different from Pres. Bush. The
"Anybody-But-Bush" movement has put us in the mess we're in today. If
there is a better choice than Sen. Bennett, then let's vote him or her
into office. But if Sen. Bennett is the best choice, let's not be
blinded by the ads and anger against him.

EXPENDABILITY
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He joked that he did not have any misconceptions that the world would
end if he were not reelected. He said, "The cemetery is full of
indispensable men."

CRUCIAL DECISION POINT
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Sen. Bennett believes that within the 4-5 years, our country is going
to reach a critical decision point where we will be forced to deal
with problems which have been put off for decades. He believes that
it will be crucial to have people who already understand the problems
and know how to fix them, without having to learn everything from
scratch. Changes and reform (especially to entitlement programs)
which would have been impossible in the past will be not only
possible, but necessary. In short, he's been learning and preparing
to deal with these problems but the political climate has been against
it. He's running again because he thinks the time is soon coming
where he can realize these plans.

EXPERIENCE
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Sen. Bennett said that in 1993, as a new senator, that he was a lot
like his opponents. He made a lot of grand promises- "I'll make your
income tax 1040 form on a postcard!" he remembered. He compared it to
some grand promises being made by an opponent- "I'll repeal
ObamaCare!" He pointed out that congress, by design of the
Constitution, is a "team sport". A senator is one of 100 and cannot
do anything without working together with others, learning the ropes,
and earning the trust of others.

"GOOD OLD BOYS"
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One delegate pointed out that many people found this whole "good old
boys" network of politics to be very distasteful and the whole
"scratch my back" system is what is wrong with politics today. Sen.
Bennett pointed out that the Founding Fathers themselves were a "good
old boys" network. These were men-- many of whom couldn't stand each
other and had as differing views as possible-- who came together, and
despite personal differences, debated and compromised and drafted the
U.S. Constitution. He pointed out, just as important as the
Constitution is the fact that they continued to work together
afterwards. If they hadn't, today we would look back at the
Constitution as some lofty, failed experiment. The whole purpose of
the legislative branch of government is to force representatives of
the people to work together and make compromises while trying to
protect the most important interests of those they represent. In
order to do this, you have to get to know other people, learn to
listen to other points of views, earn trust, and be willing to give up
some things to get what is most important to your state.

SENIORITY
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With the retirement of another senator whose name I don't recall, if
the Republicans regain a majority, Sen. Bennett will be the new chair
of the Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee. He said, "Think
of Utah and its needs and think of how important energy and water are
to us and imagine how beneficial it will be to have a Utah senator
chair that committee."

He also made it clear that seniority should never be the reason to
elect a candidate. A candidate should be chosen based on the value
that they bring to the state. Seniority often factors into that value
but it is not the only thing.

ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS
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Sen. Bennett said that the biggest problem with debt and spending in
the federal government are entitlement programs- welfare, social
security, medicaid, medicare, and the new ObamaCare. These make up
2/3 of the federal budget and are unsustainable in the long-term.
Unfortunately, anybody who attempts to alter or reform any of these
programs are attacked and vilified and pushed out of office so that it
is impossible to get the votes needed to make the necessary changes.
He believes that in the 4-5 years, economic realities will bring us to
a point where we will have to deal with these programs and where
meaningful changes will be possible where they haven't been possible
for several decades.

SOCIAL SECURITY
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Sen. Bennett said that he's spent 18 years examining and learning all
the "plumbing" underneath social security. It's generally accepted
that, in its current form, it can't sustain itself for our children or
grandchildren. He said that he found the "magic key" to saving social
security. He said his plan has been examined by economists,
committees, and both parties and they all agree that it would fix
social security. The "magic key" is this- social security currently
has built into it an automatic increase in benefits over time.
However, this automatic increase is substantially higher than
inflation itself. This means that our children would have bigger
social security benefits (even adjusted for inflation) than we would
and their children would have bigger benefits than them. If all we
did was to adjust the automatic increase to be tied to inflation
itself, social security could sustain itself without any loss of
benefits. The only change would be that future generations would have
the same level of benefits as we have.

Republican leadership loves this plan and said they will get behind it
as soon as Sen. Bennett can get a democrat to endorse it. Democratic
leadership loves the plan and will get behind it if there is a tax
increase so that it will appear to the public as if there is no loss
of benefits. Nobody dares act because it would mean political
suicide. He pointed out again that he believes the time is coming
where changes can be made and his 18 years of studying social security
will be valuable.

HEALTH CARE
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Basically, it comes down to this- the "Holy Grail" to Democrats is
"coverage" while the "Holy Grail" to Republicans is "cost". ObamaCare
extends coverage to everyone but does nothing to help with costs-
meaning higher taxes and insurance premiums. The Republicans want to
focus on reducing health care costs because if costs are controlled,
coverage will naturally expand as more people can afford it.

EARMARKS
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He addressed one of the major criticisms that some people have with
Sen. Bennett- his use of earmarks. He said the dictionary defines and
earmark as "to set aside something for a specific purpose". Earmarks
do not raise the federal budget. They simply determine how the
existing budget will be used. He used an example of a federal
mass-transit budget which he questioned the need for in the first
place. Nancy Pelosi wanted to use some of the budget for a
mass-transit project in San Francisco. Sen. Bennett wanted to use
some of the budget for the FrontRunner commuter rail here in Utah. He
was able to show that his project was a better use of money and as a
result, Utah received funding for FrontRunner instead of the money
going to San Francisco. The money was already budgeted and would have
been spent anyway. Utahns are paying federal taxes already and Sen.
Bennett said that, by not earmarking funds, he would not be a good
representative for Utah and its needs.

One delegate pointed out that Jason Chaffetz, the freshman congressman
who campaigned on a promise not to use earmarks, changed his tune only
a year into his term, after seeing how important they were.

ATK/THIOKOL
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One of the big problems facing Utah right now is Pres. Obama's
cancellation of the Constellation and Ares solid-fuel rocket programs.
Pres. Obama is cancelling the solid-rocket programs in favor of
liquid-fuel rockets. The result is that our astronauts will soon be
be forced to catch rides on Russian rockets to get to space.
Solid-rockets are also the basis of our missile defense system.
Solid-rockets are a proven technology that pass all the tests they are
put through. Liquid-rockets have failed every test they are put
through and are years away from being usable.

With the layoffs at Thiokol, all of Utah's economy will be weakened.
Sen. Bennett said it is no coincidence that the states that are most
affected by the cancellation of solid-rockets (Utah, Alabama) are red
states and that the states that stand the most to benefit from
untested liquid-fuel rockets (California, Delaware) are blue states.
He believes that the cancellation is a hidden way to punish and weaken
red states.

Fortunately, the Constitution gives power of the purse to congress,
not the President. So while Pres. Obama can cancel these programs, he
cannot cancel funding for them. And how will funding for the
solid-rockets continue? Through an earmark. Sen. Bennett said it
will take every friend that he's made to get enough votes to save
funding for the solid-rocket program. A freshman senator will not be
able to do this.

IMMIGRATION
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Sen. Bennett said that some people think we should take a send "send
them all home" approach to illegal immigrants. He says that
immigration is more complex that many realize because most illegal
immigrants are not people who swam across a river to sneak into the
U.S. Most are people who came here legally (student or work visas),
who contribute to society, pay taxes. Our current system of obtaining
and renewing visas is so complicated and inefficient that their visas
expire and they become "illegal" even though they have done everything
we ask of them in order to renew their visas. On the other side of
the coin are drug-runners, gang leaders, and criminals. If we deport
them, they just quickly return anyway. There are also those who come
to the U.S. only to get work. They don't want to leave their homes or
families, they don't want to become U.S. citizens, they just want to
work. He said a good example is the ski industry. They rely on
employees from other countries who are willing to take seasonal jobs
that others aren't. After ski season is over, these employees can't
return home because they don't know if they will be able to return to
work in the winter time.

His approach towards immigration is "tall fence, big gate". In other
words, we can't do anything unless we first get a "taller fence" and
better protect our borders. Much has been done in the past few years
but much more still needs to be done. After that, we need a "big
gate". We need to make it easier for people to obtain temporary work
visas. That way, they can come into the country for seasonal work, be
documented, pay taxes, and return home with the reassurance that they
will be able to return to the U.S. to work again in the future.

AFGHANISTAN
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Sen. Bennett told the story of a briefing he had with the CIA shortly
after he took office in 1993. This was after the first bombing in the
World Trade Center. The CIA told him that the people behind it hated
America, were well-trained, very patient, and based in Afghanistan.
They took root in Afghanistan after the U.S. helped the country expel
the Soviets. The U.S. left Afghanistan, left a leadership vacuum and
the Taliban came in, took control, and made it a safe-haven for
terrorists.

The briefing shook him up but he eventually forgot about it until
Sept. 11, 2001 after the terrorist attacks on the WTC and Pentagon.
The fourth plane was intended to crash into the U.S. Capitol Building
but it was delayed by air traffic for 40 minutes. If it had been on
time, it would have been timed to crash with the other three planes
before people could react. Sen. Bennett was in the Capitol that
morning and believes he would have been killed if the fourth plane
hadn't been delayed on the runway.

He believes that one of the best decisions Pres. Obama has made is to
listen to the generals and not the Democrats when it comes to
Afghanistan. The current surge of troops is having the desired
effect. Sen. Bennett believes that Afghanistan is vital to our own
country's security.

With the exception of Cherilyn Eagar, every one of Sen. Bennett's
opponents is against a U.S. presence in Afghanistan and has said that
they would vote to pull-out all troops.

CONCLUSION
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All in all, it was a very pleasant meeting. I had never met Sen.
Bennett before and he came across as a very sincere, capable man.
Most importantly, he had a real understanding of problems and
opportunities that were coming and had realistic, thought out plans on
how to confront them. My opinion of him is certainly higher after the
meeting than before. I learned a lot more through a face-to-face
meeting as opposed to reading a website or pamphlet. Hopefully, I'll
have similar opportunities to get to know the other candidates and
I'll let you know what I learn.

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know. I'm
interested to hear what questions you have about Sen. Bennett or any

of the other candidates.

Thanks Again Michael for the notes, I think these are worth reading when trying to decide between Bob and Anybody But Bob.