County Organizing Convention 2011

Your County Delegates all attended the County Organizing Convention. This event is to designed to elect the officers and individuals to 'organize' the County party for the next 2 years. In particular, this year is very critical. These individuals will be in place for the 2012 election cycle.

I personally was impressed with the significant number of citizens in our county who were willing to run for these volunteer offices. They are individuals like you, who have families and jobs that make their lives busy. Yet, they all felt a need to step-up and serve as they are as concerned as many of you about the course and direction our country is headed into.

There were several things that the delegates experienced yesterday.

Our Senate Caucus (SD 11) hear from several speakers. We first heard from our House Representative, John Dougall (pictured here with Senator Valentine). His main topic was HB 116 and immigration at large. The delegates asked questions and made comments expressing their views on this topic.

Representative Ken Sumsion then spoke on the topic of Redistricting. (There is a meeting at the capital When » May 4, 9 a.m. in Room 30, House Building (west office building behind the Capitol) for public input). In the next few weeks, there will be an online application that will allow citizens to try to draw redistricting lines and bring their feedback to the committee in charge.

The delegates then heard from Representative Jason Chaffetz and Senator Mike Lee. Both had concerns about the mounting debt and they shared reasons why they voted against the recent $38 billion compromise. Senator Lee commits to voting against raising the debt ceiling. He states that the gloomy forecast just isn't reality. He stated that the Fed will continue to make our debt payments with or without raising the debt ceiling. He stated that concern would only arise if the Fed stopped making payments.

There are many solutions to our debt situation that are being considered with one requiring Congress to prioritize what gets paid first (Debt, Military, Entitlements, then other programming).

Governor Herbert was also present. He addressed the audience twice. Once in defense of HB 116 and the 2nd time highlighting what is right in Utah. He alluded to the suit Utah filed against the Federal Government in regard to the Wild Lands issue. He also stated that Utah's financial standing is the best in the nation and the Utah leads the way in so many areas.

Senator Orrin Hatch and State Senator Howard Stephensen were there in spirit. Reportedly, Senator Hatch was en route by plane but was not able to arrive in time. Senator Stephenson's mother passed away and the funeral was Saturday Morning.

There were several resolutions that were voted on. The most controversial was the resolutions against HB116. Before the vote, each side of the issue was shared by representatives from the state. The vote was close 443-365 in favor or asking legislators to repel this bill. For more information, please see this article in the Salt Lake Tribune.

To see all the resolutions presented please go to this link.

Final results for Utah County Leadership are (after the 2nd vote):

Chair
David Acheson 505 62.89%
Dave Duncan 298 37.11%

Vice Chair
Adrielle Herring 470 53.23%
Lisa Shepherd 413 46.77%

Secretary
Jeremy Roberts 404 51.20%
Kristen Chevrier 385 48.80%

Treasurer
Scott Bell 451 51.08%
Lisa Jensen 246 27.86%
Steven Reid 168 19.03%
Don Larsen 18 2.04%

To see the results of the elected members of the State Central Committee, please go here. (Each delegate could vote for up to 20 individuals out of a field of 68)

Your delegates served you well. Thank you for the opportunity you have giving us to represent you. Considering running as a delegate in the 2012 Caucus', its an experience everyone really should have!