At the 2014 Utah County Republican Convention

I arrived around 6:30am at Mountain View High School to an already almost-full parking lot, with signs blanketing any area where sidewalk and grass met.  Credentialling went pretty quickly, and I saw all of my precinct's delegates made it.

Central Committee meeting had two incidents to break the monotony. One was a debate over a by-law to have someone besdies the Treasurer check the budget for audit. The vote was close to send it back to committee to address later. Another incident happened when the candidates for LD57 sent someone else to grab their credentials. They've changed it to empower the check-in volunteers to credential candidates.

Kirby Glad plugged the new VoterClick app, which will make convention voting go muuuuch faster in 2016. I'm excited for that development.

HD60 - Incumbent Rep. Dana Layton and challenger Brad Daw both spoke. Layton went first, gave a pretty good normal speech about how it's been a privilege to serve you, I'm a small business owner, I'm a mother, etc. Daw's wife then spoke first for Brad, saying she had been suffering breast cancer at the time the spurious attacks from the Powers/Swallow machine swamped her husband, and he hadn't been able to take the time to respond appropriately, and she held up a Daily Herald article from 2012 entitled "Dana Layton's Campaign Fib." (Talk about coming out swinging!) Brad then spoke, said he's available to everyone, gave a couple examples of constituents who've helped him with legislation. The vote was 64-50 for Daw. (56% to 44%). There will be a primary. While they were adding up the votes, they counted our wristbands, which seemed like a moot point. Of the 125 possibles delegates, 116 were there, which meant two credentialed people in the room didn't vote. Wouldn't have made a difference.

Then met with Sen. Margaret Dayton, who's running unopposed. She let us know some of the thing going on in the district but dismissed us a few minutes early so we could have more time to speak with candidates from other races.

Main meeting:

Casey Voeks is UCRP chair and conducted. Gov. Gary Herbert had a nice ovation, said he'd be brief, gave a 12-minute speech about all the great things going on in Utah. Utah A.G. Sean Reyes was next. He had a much louder ovation and had cheers throughout his speech. He had a standing ovation from about 75% of the delegates when talking about defending Amendment 3, and he had another standing O when he left. Rock star. He should go for Orrin Hatch's seat in 2018 whether that Tough Old BirdTM runs for re-election or not.

=Utah County Commission Seat B=

Carlton Bowen - Spent whole time talking about his love of traditional marriage, said he'd pass an ordinance to refuse marriage licenses to any same-sex couples. Lady in front of me crossed his name out once he was done.

Casey Allen - Retiring Commissioner Doug Whitney introduced her before she spoke about her experience in the office and her ability to take over.

Bill Lee - Rep. Jake Anderegg introduced him, said it was his honor - no, his privilege! - to endorse Lee. Lee mentioned his work for Sen. Mike Lee (no relation) and how he was a Republican by choice and a conservative by practice.

Oscar Saldana - Worked for county in surveyor's office for 25 years, lived in UC for 35 years.

Lorne Grierson - Endorsed by his son and then a friend who said you can always get a hold of him. Grierson spoke of varied experience, has solutions now and visions for the future.

David Acheson - Mentioned his experience in different fields, including as former chair of UCRP. Said he's against raising taxes or expanding beyond three commissioners.

Heather Jackson - She remembers as a little girl when her parents let her stay up late to see Ronald Reagan was elected president.

=Utah County Commission Seat A=

Howard Stone - Politicians get Mafia-like support from each other, and it's hard to break in. Very conspiratorial tone to his speech. We have been "brainwashed" to believe that candidates know what's best.

Johnny Revill - Rep. Jake Anderegg was up again to say it was his honor (not privilege?) to endorse Revill for Seat A. Revill asked "Is it important to have a commissioner who has a proven record of service? If yes, then I am your candidate." I tell myself right then if Anderegg personally introduces anyone else on stage today, I'm voting for the other guy.

Greg Graves - We have a debt problem. We need to change course right now. Name-drops Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. First, we need debt elimination. Second, lead by example. Third, be transparent. Pounds pulpit on "We can do better."

Gary Anderson - Gary Ratcliffe endorses him, saying he's principled and will move heaven and Earth to do what he says. "We've had a lot of fun making Utah County the best county in the universe." If you like roads and freeways, I'm your guy.

95% attendence for UCRP. 68% for SLCRP. 1547 delegates credentialled.

=Utah County Attorney=

Jeff Buhman - Sheriff Tracy endorses him. Served in Afghanistan in 2013. The only candidate with experience, I'm the only one who works with police and defense attorneys.

Ben Stanley - Went to BYU. Experienced to work for largest companies in the world, trusted by CEO's and statesmen. I love UC, but we have seen injustices here. I felt moral obligation to press the case. We need a change of culture. We don't need another prosecutor. We need a shield of true justice and integrity.

=Utah County Clerk/Auditor=

Jacob Atkin - John Dougall endorses him. I will stand together with our AG, our Gov, our state leg in defending Amendment 3. I will work to ensure everyone receives a correct ballot so no one loses their vote. UC needs to lead the way in election efficiency.

Bryan Thompson - Said he's avoided endorsements so people will know he's independent. Said he stood up for traditional marriage when he held off handing out licenses to same-sex couples.

=Utah County Recorder=

Raphael Millet - Randy Covington endorsed. Millet said he could have moved on from recorder's office, but he wants to be here, wants to be our UC Recorder.

Jeff Smith - Nearly everyone in my office is endorsing my campaign.

=Utah County Treasurer=

Kim Jackson - Kris Poulson (UC Assessor) endorsed. His slogan is Trusted. Reliable.  Experience. T.R.E. are the first three letters in "Treasurer" and that's about as creative as he gets because he's a numbers guy.

Cary McConnell - Robert Kirk (outgoing UC Treasurer) endorsed. Total of 15 years county experience. We distribute to the tax districts throughout the county. I've been safeguarding your tax dollars.

State Auditor John Dougall then gives a little speech, saying he will have been at 16 conventions today.

The first round of results for UCC Seat B were in order Bill Lee, Lorne Grierson, Heather Jackson, David Acheson, Casey Allen, Oscar Saldana and Carlton Bowen. Lee, Grierson and Jackson moved to next round.

LD48 - Keven Stretten wins 93% of vote.
LD57 - Brian Greene wins 69.8% of vote in 2nd round.
LD60 - Dana Layton (44%) and Brad Daw (56%) go to primary.
LD63 - Dean Sanpei wins 71% of vote.
LD64 - Norm Thurston wins 69% of vote.
LD66 - Mike McKell wins 65% of vote.
SD11 - Multi-county but Howard Stephenson likely nominee.

The first round of results for UCC Seat A were Greg Graves, Gary Anderson, Johnny Revill and Howard Stone. Graves and Anderson moved to the next round.

Utah GOP chair James Evans made it, gave some words. Called Utah County the center of the Utah Republican Party.

So final results:

Utah County Commissioner Seat A - Greg Graves wins
Utah County Commissioner Seat B - Bill Lee & Lorne Grierson to primary
Utah County Attorney - Jeff Buhman & Ben Stanley to primary
Utah County Clerk/Auditor - Jacob Atkin & Bryan Thompson to primary
Utah County Recorder - Jeff Smith wins
Utah County Treasurer - Cary McConnell & Kim Jackson to primary

Actual numbers here.

Some thoughts:

- Not a good day for female candidates. Rep. Dana Layton made it to primary, and all other female candidates who had an opponent lost.

- If the guy who sent the fraudulent FGA letter to LD57 delegates was a Brian Greene supporter, then his plan worked. But if you feel the need to cheat and lie to help your guy win, maybe your cause isn't that righteous. I hope they catch whoever that Jason Powers wannabe is.

- Again, I'm excited for the VoterClick app. It'll make voting go much more quickly, and those without smartphones can still vote by paper, but it'd be 20-25% of the time to add those up.

- I was there 8+ hours and left a few minutes after I cast my last possible vote.

John Swallow: Utah's Most Corrupt Politician Ever?

The full report is out on the misconduct of former Utah Attorney General John Swallow, and it is indeed a web of lies and deceit.

It's interesting because the web extends to former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and U.S. Senators Harry Reid and Mike Lee.  Here's some highlights taken directly from the report:

"The Committee’s investigation revealed that, during his tenure in the Office, Mr. Swallow compromised the principles and integrity of the Office to benefit himself and his political supporters. In so doing, Mr. Swallow breached the public’s trust and demeaned the offices he held. Indeed, the Committee concludes that Mr. Swallow hung a veritable “for sale” sign on the Office door that invited moneyed interests to seek special treatment and favors."

"Mr. Swallow compromised the Office’s position in a pending wrongful mortgage foreclosure lawsuit when he, after the plaintiffs in the lawsuit hosted a fundraiser for him, helped make the lawsuit disappear in an effort to keep his embarrassing ethical conflict from coming to light. In so doing, Mr. Swallow, with the assistance of his predecessor as Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, sold out the interests of thousands of Utah homeowners who would have benefitted if the Office had continued to  pursue the case."

"Under Utah law, a PAC has to disclose its donors, and as the Committee’s report sets out in detail, an intrepid investigator could still have connected the dots to show the  payday link behind some of the PAC donations that Mr. Swallow successfully solicited. To fully obscure the link required more sophisticated machinery, so Mr. Swallow, with the assistance of his campaign consultant Jason Powers, built that machinery."

"By using these daisy chains of entities, the Swallow political machine was able to obscure Mr. Swallow’s heavy reliance on the payday lending industry for campaign support. Moreover, channeling payday money through these dark entities had the additional benefit that the money could then be spent on negative and even misleading campaign maneuvers while allowing Mr. Swallow to deny involvement in such controversial tactics and with little risk that anyone could prove the actual connection to him."

"Mr. Powers, with Mr.Swallow’s acquiescence, authorized a push-poll designed to sway voters’ views of Mr. Reyes by asking questions like, “Would it influence your vote if you knew that Sean Reyes vandalized as a teenager, or called Mexicans ‘brown people’?” The Swallow campaign denied involvement in both the ads and the push poll, and the hidden flow of undisclosed funds made it impossible for voters to assess the campaign’s denials before Election Day 2012 arrived."

"The Committee developed concerns that some of the documents that Mr. Swallow had provided to the Committee were not authentic and had been created after the events they described in order to mislead those who might inquire about those events."

And those are just from the first few pages. It's a 200-page report. It would not surprise me to see Swallow, Shurtleff and Powers get jail-time.

Leaders Who Endorsed John Swallow

Just a reminder...

From JohnSwallow.com -

Congressman Jim Hansen 
Governor Norm Bangerter 
State Senator David Hinkins 
State Senator Howard Stephenson 
State Senator Stuart Adams 
State Senator Ralph Okerlund 
State Senator John Valentine 
State Senator Kevin Van Tassell 
State Senator Peter Knudson 
State Senator Casey Anderson 
State Senator Curt Bramble 
State Senator Wayne Niederhauser 
State Senator Jerry Stephenson 
State Senator Aaron Osmond 
State Representative Mike Noel 
State Representative Ken Ivory 
State Representative Steve Eliason 
State Representative Derek Brown 
State Representative Brad Last 
State Representative Brad Dee 
State Representative Johnny Anderson 
State Representative Roger Barrus 
State Representative Jim Bird 
State Representative Derek Brown 
State Representative Mel Brown 
State Representative LaVar Christensen 
State Representative Fred Cox 
State Representative Gage Froerer 
State Representative Brad Galvez 
State Representative Francis Gibson 
State Representative Richard Greedwood 
State Representative Stephen Handy 
State Representative Greg Hughes 
State Representative Eric Hutchings 
State Representative Don Ipson 
State Representative Todd Kiser 
State Representative Michael Morley 
State Representative Merlynn Newbold 
State Representative Jim Nielson 
State Representative Curtis Oda 
State Representative Patrick Painter 
State Representative Lee Perry 
State Representative Jeremy Peterson 
State Representative Dixon Pitcher 
State Representative Paul Ray 
State Representative Doug Sagers 
State Representative Ryan Wilcox 
State Representative Brad Wilson 
State Representative Kay McIff 
State Representative Bill Wright 
State Representative Evan Vickers

Lawyers for John Swallow -

Rob McKenna, Washington, President, National Association of Attorneys General 
Mark Shurtleff, Utah 
John Suthers, Colorado 
Lawrence Wasden, Idaho 
Marty Jackley, South Dakota 
Wayne Stenehjem, North Dakota 
Alan Wilson, South Carolina 
Pam Bondi, Florida 
Jon Brunning, Nebraska 
Sam Olens, Georgia 
Greg Zoeller, Indiana 
Luther Strange, Alabama 
Buddy Caldwell, Louisiana 
J.B. Van Hollen, Wisconsin

US Order of Succession

As of January 2014

President - Barack Obama
Vice-President - Joe Biden
Speaker of House - John Boehner
Senate pro Tempore - Patrick Leahy
Sec. of State - John Kerry
Sec. of Treasury - Jacob Lew
Sec. of Defense - Chuck Hagel
Attorney General - Eric Holder
Sec. of Interior - Sally Jewell*
Sec. of Agriculture - Tom Vilsack
Sec. of Commerce - Penny Pritzker
Sec. of Labor - Thomas Perez
Sec. of HHS - Kathleen Sebelius
Sec. of HUD - Shaun Donovan
Sec. of Transportation - Anthony Foxx
Sec. of Energy - Ernest Moniz
Sec. of Education - Arne Duncan
Sec. of Veteran Affairs - Eric Shinseki
Sec. of Homeland Security - Jeh Johnson

Other high US officers:
White House Chief of Staff - Denis McDonough
OMB Director - Sylvia Burwell
EPA Administrator - Gina McCarthy
Trade Representative - Michael Froman
UN Ambassador - Samantha Power
Ecomonic Advisers Chair - Jason Furman
Small Business Admin - Jeanne Hulit
National Security Advisor - Susan Rice
White House Counsel - Kathryn Ruemmler
Pres. Senior Advisor - Valerie Jarrett
WH Press Secretary - Jay Carney

*ineligible

State of the Union 2014

"I agree with Republicans like Senator Rubio..." is a phrase that was in this year's address

A teacher helped a student, an entrepreneur added a job, an auto worker fine-tuned a car, a farmer exported some crops, a rural doctor gave a kid some asthma medicine, a man took the bus home, and Norman Rockwell served some apple pie.

I was going to do a live-feed type reaction column, but my mind drifted after a while, I must admit. I've never had that happen before during a State of the Union address before from either party.  Yes, they're scripted, but it still provides insight into where the White House is, what they hope for. It gives us lines to read between.

Pres. Obama started on a positive note, a patriotic note, and mentioned how the war in Afghanistan was finally coming to an end. (It's still one of the most violent places on Earth, but at least we're leaving.)

The part of the SOTU that stuck out to me was this one, early on:

"Some require congressional action, and I'm eager to work with all of you. But America does not stand still, and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do."

What he's saying is that if Congress doesn't do what he wants, he'll just do it anyway via executive order. After that he lists a series of goals, and maybe I'm cynical, but I just take a "we'll see" approach to whatever he promises. I remember feeling similarly listening to Bush's 2005 SOTU address. We're going to go to the moon again? Really?

24-hour cable news = 24-hour cable op/ed page

I tend to watch a few minutes here and there from CNN, Fox News and MSNBC each week.  I also visit Mediaite a few times a week to see what else those three channels that call themselves "cable news" are up to.

It's clear that under Jeff Zucker, CNN is working on transforming itself to have more attitude, be more opinion-based.  Which I guess is fine if it's balanced and they retain enough straight-news people that when breaking news happens, some of their staff are still credible.  Jake Tapper, who should have been treated better by ABC, was a coup for CNN, and the return of Crossfire has been informative and (for the most part) polite debate.

Fox News and MSNBC might seem like the two ideological opposites, but MSNBC has really gone off the deep end trying to out-Fox Fox. A recent Pew study had these results:

CNN - 54% news, 46% opinion
FNC - 45% news, 55% opinion
MSNBC - 15% news, 85% opinion

What currently saves MSNBC's soul are the presence of Joe Scarborough and Chuck Todd.  Morning Joe is the one show on that channel where Republicans are not all evil white supremacists trying to bring back the Confederacy. Chuck Todd is the last real journalist on there, and he has to look at a former co-worker like Norah O'Donnell shining on CBS, or at how much happier Dylan Ratigan is being off TV altogether.  The death of Tim Russert meant the death of a credible cable-news wing for NBC. Just in the last month, MSNBC has had to get rid of two hosts (Alec Baldwin and Martin Bashir) for saying outrageous things. The Cycle started promising, but when S.E. Cupp left, it became another echo chamber.

That same study also showed that in 2012, MSNBC's negative-to-positive stories on Mitt Romney were 23-to-1, while on Fox News, the negative-to-positive stories on Barack Obama were 8-to-1.

As for Fox, the ratings are still there to support anything they do.  They didn't have to let Glenn Beck walk - he still brought ratings - but after one too many headache-inducing conspiracy theories, they decided to replace him with The Five, and the transition has been smooth. Eric Bolling is there to tow the company's conservative line, Andrea Tantaros and Kimberly Guilfoyle interchangeably agree, Dana Perino at least have the "former press secretary" title to offer insights others can't, Greg Gutfeld is the right-wing comedian, and Bob Beckel is the token Democrat "kids these days" grump in the group.

Sean Hannity keeps the semblance of debate on his show, though his panel is usually two conservatives and a whipping boy.  Bill O'Reilly does his "War on Christmas" stuff along with whatever else he wants to spout about that day.  Megyn Kelly has been a welcome change to their primetime lineup, as Greta was getting too stale and predictable. Kelly wouldn't interview Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin and not ask a challenging question or two.

Many days it seems like these channels exist to provide material for The Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Quick note on those two. When John Oliver took over for Stewart for three months, the Daily Show went places it usually wouldn't with Jon, and it was refreshing, and I didn't really realize that until Jon came back, and it went back to a lot of business-as-usual protect-the-White-House mode. They'll allow jabs sometimes. The best illustration of this was when Oliver did a segment on Sarah Palin, stopped himself, and said "You know what? We can ignore her" and then he didn't mention her again the rest of the summer, which is about what she deserves. When Stewart came back, anything controversial Palin said made it into the show again.

I can't even watch Colbert anymore. I'm looking forward to see what Oliver does on HBO, which really needs something besides Bill Maher's DNC commercial each week.

Live-Chat Attempt to get my password for Healthcare.gov

[4:40:58 pm]: John
When i click on the link it emailed to me, it said it cant find my profile.
[4:41:19 pm]: Chason
We have had similar issues with logins and the creation process.
[4:41:23 pm]: Chason
I apologize that you are unable to log in to your account at this time. We have a lot of visitors trying to use our website right now. That is causing some glitches for some people trying to create accounts or log in. We'll continue working to improve the site, but in the meantime, if you like, we can help you complete a Marketplace application right now over the phone. We are available to help you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-318-2596.
[4:41:37 pm]: John
I already did one
[4:41:50 pm]: Chason
Are you just trying to return for your results?
[4:42:04 pm]: John
yes
[4:42:34 pm]: Chason
Again if you are not able to login it is probably related to the same login glitches and errors we've experienced.
[4:42:38 pm]: John
But it forgot my password mere seconds after i entered it and it hasnt let me back in since
[4:42:42 pm]: Chason
I apologize for the inconvenience.
[4:43:39 pm]: Chason
You said you have tried using the "Forgot your username?" or "Forgot your password" links on the account login page?
[4:44:00 pm]: John
Forgot password
[4:46:00 pm]: Chason
It may take up to 2 hours, due to the amount of visitors to the site, to receive your new password or username. If that is still not working I can only recommend to continue to try back later, perhaps; during off-peak hours, like late at night or early in the morning. I really am sorry for all the time and trouble this has caused, it is deffinately something we are working on right not so that we can help you get covered!
[4:46:41 pm]: John
I got the email back right away, but when i click on the link it says it cant find my profile. SO are you say if I try clicking on the link later it might work?
[4:47:51 pm]: Chason
I am saying that I would continue to try back later attempting to login, there is an experation period for requesting new usernames and passwords. You may have to use the "forgot your username?" and "forgot your password?" links again.
[4:48:16 pm]: John
How many people have successfully signed up?
[4:49:05 pm]: Chason
I do not have an accurate answer to that question. But because the Marketplace recently opened for the first time, we are processing a lot of new applications. But don't worry; we'll have your application processed in time for your coverage to start on January 1.

Oh, I worry...

On That Defunding Thing

What to say?

Matt Lewis gives seven unreasons why defunding ObamaCare was never going to work.

Mitt Romney on how the current GOP is doing it wrong.

A lot of senators can't stand Ted Cruz, and not just Democrats. Why else would GOP senators give oppo research on Cruz to Fox News?

Here's the clip of Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) challenging Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) during Cruz's 21-hour quasi-filibuster.

Cruz seems to be setting himself up for 2016. I don't see how he could actually win the nomination (I still think Christie's the frontrunner, and Rand Paul and Marco Rubio are in better shape than Cruz).