Encore post from 10/5/2021
​
​ETHICS AND STANDARDS (Republican Party Platform) 
“We demand honesty, integrity, morality, and accountability of our public officials. We will work to expose and stop corruption.”

The UTGOP does not operate under a Code of Ethics or have an Ethics Committee. The following is a proposal I put together as an SCC sub-committee Chair to address this omission in our governing documents. It fell on deaf ears!

​The  purpose of an Ethics Committee is to enforce all the governing rules of the Party equally among its members.
  
It is fundamental to the success of our republican system of government that all candidates, elected officials, party members and party leaders at all levels of government be independent and impartial, place the public interest above any private interest, and not give any appearance of impropriety. To that end, it is the policy of the Utah Republican Party, and the Utah Republican State Central Committee, to take a leading role in promoting the highest standards of ethics, integrity, and transparency in government.

The hallmark of this Code of Ethics is the simple truth that the public interest is and must be supreme for those who hold positions of public trust...

The Utah Republican Party Platform is a statement of our principles and values. What does that mean and why is it important? “Principles are the internal rules we live by while values provide the general guidelines for our conduct within those rules.” So, a principle is a moral rule or belief that helps us know what is right and wrong, and a value describes the personal qualities we choose to guide our actions.

What happens when personal and political interests get in the way of our stated values and principles? You get the modern-day Utah Republican Party.

When we as a party focus solely on electing Republicans, we are pursuing our political interest to control congress and the legislature. However, if we are unwilling to strongly voice foundational principles and values that underlie these political interests, we become a joke. Just look at the dumpster fire electing Mitt Romney has created...

​REAFFIRMATION OF STATES' RIGHTS (Republican Party Platform)
We oppose congressional, judicial, and executive abrogation of the principle that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. We oppose unreasonable and intrusive federal mandates.

Are Mandatory Vaccines Constitutional?

The politicization by the left of the Coronavirus is seriously encumbering our inalienable rights protected by the Constitution. As ratified, our Constitution does not permit the government to infringe upon these inalienable rights, no matter the emergency or pandemic. These rights are granted by God, not by government so they cannot be infringed. State or Local law enforcement are not the personal militias of the Governor or any other elected official. Many police and law enforcement officials, as well as judges, care providers in public health facilities, and others acting as public officials have over-stepped these constitutional boundaries to combat the Coronavirus. It must stop. The electorate must be reminded that the rule of law stands, and no one is above the law...

THE PROPER ROLE OF GOVERNMENT (Republican Party Platform)
“We believe government properly exists by the consent of the governed and must be restrained from intruding into the freedoms of its citizens. The function of government is not to grant rights, but to protect the unalienable, God-given rights of life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.”

What are the origins of our freedoms we have come to know as human rights? Rights are either God-given as part of the divine plan, or they are granted by government as part of the political plan. Reason, necessity, tradition, and religious convictions all lead me to accept the divine origin of these rights. Because, if we accept the premise that human rights are granted by government, then we must be willing to accept the corollary that they can be denied by government...

​The National Republican Party added this statement to its Platform in 2016:
 
“A single nuclear weapon detonated at high altitude over this country would collapse our electrical grid and other critical infrastructures and endanger the lives of millions. With North Korea in possession of nuclear missiles and Iran close to having them, an EMP is no longer a theoretical concern — it is a real threat.  Moreover, China and Russia include sabotage as part of their warfare planning. Nonetheless, hundreds of electrical utilities in the United States have not acted to protect themselves from EMP, and they cannot be expected to do so voluntarily since homeland security is a government responsibility. The President, the Congress, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the States, the utilities, and the private sector should work together on an urgent basis to enact Republican legislation, pending in both chambers, to protect the national grid and encourage states to take the initiative to protect their own grids expeditiously.”

We live in a world where technology is crucial for our survival. Most of our everyday activities, from flipping a switch to make the lights come on - to obtaining our food, depend on technology developed over the years. Advanced technology has resulted in invisible infrastructures that make our lives easier and our lifestyles more comfortable.
 
So…What if I told you that in a matter of minutes, one event could simultaneously damage transportation systems…industry and manufacturing…telecommunications and computers… banking and finance…and the infrastructures for food and water throughout the US...

EQUAL RIGHTS (Republican Party Platform)
We believe that no individual is entitled to rights that exceed or supersede the God-given individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the
State of Utah.

"Perhaps you’ve had some truly shockingly cruel things said to you purely because you believe in limited government and fiscal conservatism. Perhaps you not only believe that we should be self-reliant and personally responsible, but also believe that when we are allowed to depend on ourselves, we are stronger, more successful, take greater pride in ourselves and our work, and are more likely to make positive contributions to society. And then we are happier people, or at least more likely to be happier.

Which lends to the following theory: Fear is at the core of liberalism, and love/trust is at the core of conservatism. Liberalism is about control. Conservatism is about self-empowerment...

​PREAMBLE (Republican Party Platform)
We, the Republican Party of the Great State of Utah, affirm our belief in God and declare our support for government based upon a moral and spiritual foundation. We affirm freedom for every individual as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and protected by the Constitution. We believe that citizens' needs are best met through free enterprise, private initiative, and volunteerism. We support the “Rule of Law” and believe in upholding the law of the land.

A simple definition of the word liberty is “the state or condition of people who are able to act and speak freely.”

The right to associate freely is an inalienable right and a cherished American principle. Without this freedom…there would be no political parties as we know them today.
​
The freedom to join or leave groups who share a common viewpoint was guaranteed by our Founding Fathers. It allows us, under the First Amendment, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly…or association.

Our freedom to associate guarantees our right to come together with other individuals to collectively express, promote, pursue and/or defend our common interests...

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against the UTGOP 2-1
​
Under our Constitutional Republic, the people of Utah elect representatives to govern their affairs. In order for the people to decide who governs their affairs, elections must be held. The Constitution grants states the right to prescribe the “times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives” …and the Supreme Court has held that states enjoy similar authority to regulate their own elections.

It is not uncommon for regulations enacted to run elections to impose some burden upon individual voters and/or political parties. When they do, and the burden of these regulations infringe on the constitutional rights of the individual or the party, the interests of the state with respect to any election regulations must be balanced against an individual and/or institution’s constitutional rights...

The State Central Committee (SCC), as the governing and policy making body of the Utah Republican Party of Utah (UTGOP) is a deliberative assembly. The fundamental rights of deliberative assemblies require all questions to be thoroughly discussed before taking action requiring the assistance of a Registered Parliamentarian while conducting all of its meetings. As a deliberative assembly, “the leader’s role is to facilitate the group in making decisions. The focus is on the will of the members, not the will of the presiding officer.”
 
After being elected Chairman of UTGOP in 2017, Rob Anderson “contacted the Republican National Committee (RNC) to ask for the best Parliamentarian in the RNC Western States region and they recommended Professional Registered Parliamentarian, Carrie Dickson.” She has since served as the official parliamentarian for Rob Anderson as he conducts the meetings of the UTGOP SCC. (For the record, Carrie Dickson has been providing her services as a professional parliamentarian to the UTGOP for years).
 
The National Association of Parliamentarians (NAP) is the national body that certifies Professional Registered Parliamentarians, including Ms. Dickson. According to their website, “NAP’s members are Professional Registered Parliamentarians…who have reached the highest level of proficiency in the practice of parliamentary procedure.”

​The January 27, 2017 State Central Committee Meeting of the UTGOP
 
The Utah Republican Party State Central Committee (SCC), by constitutional authority, is "the governing and policy making body of the Party." Think of like this...the SCC is the legislative branch of the Party and the Chairman is the Executive branch of the Party. While, the Chairman is elected as chief executive, by state delegates sent from their county precincts, to preside over meetings of the State Executive and Central Committees and State conventions, the SCC members are elected by their county delegates to represent their county precincts as the governing and policy making body of the Party. According to the UTGOP constitution, ALL authority rests in the legislative body (SCC). Any authority claimed by the executive branch (Chairman) must be explicitly granted by the SCC only. If constitutional authority is not explicitly granted it does not exist.
 
Who is right? ...and who is wrong?
 
In yesterday's SCC meeting, the first order of business brought to the floor concerned the body's approval of the minutes for the December 16, 2017, Special SCC meeting. A necessary procedure required for the actions taken in that meeting to be authorized. SCC member Kirby Glad made a motion, without precedence, to suspend the rules and accept the minutes of the meeting. Rob Anderson, Chair of UTGOP, immediately ignored the motion and declared the December 16, 2017, Special SCC meeting invalid. This ruling essentially ignored the accomplishments of that meeting, which included ratifying the generous offer from Dave Bateman to extinguish the SB54 debt, and made acceptance of the minutes unnecessary as, under the Chair’s ruling, they did not exist. Now before we get into the details of what happened next, I think it is important for us to review the process of the SCC conducting its business as a deliberative assembly and the rules established to govern that process.