There’s a major political fight stretching on in Utah. This one’s not between Republicans and Democrats: It’s Republican-on-Republican brawling.
In 2014 the state legislature passed a law that changed the state’s primary process.
[The] compromise legislation — aimed at halting a ballot initiative that would have ended traditional convention nominations — created a hybrid system that allows candidates to qualify for a primary election through either the convention system or signature gathering.
To be clear, it was a Republican legislature that passed the bill, SB54. Problem is, they didn’t consult the Utah Republican party, and the party took their grievances to federal court.
[The] lawsuit, filed Friday, Jan. 15, [2016] by the state GOP, asks U.S. District Judge David Nuffer to block enforcement of SB54 and allow the Republican Party to disqualify candidates who gather signatures but bypass the caucus/convention nominating process. The complaint, which names Gov. Gary Herbert and Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox as defendants, also questions SB54’s high signature-gathering thresholds. Both Herbert and Cox are Republicans.
Governor Herbert, who signed the bill, hasn’t been shy about his opposition to the party’s suit.
The Utah Republican Party would be wise to drop its lawsuit against the state over the candidate nomination process, Gov. Gary Herbert said Thursday.
But with oral arguments coming later this month in a federal appeals court, the GOP governor said he really doesn't care at this point.
"Let's get it through the courts. Let's see what they say and then react to that," Herbert said at his monthly KUED news conference. "But once we get beyond that, I think Senate Bill 54 ought to stay as the law of the land unless somehow the courts overturn it."
Party chair Rob Anderson announced the party would be dropping the suit on November 2 but two days later the party’s central committee had flip-flopped. Problem is, this internecine legal battle has already bankrupted the party.
Division among Utah Republicans appeared near breaking point Saturday as factions within the party fought over a state elections law and legal challenge that has created a mountain of debt.
The party has about $25,000 in the bank and $423,000 in bills, an accountant told more than 100 members of the Utah Republican Party Central Committee at a meeting in Park City.
Much of the debt was created by legal bills from two law firms representing the party in an ongoing legal challenge over SB54, a 2014 law that dictates how candidates can make it to the ballot. Donations to the party have dried up as a result, officials said.
The party’s central committee resolved to continue the suit without “paying another dime.” It’s not clear how they intend to pull that off, especially given that the fates of the suit and the debt hang on ongoing intra-party disputes.
In a somewhat dramatic turn of events, CEO Dave Bateman has big-footed Anderson, who wants to drop the suit, by going to the central committee with an offer to pay the $400,000 legal debt and fund the lawsuit. Bateman claims Anderson’s guilty of collusion; Anderson claims Bateman's offer is well short of that mark. The central committee decided to meet without either.
Of course, the real mystery is why anyone would want to ditch the old convention system after it produced winners like Jason Chaffetz and Mike Lee.