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Score one for the dissidents.
While former Republican Party insider Mike Ridgway may be a pariah among most of the party's current leadership, he logged a win Wednesday in Salt Lake City's Justice Court.
"I want to emphasize that this is not a verdict of innocence. The defendant is simply not guilty of the crime charged," said Judge L.G. "Buz" Cutler.
Cutler's ruling came after more than four hours of prosecution testimony concerning a criminal trespass charge at GOP headquarters lodged against Ridgway in March 2007. The judge ruled before hearing the testimony of any defense witnesses.
Ridgway had tried to crash an executive committee meeting of Salt Lake County's Republican Party - with a wheelchaired veteran in tow. He was ejected from the building, which serves as headquarters of the state GOP, and arrested. He spent five days in jail. "We've traditionally always had our meetings open," County GOP Chairman James Evans testified. He said he had discretion to close executive committee meetings if someone did or could cause a disruption.
Ridgway, who ran for the party's U.S. Senate nomination in 2006 against Orrin Hatch and was a former central committee member, had already incurred an injunction that forbade him from coming within 20 feet of party activist Mark Towner and his family.
Land Ray, the county party's political director at the time, was responsible for securing the building at 117 E. South Temple St., which the state party allows the county party to use.
"I try to avoid talking to Mr. Ridgway as much as possible, other than telling him he couldn't show up and be disruptive, and telling him not to follow me into the bathroom," Ray said, acknowledging a distaste for Ridgway's aggressive methods of trying to convey his message.
Evans and other party leaders said they employed the same avoidance techniques with Ridgway.
While intra-party strife was apparent, the judge said this incident did not rise to the level of criminal trespass, an infraction which carries a $132 fine.
"I don't think we're in the correct forum to bring the finality that everyone here seems to want to get," Cutler said. He likened the dispute to a messy divorce, where one spouse wants the other to leave but both have a right to be in the house.
Cutler also urged Ridgway to find more effective ways to get his point across.
"At some point you either change so you're more persuasive or you give up the fight."