This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A recent story in right-leaning Newsmax listing the 50 most influential African-American Republicans seems to put great importance on the relationship and level of support for President Donald Trump.

That may be why Utah Republican Party Chairman James Evans is on the list and Rep. Mia Love is not.

In fact, Love's absence from the list is mystifying, given that she is the first black Republican woman ever elected to Congress and spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

But Love did not support Trump when he was running for president.

While Utah's convention delegation went for Ted Cruz over Trump and even participated in a maneuver to wrest the GOP nomination away from him, Evans made it clear that if Cruz dropped out, Trump was their man.

Newsmax founder Christopher Ruddy is a close friend and staunch defender of Trump.

Other African-American notables left off the list were former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell — both associated with the Bush family.

No. 1 on the list is Ben Carson, who is Trump's secretary of housing and urban development. No. 2 is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The top 10 also includes Katrina Pierson, national spokeswoman for Trump's 2016 campaign; Darrell Scott, a member of Trump's transition team; Bruce LeVell, executive director of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump; and Omarosa Manigault, who directed the Trump campaign's African-American outreach.

Evans was 20th on the list. Another African-American with Utah ties is former Utah Jazz superstar Karl Malone, a gun-rights advocate. He was listed at No. 42.

Whose Constitution is it? • Visitors to congressional offices often are handed complimentary copies of the U.S. Constitution produced by the Government Publishing Office (GPO).

But visitors to Sen. Mike Lee's Salt Lake City office have gotten a different version — printed by the National Center for Constitutional Studies, which was founded by author, lecturer and educator Cleon Skousen.

A strict devotee of originalist theory of the Constitution, Skousen is a hero to many tea party types who believe misinterpretations of the Constitution have guided the country toward socialism.

Copies of the center's version of the Constitution were displayed prominently by the anti-government protesters who took over a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon last year.

A constituent was told by a Lee staffer that the Utah senator is so adamant about handing out the Constitution that he often runs out of the official GPO copies, so he collects and distributes various versions that are available, including ones from the American Civil Liberties Union.

The staffer said the distribution does not reflect any particular ideology or interpretation of the country's founding document. The constituent did note, however, that when he went to Sen. Orrin Hatch's office in the same building, he got the official GPO version.

Chaffetz's priorities • Amid speculation about FBI Director James Comey's testimony that the agency is investigating possible ties between Russia's involvement in the presidential race and Trump's campaign, Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, has been oddly silent.

Instead, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has broad investigative authority over the executive branch, is focused on a much more dangerous threat to U.S. democracy than Russian spying: Rosie O'Donnell.

While more information surfaces about ties between Russian and Trump associates, Chaffetz has been reaching out to donors to help him counter O'Donnell, the liberal entertainer who has contributed to the congressman's potential 2018 Democratic opponent.

This comes despite calls by Democrats in Congress and Chaffetz's own constituents to use his committee to delve into the Russian allegations.

Meanwhile, calls to Chaffetz's office last week from constituents who wanted him to vote against the health care reform bill went unanswered. And they couldn't leave a message because the mailbox was full.