Take the flier recently sent out by the Utah Republican Party announcing a fundraiser for five one-term GOP representatives, referred to as "The Fabulous Five."
The flier features a crude graphic of the five "fab" guys standing together in poses reminiscent of the TV series "the A-Team," although I'm not sure which one is supposed to be Mr. T.
And get this script:
"In 2007, the Utah Legislature welcomed five incredibly ingenious men to the House. Standing tall with strong conservative principles, these legislators set new standards and paved new paths toward defending and preserving freedom, liberty and justice for all."
Whoever wrote the script forgot to add "truth" and "the American Way." And why aren't they wearing capes?
In reality the five freshmen legislators - Reps. Ken Sumsion of American Fork, Keith Grover of Provo, Chris Herrod of Provo, Steve Sandstrom of Orem and Carl Wimmer of Herriman - had no stand-out legislation, but they were good at doing whatever legislative leadership told them to do.
(More powerful than a locomotive.)
Four of the five - Sumsion, Grover, Herrod and Sandstrom - are being challenged by members of their own party. Wimmer is being challenged by Dave Hogue, a former 10-year legislator who gave up his seat two years ago to run for the Senate and now is trying to reclaim it as a Democrat. The flier, as a result, has caused some flak in the GOP since party by-laws forbid party officers from taking sides in intra-party Republican races.
(Faster than a speeding bullet.)
All five dutifully followed leadership's admonition to vote for vouchers, even though Sandstrom and Grover appeared to be against vouchers until they caved to pressure from their peers.
(We'll make them an offer they can't refuse.)
The "Fabulous Five" theme in the flier seems eerily similar to gimmicks used in the past by leaders of the Utah County Republican Party.
There was the "Magnificent Seven" running for the county party's Central Committee with the flier featuring Sen. Curt Bramble, his wife and county party secretary Susan Bramble, Rep. Becky Lockhart and her husband and State Republican Party Chairman Stan Lockhart, among others.
(Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.)
And of course there was the Central Committee slate calling itself the "Reagan 17."
(Bombing begins in five minutes.)
The keynote speaker at the "Fab Five's" fundraiser, by the way, is radio talk-show host Bob Lonsberry.
(Mighty Mouse to the rescue.)
prolly@sltrib.com
