Instead of dialogue about the six affidavits Houskeeper had gathered - dealing with alleged delegate stacking and questionable voting - attorney Russ Skousen read a portion of Utah law stating she should have filed her complaint in district court within 10 days of the April 26 convention. Therefore, her challenge was moot.

"I highly question the relevancy of that law in this case," Houskeeper said Tuesday. "I consider it more of a continuation of their shenanigans in trying to throw me off the trail."

However, at this point Houskeeper said she has no plans to pursue legal action.

Late last month, Houskeeper challenged results of her race against incumbent Rep. Bradley Daw, in which a one-vote switch would have pushed it to a public vote in the June 24 primary.

Marian Monnahan, who chairs the Utah County GOP, responded to Houskeeper by setting up the May 12 session.

Monnahan believes Houskeeper got a fair shake.

"We sought an independent opinion" - that of non-Republican Salt Lake City attorney Dan Berman, Monnahan said.

Berman said that party officials had asked his advice over another failed candidate's dispute of convention voting practices. At that time, the 10-day period had already lapsed, he added.

"I did not know the specifics of Houskeeper's challenge," Berman said. "I gave them definitive advice without going into who said what when."

Those intra-party communications - or lack thereof - form the heart of Houskeeper's complaint.

According to Houskeeper, three replacement delegates needed to be appointed in her district, but two slots stayed empty through the convention because names were submitted after a cut-off date. Houskeeper and others said they were unaware of any deadline.

A signed affidavit from Kip Meacham, an Orem precinct chair, said that a March training session lacked key information.

"We reviewed the 2008 Voting Precinct Calendar," Meacham wrote. "This review was void of any discussion regarding any cut-off date for the appointment of replacement delegates."

Dana Layton, who chaired another Orem precinct, believes her area was disenfranchised "through no fault of our own."

"We attempted in good faith to follow every instruction given to us by our party leaders in order to get a replacement delegate," Layton wrote in her signed affidavit. "In following those instructions, we were still disenfranchised."

"Being informed of the proper procedure after the fact is of no value," Layton noted.

Houskeeper said she met with Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert on Tuesday.

"My hope is that he will be able to assist in our efforts to straighten out the actions of the county party leadership and restore the party back to the people."

cmckitrick@sltrib.com