This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
West Valley City • It was a unique political fundraiser, to say the least, at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center on Tuesday night.
The fundraiser was for the brother-and-sister act of former West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder, who is running for a Utah House seat this year, and Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton, featuring a plethora of Utah politicians performing their various talents in what can best be described as a political variety show.
Newton explained to me earlier that the idea was to bring everyone together for a night of fun in a bipartisan manner, although the actual event was short on the "bi" part.
The only Democrat among a gang of Republicans was Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, who holds his own bipartisan event every year and gets GOP stalwarts to participate and do stand-up comedy.
"I felt like I owed to them to spend a few minutes making a fool of myself," he said.
McAdams wrote his own version of Adam Sandler's "The Hanukkah Song," which pays tribute to Jewish traditions during the Christmas carol season.
McAdams' song appealed to Mormons, saying that they could really be Democrats if they tried.
He warned the audience that he hadn't played his guitar since high school. Then he proved it, flubbing up a few times and starting over.
He reminded me of Tommy Smothers, the comic part of the Smothers Brothers, who made the playing of his guitar very funny.
The emcee was House Speaker Greg Hughes, who showed a video of himself, McAdams and other Republican legislators singing "Hamilton" songs while riding in his car.
The best thing I can say about Hughes' musical talents is that if there is a Z-flat on the musical scale, the Draper Republican hit it.
They also showed a video of Sen. Orrin Hatch, who couldn't be at the event but paid his respects by remote. Some say Hatch is trying to break the record of Strom Thurmond, who was still in the Senate at age 100.
The video was so scratchy, Hatch looked and sounded just like Thurmond.
The class of the night was the duet performance of Sen. Deidre Henderson, R-Spanish Fork, and Congresswoman Mia Love, who sang "Dear Theodosia" from "Hamilton" and "What Is This Feeling?" from "Wicked."
Love studied musical theater in college, and Henderson has taken voice lessons and performed in amateur theater. Those backgrounds showed in the performance.
Unfortunately, they were followed by a pseudo juggling act by state school board members Spencer Stokes and Stan Lockhart, whose ineptitude at that art suggested they ought to save their juggling for their duties of trying to provide quality education with no money.
House members tried to perform what they called the "River Dance," but it resembled something akin to frogs emerging from their tadpole states.
It also eerily revealed what goes on in closed caucus meetings.
State senators tried their hand at acting when they did a skit that purported to show scenes of brother-sister hosts of the revue as children.
Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, dressed in drag to portray Aimee, and thanks to President Barack Obama, he could use the bathroom of his choice at the Cultural Celebration Center.
Next to the Henderson-Love act, the most talented performer was Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, who did a rap along the lines of Dr. Dre or Ice-T.
Hughes said Reyes was good at the gangster rap genre, which probably wasn't the best term to use, given the history of the Utah attorney general's office.
A group of Salt Lake County mayors also performed what was supposed to be a rap, but it seemed more like an unruly city council meeting.
South Jordan Mayor David Alvord gave me a shoutout, recognizing me from the stage as everyone's favorite fiction writer.
I've written a few times about Alvord, so I understand the dig. I did get a nice applause, though.
The Winder Newton-Winder team sold 35 tables, starting at $1,500 a table, plus random individual seats. They also had some big sponsors, the most prominent being developer Kem Gardner, another Democrat, who said his $10,000 donation was a way to make up for how he's made fun of Mike Winder in the past.
Newton said that after expenses, the couple made about $40,000, which they will split for their campaign funds.