Most fingers point to Utah's popular Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who, critics say, has disassociated himself from the party, abrogated his responsibility as titular head of the party and alienated key Republican contributors. The result: No matter who wins the chair, he or she will not have the full support of party activists and officeholders who already have broken into several factions.
Each of the four leading candidates has problems:
* Former Utah County GOP chairman and Micron lobbyist Stan Lockhart is close friends with Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo. The party is brimming with rumors that Bramble is gearing up to challenge Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, next year, in a battle that could toss the Senate into a Republican civil war. Lockhart and his wife, Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, are so close to Bramble and his wife Susan their nickname on Capitol Hill is "the Bramharts." The concern is that a Lockhart chairmanship would put the party behind Bramble's personal ambitions, to the possible detriment of other Republicans.
* Former Salt Lake County Council member Steve Harmsen is seen as an unpredictable maverick. As a councilman, he routinely castigated fellow Republicans for "irresponsible spending" and their resistance to election reforms.
* Nancy Lord, the current Republican National Committee member from Utah, is sympathetic to a group of Republican dissidents who constantly chastise party officials for ignoring GOP bylaws and the party's constitution. She has been a defender of one dissident, Mike Ridgway, who has twice been cited for trespassing at party events after officials, claiming he is disruptive, banned him from holding offices within the party.
* Aaron Bludworth, CEO of Modern Display, has also been criticized in an e-mail from Bramble's wife, Susan, for claiming he is free of conflicts when his company has had several contracts helping to stage Republican events. Bludworth countered in a letter that his company has donated much of its work for party events.
The free-for-all atmosphere can be attributed to Huntsman's decision to stay out of it after his earlier choice, national committeeman Fred Lampropoulos, withdrew from consideration because he felt mistreated by the Huntsman administration.
Lampropoulos, who contributed more than $100,000 to Republican candidates and party operations last year, says he agreed to take the job after chairman Joe Cannon resigned to become editor of the Deseret Morning News. Lampropoulos says he wanted to get started in February and Huntsman agreed. But when then-acting state chair Enid Greene said she wanted to stay on until the June convention, Lampropoulos was told he would have to wait. The call, he says, came from Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, not Huntsman. He says he will not run again for national committeeman, is done with the party and will contribute no more.
The GOP tradition is for the major officeholder next in line for re-election to handpick the party chairman so they can work closely together. Huntsman's decision to buck tradition may have knocked the party on its ear.
