This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Davis County is becoming a political science laboratory for dissecting the layers of dissent, intrigue and outright hatred among the activists of a political party supposedly working toward the same goals.
It also is the prime example of what appears to be a growing disconnect between the all-Republican elected officials and Republican Party officers whose job it is to get those Republicans elected in the first place.
I used to think the Utah County Republican Party was ground zero for dysfunction in one-party politics. (Like in Davis County, there isn't a Democrat to be found).
There was the case of the party activist suing a party officer for slander. There was the case of elected Republican officials accused of apostasy because they tried to find a compromise for immigration reform. There was the case of the bogus letter from a right-wing think tank condemning the intra-party opponents of an incumbent legislator. And, of course, there was the case of a county commission candidate winning the nomination at convention before it was revealed he had numerous bankruptcies and a theft conviction. And now there is a write-in campaign against him orchestrated by fellow Republicans.
That was all Utah County.
Davis County has them beat.
I've written about the witch hunt that members of Davis County Republican Executive Committee are conducting against the party secretary. Republican observers on the sidelines are convinced that whatever sins a special appointed investigative committe find against her, the reason for the Animal Farm-like inquisition is because she signed the Count My Vote petition that was seeking to change the candidate nominating system from a caucus/convention system to a direct primary.
Yet most of the legislators in Davis County voted for the compromise bill that provides two paths to a primary ballot — election by convention delegates who are chosen at neighborhood causes or gathering a required number of signatures on a petition, thus sidestepping the convention process.
In fact, the Davis County Republicans in the Legislature, while conservative, are among the more moderate-conservatives in that body. Meawnhile, the Davis County Republican governing board that constitutes the party's Executive Committee employ a Scarlet Letter-type intolerance toward anything those members deem impure.
While the legislators have shown they are prepared to go with the new system, the party governing board passed a resolution opposing it. And the party officers approved spending $17,000 on anti-Count My Vote efforts, while others question that priority since the party's stated mission is to elect Republicans. That means spending its money on Republicans running for office.
The previous chair of the Davis County GOP was Kris Kimball, president of the United Women's Forum, a Davis County affiliate of the Utah Eagle Forum. Her successor, whose legitimacy as chairman has been called into question, is Phill Wright. He comes from the same political incubator as Kimball.
But Davis County legislator Jim Nielson went against that Eagle Forum cabal when he twice sponsored legislation to make it easier for adopted children to find their birth parents.
Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka opposed the bill because she thought it would encourage more abortions.
Davis County Sen. Jerry Stevenson pushed through funding for the much heralded high school International Baccalaureate program despite shreeks from the Eagle Forum world that the program promoted a socialist United Nations agenda.
The latest example of a Grand Canyon-sized gap between the Davis County Republican electorate and the party's officers was the Republican Primary Election victory last month of Ray Ward in Bountiful's House District 19. Ward is a physician who favors Medicaid expansion — blasphemy to the purists — and was endorsed by former Davis County Reps. Sheryl Allen, Kim Burningham and David Irvine, all turncoats according to the right-wing ideologues who have endorsed, among other things, Count My Vote.