Top leadership within the Salt Lake County Republican Party voted late Thursday in a closed session to remove Central Committee member Mike Ridgway from his party leadership post. They say Ridgway has been a longtime detriment to the party, "hampering it in its work" and "disturbing its well-being." Fifteen specific "disturbances" were used as evidence in his removal. Ridgway, who was unavailable for comment after the meeting, refuted the charges in an earlier interview. His "excommunication" from party leadership was a political maneuver, he said, based on his criticism of former Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman's so-called disability removal from the November ballot. And he wasn't without support. Several individuals rallied to Ridgway's side Thursday, speaking out when members of the Executive Committee debated whether to close the meeting. "It's the Republican Repressive Party," said one woman, who had listened to Ridgway plead his cause on talk radio throughout the day. Another man was nearly kicked out after standing to videotape the proceedings after a vote was taken to ban all recording devices. Republican leadership ultimately closed the meeting after Ridgway declined to sign a waiver saying that he would not sue the party for comments made in public. - Nicole Warburton