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Rolly: Let’s venture down the rabbit hole to the mad tea party in Utah Republican Wacko-land

Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune Paul Rolly.

If there is a metaphor to describe what happened at the Utah Republican Party’s Central Committee meeting Saturday, it would be the mad tea party Alice attended when she visited Wonderland in Lewis Carroll’s classic 19th-century novel.

The logic displayed by a rogue group of about 70 delegates — fewer than half the full 183-member body — is comparable to the befuddlement of the March Hare, the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse, whose sophistry confounded Alice to the point of utter frustration.

In short, the Utah GOP’s governing body has gone off the rails.

The group used a party rule that if 25 percent of the Central Committee agrees, a special meeting can be called to conduct urgent business. The committee’s next regularly scheduled gathering is in May, after the April 21 state convention. So if this group wanted to launch new rules that would bind the candidates and delegates when the nominating convention is conducted, this was the time.

And these Republicans used it to thoroughly discombobulate the party by setting it up to violate state law and, as a result, possibly forfeit its right to appear on the ballot as a qualified political party.

They voted 48-21 on a resolution that says a candidate who seeks the party’s nomination through signature gathering rather than following party rules by going through the delegate convention process will be disqualified by the GOP as a candidate.

But Utah law, under 2014’s SB54, requires the party to allow signature gathering to qualify as political party.

That means the GOP would be in violation and would not be on the general election ballot. Nor would any Utah Republican candidate appear on the ballot under the Republican designation.

“The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: ‘No room! No room!’ they cried out when they saw Alice coming. ‘There’s plenty of room!’ said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.”

These Central Committee took an even further illogical step than just blatantly violating the law. They made exceptions to accommodate certain candidates.

The rule against signature gathering will apply only in the 1st and 2nd congressional districts. That’s because the Republican incumbents in those districts — Rob Bishop and Chris Stewart — have indicated they will seek the nomination through delegate votes at the convention.

But they voted to exempt the candidates in the 3rd and 4th congressional districts and in the statewide Senate race because GOP incumbents John Curtis and Mia Love, along with Senate candidate Mitt Romney, have indicated they will gather signatures as well as go through the convention process.

And, for heaven’s sake, these Republicans don’t want to disqualify them. They only want to disqualify candidates they don’t like.

“‘Have some wine,’ the March Hare said in an encouraging tone. Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. ‘I don’t see any wine,’ she remarked. ‘There isn’t any,’ said the March Hare.”

Software company CEO David Bateman, who hosted the meeting at his Entrata headquarters in Lehi and has committed more than $400,000 to retire the party’s debt and fund its lawsuit against SB54, said at the meeting that he believed Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, whose office oversees election laws, would not enforce SB54 against the party because Cox has political ambitions and won’t rock the boat.

“‘Your hair wants cutting,’ said the Hatter. He had been looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech. ‘You should learn not to make personal remarks,’ Alice said with some severity; ‘it’s very rude.’ The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, ‘Why is a raven like a writing-desk?’”

The committee also fired the party’s legal counsel and urged state GOP Chairman Rob Anderson to resign, although he refused to do so.

‘"Off with their heads!’ and the procession moved on.”

The rule change approved Saturday was sponsored by Central Committee member Brady Jugler, who told The Salt Lake Tribune it was to set up another court fight to establish that the party has control over how it nominates its candidates.

But it’s not the party making these line-in-the-sand fiats. It’s a minority group of the GOP’s governing body (about a quarter of the total membership actually voted for the proposal) that has to get its way by calling special meetings with little notice at inconvenient times to ensure most members won’t be there.

“What a funny watch!’ [Alice] remarked. ‘It tells the day of the month, and doesn’t tell what o’clock it is!’

‘“Why should it?’ muttered the Hatter. ‘Does your watch tell you what year it is?’”

And a merry unbirthday to all.