I am running to replace Chris Stewart in Congress on the United Utah Party ticket
Rep. Chris Stewart recently sent out a press release bragging that he “will NOT gather signatures for 2020 re-election bid but will instead focus on GOP delegates.” By doing so, he’s basically telling all other Utah voters that he isn’t interested in them, or that he doesn’t believe he represents them in Congress. He just cares about the shrinking minority of Utah voters who think like the narrow-minded Utah Republican delegates.
“I was originally elected by delegates in 2012 (before signatures were an option) and fully embrace and endorse Utah’s caucus/convention system,” Stewart said. “I look forward to meeting with as many delegates as possible in the coming weeks and months.” He bragged that with Rob Bishop retiring, he will be the “only sitting GOP member of Utah’s federal delegation to have never gathered signatures to secure his position in a GOP primary election.”
As a former Utah Republican state delegate several times over, I know these Republican delegates Mr. Stewart exclusively caters too. They are the people responsible for driving Senator Bob Bennett from office in 2010. I was a Republican legislative district chair in Salt Lake City that year, chairing the caucus meetings in Sen. Bennett’s home neighborhood. He attended that meeting, as did reporters from across the country. The New York Times reporter who was there sat with me for an extended interview, trying to understand the absurdity of a political system that would deny a very popular, highly regarded sitting Senator an opportunity to be at least on the primary ballot.
Let’s be clear: even in years with best-ever attendance at caucus meetings, only a very small minority of registered party members are able to attend. Many people can’t attend because of real-world obligations. To suggest that caucuses somehow empower the average voter is ridiculous. Primary ballots empower the average voter. Caucuses, as they are run in Utah, empower the tiny minority of voters. Most of these caucus attendees, especially the ones who go on to become precinct officers and delegates, are driven to participate by personal issues like anger (think Tea Party), or ego. They dominate these caucus meetings not with real-life issue discussions, but with endless procedural nonsense and political vendettas. Sen. Bob Bennett was a decent man and a committed public servant. But at these caucus meetings and the subsequent convention, he was treated with vulgarity and meanness by this very tiny minority of voters who Rep. Stewart exclusively embraces.
I served as a Republican state delegate again in 2012, the year Mr. Stewart first ran for Congress. I met him in person and asked him if he would seek to represent all Utahns if he were fortunate enough to be elected. Because he promised he would do so, I gave him my vote at convention that year. Obviously, he isn’t keeping that commitment. He is only thinking about how popular he will be with the Republican state delegates who have been fighting the very popular Count My Vote initiative in every way they can, legitimate or not.
As LaVarr Webb, a Utah political commentator, has stated: “I don’t have a problem with any candidate going through the caucus/convention system and declining to gather signatures. But to brag about it risks alienating mainstream Republicans who don’t want delegates making decisions for them.” I would add that the same goes for unaffiliated and Democrat Utah voters, whose numbers are far greater than the right-wing crazies who control the caucus/convention system as delegates. They want a Congressman who does care about what people outside the Republican convention hall think.
I am running to replace Mr. Stewart in Congress on the United Utah Party ticket. If, like me, you seek leadership that unites our society rather than dividing us for political gain, then I invite you to visit jarvisforcongress.com and support my campaign. I would be happy to come visit with your community group or your neighbors. Help me restore justice, equity, integrity, and the rule of law to how Congress does its business. If you seek change for America, start by changing Congress.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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