Utah Dem Chair Election: "House of Cards if everyone's on cough syrup"

[Zioneer]

So the race for Utah Democratic Party Chair has gotten pretty crazy this year, and I'd like to tell the story of why, who, and how. I'll provide some links to articles, but I won't actually quote them.

So this all began when incumbent chair Peter Corroon announced he would not be running for re-election. He had taken over for another previous chair after the predecessor resigned for health reasons. Corroon has been a pretty moderate chair, and oversaw the loss of our last Congressional seat, but not much else. The election for a new chair was set for June 17 (in two days now).

Nine candidates soon appeared, and I would generally classify them into three groups. First were the "uniters/establishment" group, which included Nadia Bowman (a relative political newbie, but experienced with recent campaigns) and Rob Miller (arch-establishment, a former party vice-chair and treasurer). Second were the "Berniecrats", who generally based their campaigns on Bernie Sanders-esque motivations. These included Julianne Waters, Sarah Scott, and Daisy Thomas. Third were the candidates I saw as "no-hopers" or single-issue candidates. These included Neil Hansen, Leonardo Gutierrez, Ed Schwartz, and Archie Williams.

The front-runners were the "uniters" Bowman and Miller, and it looked like it'd clearly be a race between those two and maybe a strong Berniecratic candidate. None of the others really had any hope. Then about two weeks ago, seven women came forward with a public letter accusing Rob Miller of sexual harassment, including unwanted touching and exposing his LDS garments to women (he was active LDS at the time the alleged harassment happened).

Miller denied everything of course, and some of his supported accused Bowman of orchestrating the allegations, as some of the women happened to be Bowman supporters. They claimed she had a reputation for shady tricks despite her political inexperience. Miller tried to hold on despite the allegations, and even attended a candidate forum, but after being publicly shamed by some activists, he dropped out of the race, still claiming dirty tricks and the Democratic party itself. So, crisis averted, right? Not so!

A few days after Miller drops out, a mysterious email by a "John Carmen" is sent to delegates (including myself), claiming misdeeds by other chair candidates as well. The email claims that Sarah Scott has an unpaid traffic ticket, Archie Williams is anti-LGBT, and that Daisy Thomas is a marijuana smoker that will turn party control over to her former boss. The email even helpfully provides an address with a family name... that happens to be a badly misspelled version of Bowman's maiden name. Naturally this email makes everyone angry, and a local political reporter says that "The whole affair would seem like "House of Cards" if Francis and Claire Underwood took a bunch of allergy medicine and cough syrup before making plans to screw their political opponents."

But wait, there's more! Yesterday, three days before the convention, it turns out that some Democratic delegates are attempting to elect a candidate from the floor, despite that being a flagrant violation of party rules and liable to tear the party apart.

And so everyone is going into June 17th and the convention very, very high-strung. It doesn't help that the Democratic nomination for the special election in Congressman Jason Chaffetz's seat will also be decided at the convention.

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

Calling it right now, Sarah Scott sent that email. She has the least damaging incriminating information of the accused

[Coraxion]

I think it's pointless to even be talking about it tbh. Utah may be winnable for Democrats outside of Salt Lake County one day due to people moving in from out-of-state and young people leaving the church, but that day is far away from now.

[Zioneer]

Calling it right now, Sarah Scott sent that email. She has the least damaging incriminating information of the accused

Well, she's supposed to be one of the more hardcore Berniecrats and allegedly has a tremendous ego, so... maybe. She denied any connection, as did her preferred vice-chair choice Margitena Satinti, who had similar allegations made against her (stuff like traffic tickets, not masterminding the whole thing).

I think it's pointless to even be talking about it tbh. Utah may be winnable for Democrats outside of Salt Lake County one day due to people moving in from out-of-state and young people leaving the church, but that day is far away from now.

Oh, it's probably pointless (though with a good chair maybe we could reclaim UT-04 and a few state house seats), but it's been a crazy enough story that I thought it was worth sharing.

[Coraxion]

Oh, it's probably pointless (though with a good chair maybe we could reclaim UT-04 and a few state house seats), but it's been a crazy enough story that I thought it was worth sharing.

I'm also intrigued by the Senate seat. Jim Matheson could make it competitive, especially if Orrin Hatch doesn't retire or get primaried. In fact, there was some polling for 2012 with Matheson as a candidate that was promising. I can't post links yet though.

[Zioneer]

Oh, it's probably pointless (though with a good chair maybe we could reclaim UT-04 and a few state house seats), but it's been a crazy enough story that I thought it was worth sharing.

I'm also intrigued by the Senate seat. Jim Matheson could make it competitive, especially if Orrin Hatch doesn't retire or get primaried. In fact, there was some polling for 2012 with Matheson as a candidate that was promising. I can't post links yet though.

Unfortunately, I don't think Matheson has any interest in running for Senate (or Governor), and he seems comfortable in his lobbying job. I have seen those polls and I do think that with a little luck, he could defeat Hatch. But I simply don't think he'll do it. If he was going to, he would have entered by now.

Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson is all but running, and she seems like a pretty good candidate, considering who we usually get.

[NOVA Green]

Thanks for the detailed update and post Zioneer.... you're always a top notch poster when it comes to anything involving Utah politics.....

I have no idea wtf happened in that whole saga that you described, although I do have to wonder if there were dirty tricks being played from outside, since apparently all candidates were accused of various misdeeds of one sort or another, in a national political environment where Utah politics have recently in the course of the 2016 General Election, as well as Chaffetz stepping down and UT-03 opening up as a 2018 battleground.

Any way you look at it, these stories don't appear to make the Democratic Party of Utah look like a solid entity in an unexpected State to see Trump garner <50% of the GE Vote in '16, where many Republican Voters defected from their flag bearer to support a 3rd Party insurgent.

[Zioneer]

Former Sanders delegate Daisy Thomas becomes new Utah Democratic Party Chair

http://www.sltrib.com/news/5414118-155/after-wild-race-democrats-elect-daisy

Honestly, this is excellent news. Daisy was the candidate accused of marijuana smoking, but otherwise was not involved with the suspicious emails and controversies at all, and she specifically geared her convention speech towards healing and uniting the party. I think Daisy and the rest of the new party executive committee will do well and reuniting the Utah Democrats, and perhaps we can get back to reclaiming a few state house seats. Bit by bit, we have nowhere to go but up!

Side note: the new executive committee is entirely under 40, and is very diverse; including an Asian-American, Latino (who is also LGBT), and at least one Mormon, maybe two. And they have extensive experience within the party, though all of them have less experience than Rob Miller, who made a lot of enemies.

[GoTfan]

Former Sanders delegate Daisy Thomas becomes new Utah Democratic Party Chair

http://www.sltrib.com/news/5414118-155/after-wild-race-democrats-elect-daisy

Honestly, this is excellent news. Daisy was the candidate accused of marijuana smoking, but otherwise was not involved with the suspicious emails and controversies at all, and she specifically geared her convention speech towards healing and uniting the party. I think Daisy and the rest of the new party executive committee will do well and reuniting the Utah Democrats, and perhaps we can get back to reclaiming a few state house seats. Bit by bit, we have nowhere to go but up!

Side note: the new executive committee is entirely under 40, and is very diverse; including an Asian-American, Latino (who is also LGBT), and at least one Mormon, maybe two. And they have extensive experience within the party, though all of them have less experience than Rob Miller, who made a lot of enemies.

Yes!

Form what I've seen, Utah Democrats seem to have a soft spot for Bernie.

[MAINEiac4434]

Former Sanders delegate Daisy Thomas becomes new Utah Democratic Party Chair

http://www.sltrib.com/news/5414118-155/after-wild-race-democrats-elect-daisy

Honestly, this is excellent news. Daisy was the candidate accused of marijuana smoking, but otherwise was not involved with the suspicious emails and controversies at all, and she specifically geared her convention speech towards healing and uniting the party. I think Daisy and the rest of the new party executive committee will do well and reuniting the Utah Democrats, and perhaps we can get back to reclaiming a few state house seats. Bit by bit, we have nowhere to go but up!

Side note: the new executive committee is entirely under 40, and is very diverse; including an Asian-American, Latino (who is also LGBT), and at least one Mormon, maybe two. And they have extensive experience within the party, though all of them have less experience than Rob Miller, who made a lot of enemies.

Honestly this sounds utterly fantastic.