Utah Federation of Republican Women
Contacts:
Darcy Kruitbosch, President, UFRW 801-510-2349
Kathleen Handy, President, WRC of SLC 801-755-9795
Dear Republican Women,
We received a copy of the Mike Lee campaign statement regarding his withdrawal from the U.S. Senate debate scheduled for this evening 6 p.m., June 19, 2010 at Merit Medical, 1600 Merit Parkway, South Jordan, Utah.
Because we have received many questions about the discrepancies in our news release and the Lee campaign statement, we wanted to clear up the confusion.
Here is the Lee campaign statement:
"In regards to the UFRW debate, the campaign has had eight joint appearances and debates with the opponent this week alone, including four today. The UFRW changed the venue location from the neutral location of the University of Utah to our opponent's finance chairman's business. We were not allowed to insert a campaign volunteer into the question vetting process. As such, we have determined not to attend the debate, but welcome voters to attend public debates either tonight at UVU or on in Bountiful on Saturday. Details on the debates are on our website http://www.mikelee2010.com/eventsThe event sponsors, UFRW and the RW of SLC, did not change the venue. The event was originally scheduled at the Merit Medical, a location generously provided by Fred Lampropoulos to many community organizations. The candidates confirmed their appearance at this event through their schedulers.
Since the event location, moderator, and questions screeners were all endorsee's of the Bridgewater campaign, and we were not allowed to participate in any of this, along with the fact that there have been 8 other debates this week alone, the campaign decided to cancel this debate.
I hope this does not cause you too much inconvenience, but it was the only choice we could make given our situation.”
Neither the Bridgewater nor the Lee campaigns requested a volunteer to be involved in the “question vetting process.” An email went out to the presidents and board members soliciting suggestions. The moderator, former Governor Olene Walker, was organizing those questions.
The event organizers have not publicly endorsed either candidate.
We have extended an apology to Governor Olene Walker for any inconvenience this change may have caused. We welcome all Republican women and their spouses to join us in a celebration of Republican Women. Tim Bridgewater will be there to meet with us and to answer questions from 6 until 7:30 p.m. We look forward to seeing you tonight. Please RSVP to one of us or on our Facebook page.
Darcy and Kathleen
