There's significant news concerning the Count my Vote citizens initiative petition drive this morning, as UtahPolicy.Com announces that the Utah GOP is throwing in the towel on its effort to launch its own previously announced preemptive petition-style counter-measure. Bob Bernick's lede provides the gist:
Despite being specifically authorized to run a pro-caucus/convention citizen petition this year, because of time and money constraints the State Republican Party will not go forward with its own citizen initiative drive.
GOP chairman James Evans told UtahPolicy this week that “I have to concentrate all my efforts” on preparing for the March 20 statewide GOP neighborhood caucuses, where county and state party delegates will be chosen.
"Evans finds himself between a rock and a hard place," Mr. Bernick notes. It appears that the "moderate Republican" faction, "often local businessmen, who fund the Utah GOP operations," are fully aboard the Count My Vote bandwagon, and he's likely fearful that if the Utah GOP caters to party extremists and pursues the counter-initiative strategy, Utah GOP funding will dry up. Needless to say, "[a] bitter internal fight over CMV could tear apart the coalition that keeps the state Republican Party running smoothly," Mr. Bernick adds.
For those Weber County Forum readers who haven't yet signed the petition, here's where you can find a hard-copy Count My Vote petition awaiting your signature, by the way:
Don't sit on your thumbs, WCF readers. Even though the CMV initiative drive is moving forward with a "full head of steam," having "raised more than $800,000 in 2013," the task of gathering "at least 102,000 signatures statewide, with 10 percent of the signees coming in 26 of the 29 state Senate districts," is a daunting one, indeed. Everyone who'd like to pry the Utah political nominating process from the hands of the current pack of political extremists and party bosses who currently control the Utah election process obviously needs to pitch in and help out now.
