Salt Lake County Republican Convention

In case you didn't already know, I went to the caucus meetings and was chosen as a county delegate for my precinct. Although, part of it was because no one else wanted to. I would have liked to be a state delegate but I wouldn't have been able to attend the state convention on May 8th since it's my anniversary and I have a Primary activity to go to. Maybe next time.

This has been a fun experience. I started to realize why there weren't any volunteers. There is a lot of pressure to know what's going on and who the candidates are which means you have to go to town hall meetings and meet and greets. I did most of my research online since I have limited free time, but I was able to go to a few. Even the convention itself is time consuming, and for those of you who know me well will understand the sacrifice I made to be at the South Towne Convention Center at 8:00 on a Saturday morning. That's a 7:00 wake up time, people!

When it came down to it, it wasn't really that hard to get up early because I was really excited to go. When I got there at 8:00 I was able to wander around and talk and listen to the candidates. Which was good, because they're all really good people and it was really hard to choose between them. I ran into Jaaromy's aunt Penny and his dad who is a state delegate and so didn't really need to be there but he came for the first part just to learn more about the candidates, and also many of the state candidates were there too. I'm glad Penny was there. I was prepared to go through the day all by myself, but luckily, I didn't have to. Plus, it was helpful to hear what the other delegates were thinking. I think a lot of them were having just as hard a time deciding as I was.

We also had to register with our Legislative District. I got my ballots and my credential.


So after the mingling and registering, we sat down to listen to the speeches. There was a lot of committee type stuff ie: motion to do such and such, I second that, and so on. After that we got to hear from the candidates we were voting on. I'm glad we did, because I had gone into this part thinking I knew who I was going to vote for and in both cases I changed my mind. I say both because there were only two offices that had challengers. All the other candidates were running unopposed. But we heard from them anyway, which is good. Come November if any of you have any questions about some of the names on the ballot, I can tell you about them.

The state candidates also spoke and there was not a lot of love for Bob Bennett. One of his volunteers cornered me and Penny afterwords and we told her why we didn't like him. She didn't make a very convincing case, and yet, somehow I ended up with a Bob Bennett T-shirt. I don't think I'll be wearing it anytime soon. Speaking of T-shirts, I ended up with three!

While we waited for the ballots to be counted, we broke off into Leg Districts and since my representative, Ron Bigelow, is running unopposed we were able to ask him questions. I had never heard him speak before or even seen him. I've just heard his name. But I was really impressed with him. He answered all our questions honestly and it sounds like he's really trying to reign in spending and keep government small. If only for that, I'm glad I came. We really should know who our representatives are.

Well, in the end, both of the guys I voted for won. Although one of them didn't win with over 60% of the vote so their race will go to the Primary. I'm glad because I had the hardest time deciding who to vote for in this race so it will be good to learn more about them before the Primary in June. If any of you are registered Republicans I hope you'll vote in the Primary.