Deseret News, May 11, 2010
Steve Mascaro

I'm wondering if you can help me find something. I have used it for more than 40 years, and you have probably used it, too. It's the Utah Republican Party. We seemed to have lost it. It was last borrowed by the tea party and Patrick Henry guys — as well as others — who have put a few nicks and dents in it. It doesn't purr quite like it used to do. It seems to screech and holler and boo and scream more than before. I think maybe they broke it. I'm not sure, because I just can't find it. And there are a whole lot of us looking for it.

Maybe we will just have to go out and get a new Utah Republican Party that respects people's differences, that understands what being kind to one another and respecting differing views really means; a party that likes to work together to solve problems — you know, the party of the big tent that President Ronald Reagan talked about. Yes, that party — the one that President Abraham Lincoln helped bring together, the one made up of Independent Northern Democrats, the Fusion Party, the Know Nothing Party, Sympathetic Whigs, Anti-Slavery Democrats, the Radical Republicans and the Conservative Republicans who came together to make our old Utah Republican Party.

Well, I think you know what I mean.

If any of you happen to run across the old, "real" Utah Republican Party and think it might still be salvageable, could you let us know where to find it?

We really miss it.

We hope to find it before it's too late.

Rep. Steven Mascaro lives in West Jordan.

Deseret News, April 18, 2010
Marc Haddock

OREM — Promoting themselves as Utah County's "mainstream party," about 150 Democrats met Saturday at Orem Junior High School for the Utah County Democratic Party convention.

"If you want to be with the extremist party, they meet next week," said Chairman Richard Davis, referring to the Utah County Republican Party convention on April 25 at Mountain View High School. "We don't boo our elected officials."

To prove the point, convention delegates gave a warm reception to Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, who has come under fire within party circles for voting with House Republicans against the health care reform package.

There was some gentle ribbing, however, as Alan Keele, who is running for Utah House District 60, held up a poster which included a drawing of a brown dog and told Matheson, "Sorry, Jim. I should have had them color the dog blue."

Matheson was wooing delegates for the May 8 state Democratic Party convention, where he'll be challenged by Claudia Wright. The boundaries for Utah's 2nd Congressional District include the northeast corner of Utah County, including American Fork, Lehi, Alpine and Highland.

Daily Herald, April 18, 2010
Genelle Pugmire

Utah County Democratic Chairman Richard Davis says his party is the mainstream political party in Utah County.

Davis made the statement at Saturday's Utah County Democratic Convention, where nearly 200 delegates, candidates and residents met to hear from the top Democratic leadership in the state, and to meet their candidates for legislative and local races.

Asking for more civility in government, and the need for two working, viable parties in Utah County, Davis said, "we're different than them," referring to county Republicans.

"We are also not the Tea Party," Davis said. "We understand their frustration. They want a fresh focus in government, and so do we."

Davis did say there are many platform similarities with local Republicans, including the anti-abortion and right to life statements, and the party being against same-sex marriages.

Keynote speaker and Utah Senate Minority Leader Pat Jones said she would normally feel uncomfortable about speaking about religion and politics in the same breath, "but in Utah County I'm forced to. In Utah, Republican is religion."

Jones listed several topics that local Democrats are addressing in their campaigns, beginning with family safety, education needs, economic growth and the development of Utah's resources -- all family issues.

Salt Lake Tribune, April 16, 2010
Donald W. Meyers

Richard Davis is hoping 2010 will be a good year for Democrats in Republican-dominated Utah County.

Davis, the Utah County Democratic Party Chairman, said the party is fielding a strong slate this year, including two former mayors, a former state Board of Education member and a former Republican legislator.

"With these candidates, there is an image change going on," Davis said. "Two years ago [socially and fiscally conservative Democrats] might have been an aberration, but maybe this isn't a flash in the pan, but something more substantial."

And, he said the Republican-dominated Legislature's fixation on message bills won't hurt the Democrats at all.

But Taylor Oldroyd, Utah County Republican Chairman, is confident the GOP will prevail, thanks in part to discontent with President Barack Obama's agenda.

"With what is happening in Washington, this is a tough year for Democrats," Oldroyd said.

Unlike the Republican Party convention, scheduled for April 24, the Democratic Convention lacks the drama of contested seats. But Davis said what is impressive is the quality of the candidates.

Salt Lake Tribune, April 7, 2010
Thomas Burr

Linnea Barney was a lifelong Republican and after years on the state school board thought she had retired in 2004 from politics and public service. Then Richard Davis called.

Davis, the head of the Utah Democratic Party, urged Barney to jump into a state Senate race as a Democrat against incumbent Margaret Dayton, whom Barney considers to be on the far right fringe of the Republican Party.

Barney switched her party registration and tossed her hat into the ring. The education activist isn't overly optimistic she can topple Dayton, but she believes voters should have a choice when they enter the polling booth in November.

"That really is the main reason," Barney says. "It's really not right to see candidates run unopposed year after year."

The Utah County Democratic Party -- which may seem an oxymoron in one of the most conservative pockets in America -- is doing its best this election cycle to ensure voters have that choice. The party is fielding 16 candidates, including challengers in every legislative race but two.

Deseret News, March 31, 2010
Marc Haddock

OREM — Democratic candidates lauded family values and the sanctity of life at a Families First gathering at Orem Junior High School Wednesday.

"Family is the most important relationship we have," Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, who is running for governor, told a group of about 70.

"My parents taught me the importance of living within our means, and that the abundant life is measured by our spiritual life and our family life, and not by our material life," he said. "My parents taught me about the sacredness of life, for the living and the unborn."

Corroon and other speakers — including U.S. Senate candidate Sam Granato, U.S. House candidate Karen Hyer, Utah House candidate Steve Baugh and two candidates for the Utah County Commission, Ted Barratt and Lane Henderson — focused on painting Democratic candidates from Utah as being supportive of families and public education, and opposed to abortion except in rare cases.

Deseret News, March 22, 2010
Marc Haddock

Linnea Barney, a two-term member of the State Board of Education and lifelong Republican, is running for the Utah Senate as a Democrat this year.

Barney said she turned to the Democrats when she attempted to get involved in local politics and found her moderate views weren't welcome in the conservative climate of the Utah County Republican Party.

"It wasn't long before I realized that the moderate, mainstream resident of Utah County didn't have a voice in the state Legislature," she said. "When the Democrats called me they convinced me that if they could field high-quality candidates, then they could make a difference in this county."

"Just because I call myself a Democrat, I haven't changed any of my family values," she said.

And Barney isn't the only one. After years of moribundity, the Utah County Democrats have fielded a respectable slate of respectable candidates for the second election in a row — many from the ranks of the GOP. And many are challenging some of the most powerful individuals in the Utah Legislature.

Karen Hyer

PROVO — Lifelong Republican Karen E. Claus Hyer plans to run as a Democrat to challenge Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, for Utah's 3rd Congressional District.

Hyer, who has taught ethics, business and constitutional law over a long academic career, said she will announce her intentions to run for office at 10:30 a.m. Thursday on the steps of the Provo City Library at Academy Square, 550 N. University Ave.

Hyer has a doctorate in education and a law degree. In addition to teaching at Oregon Health Sciences University and BYU, where she works as an adjunct professor, Hyer has been involved in numerous overseas teaching assignments, including teaching business and U.S. constitutional law in China.