The announcements are beginning.  On January 8, Steve Baugh announced he was running for the state legislature in District 58--as a Democrat.  One week later, Gwyn Franson did the same in District 27.  And there are more to come. 

We are delighted to see these candidates (and the ones who will be announcing shortly) step forward to serve--not just as candidates but as state legislators dedicated to making better public policy.

But it isn’t enough for them to step forward.  All of us need to do so as well.  The party needs volunteers. We need you to contact us and give us your time and talents and money.  Even if you can’t give much, even a little bit will help. 

Please write to Hinckley Jones-Sanpei, our secretary, at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and offer to help.  We will get back with you right away and hook you up with a committee or legislative district or a candidate where you can be of the most service.

I was hopeful that the county party would have a new constitution by this time.  The Rules Committee spent quite a bit of time rewriting the constitution of the county party over the past few months.  But the new constitution needed a 2/3 vote of the Central Committee. It received slightly less than 2/3 and therefore was rejected.  I was disappointed.  The county party desperately needs a new constitution and the draft prepared by the Rules Committee was a vast improvement over the existing constitution. Hopefully we can have a new constitution before too long.

Through the efforts of many people in the party, we’re making progress in shaking up politics in Utah County. Now we need to work hard to elect our legislative candidates so they can shake up policy in behalf of all of Utah’s citizens.