Letter to the Editor: Republican Response

By BILL DELLOS
CHAIRMAN Emery County Republicans

Dear Editor:
This letter is in response to the letter written by the editor on April 27 stating that she had the privilege of attending the Emery County Republican Convention and the Emery County Democratic Convention and compared the two conventions. The Republican County Chairman deviated from the agenda and allowed John Swallow to speak out of turn and the editor indicated this was not fair.
John Swallow felt it was important and felt obligated to attend the Emery County Convention but also felt an obligation to San Juan because it had been requested by both counties for him to be at their convention. The only way he felt this problem could be handled was to fly from one convention to another.
As chairman, I was concerned about the effect on Tim Bridgewater’s representatives and David Wilde and they were consulted about John Swallow speaking early. They said it was not a problem with them. The other executive officers were also consulted about allowing John Swallow to speak early. It was fine. I told the county delegates and the audience that John Swallow needed to speak early as he had a plane to catch. Was there any objection? None were expressed. The convention preceded from there as outlined. I didn’t realize when I said John Swallow had a plane to catch it would be interpreted that he had an emergency.
It was felt by several that it was to Swallow’s disadvantage to speak early as a candidate and then leave and more advantageous for those who stayed and spoke because they had the opportunity to counterbalance what had been said as opposing candidates. Often incumbents are given that choice and choose to speak last. Both Brad Johnson and Drew Sitterud had that choice and chose to speak last.
If any other candidate had felt the need to leave early, that individual would have been given the same consideration.
I consulted outside of the county about how to have Governor Olene Walker appear on the program. They felt although it is a privilege to have her in attendance but their understanding is that she is also attending as a candidate and would be speaking as a candidate. It is realized that she runs a tight schedule. Had she asked for an opportunity to speak early that opportunity would have been given.
During previous Emery County Republican Conventions, Carbon and Emery have had candidates leaving so they could appear at both conventions. For some reason the State Republicans changed the procedure. All during the month of April county conventions were being held with two or more on each scheduled night. Candidates had to make a decision which was tough. I am grateful for the candidates and candidate representatives that made the effort to attend the Emery County Convention so that our county could become better acquainted with them.
Another matter to be discussed is a letter that was sent to the Emery County Progress expressing feelings on the job Jim Matheson has done. The editor expressed that she had been ‘duped’ into believing that a letter that was sent to the Progress signed by local Republican leaders and believed it had been written by them. The Progress states that this “letter was not generated by our local Republican leaders, but had come from the campaign headquarters of John Swallow and our people had signed their name to it.”
The letter was written by Mike Bardon of Vernal. Mr. Bardon is a citizen and a Republican, not a Republican leader, from Vernal that did not like the things he was reading about Mr. Matheson. He liked what he had seen of John Swallow and read about John Swallow. Therefore Mr. Bardon wrote the letter and sent it to John Swallow’s campaign. He gave his permission to anyone that wanted to use it. The letter was then forwarded to a couple of us. We liked the letter and agreed wholeheartedly with Mr. Bardon. As Mr. Bardon, we were concerned about Jim Matheson’s voting record. Mr. Bardon was called and the letter was discussed. His permission was given to us to change some of the wording and to add two additional paragraphs of our own discussing how Jim Matheson mishandled RS2477. Drew Sitterud was consulted on the matter to make sure the information we were writing was correct. The letter was signed by Mike Bardon, Vernal, Paul Jensen Ferron, Bill Dellos, Orangeville, Karen Dellos, Orangeville and Evelyn Huntsman, Ferron. The letter was not intended as letters from Republican leaders and not signed as such, but as citizens of Emery County voicing our opinion with Mr. Bardon and was written by us.
Other counties may have used Mike Bardon’s original letter and signed their names to it because he said they could. The letter was not written by John Swallow’s campaign people.
However, the Progress did not print the last paragraph of this letter because we were endorsing John Swallow. Therefore, the letter said nothing about John Swallow. We were told the Progress tries to remain impartial and did not want to appear as they were endorsing anyone.