Adopted
October 28, 2023
1600 W Towne Center Dr, South Jordan, UT 84095
Chair Rob Axson opened the meeting at 10:11am and offered a prayer. Jamie Munns, Box Elder County, led the pledge of allegiance. Whit Cook, Tooele County, read the National Security and Public Protection platform plank.
Carlos Moreno, Salt Lake County, made a presentation about new US citizens. Three invited guests registered as Republicans live in the meeting.
Joe Levi made a motion to suspend the first part of bylaw 3B to accommodate the mic set up in this room, which only allowed for one mic to address the chair instead of two. Seconded and passed.
Rob announced that the media would not be allowed into our SCC meetings in the future. We have a new media policy that was in effect today but no media attended and so no credentials had been given.
Aimee Winder Newton, Salt Lake County, made a motion to adopt the agenda. It was seconded and adopted at 10:32am.
Preliminary credential report was 119.
The minutes of Aug. 19th, 2023 were adopted without correction.
National Committeeman, Brad Bonham, offered an officer report. National Committeewoman, Anne-Marie Lampropoulos, made an officer report. Vice Chair, Kim Coleman, made an officer report. Secretary, Stafford Palmieri Sievert, made an officer report. Chair, Rob Axson, made an officer report. He also addressed the Party’s financial situation in McKay Newell’s absence.
Stafford Palmieri Sievert announced that attendance was 139, of which 34 were online and 105 were in person.
Rob presented that we had an auxiliary who was not in compliance, the Utah Latino Coalition. Based on the motion that was passed by the Executive Committee at the July 31st Executive Committee meeting, the Executive Committee’s recommendation to the SCC was to remove the auxiliary status of the Utah Latino Coalition. The Latino Coalition could reapply at a future Executive Committee meeting once they were in compliance. The language of the Executive Committee motion, which had been passed, was: “The Executive Committee recommends to the SCC that those organizations which have not yet compiled be granted a probationary period until October’s SCC meeting to work with the EC per bylaw 3.0 D to provide documentation of their compliance, and the EC will report at the next SCC meeting.”
Chad Saunders, Tooele County, made a motion to table the motion until the next meeting. It was seconded. There was an objection and a debate. The 10 minutes had expired. Fred Cox made a motion to extend the debate by 5 minutes. It failed.
Then we moved to the motion to table. Motion to table failed.
Carlos Moreno, Salt Lake County, made a motion to remove the auxiliary, this motion was moved out of order. The issue was put to a vote. The motion passed and the Utah Latino Coalition was deemed to be no longer an auxiliary. Rob confirmed that this reduced the members required for quorum by 1. The president of this auxiliary was not in attendance, so there was no need to remove his credential.
Rob introduced Nicki Brammer as the proposed convention chair. He also clarified that she is the wife of Rep. Brady Brammer, but his district is entirely in Utah County so he will not be running at the state convention but at the Utah County Convention. There is no conflict of interest. Rob made a motion to approve Nicki Brammer as the convention chair. Nicki addressed the SCC. The motion to approve Nicki as the convention chair was seconded and passed.
Olivia Dawn requested that when the rest of the committee is decided that the leadership bring this to the SCC. Rob agreed.
Rob asked to postponed the agenda item of approving the Executive Director until he had arrived at the SCC meeting. There was no objection.
Rob introduced the next agenda item, which was to establish a UTGOP Constitution Review Working Group. Aaron Bullen, Chair of the C&B Committee, spoke in support.
Kim Coleman, Vice Chair, explained some of the committees and working groups that are in progress.
Congressman Burgess Owens addressed the body.
Rob introduced the next item, which was GOTV efforts and planning discussions. He explained the Party’s plans on this front. There was a discussion.
Rob explained the Party’s preparation plans for 2024 including candidate recruitment and training, voter registration, grassroots engagement, Bank the Vote and Chase the Vote, messaging and outreach. There was a discussion. Rob also announced Preferred Vendors list for vendors the Party endorses for use by Republican candidates. There was a discussion.
The credentials report was revised to 138, of which 35 were online and 103 were in person.
Rob introduced preparations for caucus including rules, the Presidential Preference Poll, the 16f filing to the RNC, ballot access, absentee ballots, advertisements, messaging, outreach and signs, fundraising for caucus and the involvement of the College and Young Republicans.
MaryKate Metler, Party Staff, made a presentation on the Party’s marketing efforts and the committee she has been leading on this topic.
There was a discussion.
Olivia Dawn made a motion to extend the meeting for one hour - until 3:32pm. It was seconded. Whit Cook made a motion to amend Olivia’s motion to 45 minutes. There was no second so we reverted to the original motion. The motion passed and the meeting was extended to 3:32pm.
We returned to the item to approve the executive director appointment of Brantley Eason. Brantley introduced himself. Rob made a motion to approve. Casey Gale, Salt Lake County, objected and made a motion to table this item until a special meeting. Rob ruled that if the motion calls for a special meeting that the person offering the motion needs to create that special meeting. Rob clarified that he had interviewed 15 candidates. Casey modified his motion to table the hiring of Brantley until a later date.
Brent Odenwalder, Weber County, called the question. The motion was seconded and passed by 2/3rds vote.
We returned to the motion to postpone the hiring of Brantley. The motion failed. We returned to the discussion around the hiring of Brantley Eason as the Executive Director.
Olivia Dawn called the question on the underlying motion. It was seconded. Rob deferred this motion until after the two people who were waiting online to speak. We then considered the motion of ending debate. It passed by 2/3rds vote.
We considered the motion to ratify Brantley. It was seconded and passed.
Rob introduced the Constitutional Amendment, Amendment to Establish Two (2) Standing Committees - The Youth Engagement Committee and the Fundraising Committee, by Brandon Beckham. Aaron Bullen gave a C&B Committee Report on the Constitutional Amendment.
Olivia Dawn made a motion to extend the meeting to 4:30pm. The motion was seconded and passed. Time of the meeting has been extended to 4:30pm.
Per conversation with the sponsor, Rob clarified that that this amendment would constitute paragraphs 5 and 6 under the Committees heading of the Constitution. Brandon Beckham, Utah County, made a motion to move this constitutional amendment for approval. There was objection and discussion.
Bob McEntee, Weber County, made a motion to strike the words “advice and consent” and insert “a 2/3rds vote of approval”. The motion was seconded but it failed. There was a discussion.
Olivia Dawn made a motion to divide consideration of the two elements of the proposal: the fundraising committee vs. the youth engagement committee. It was seconded, but the motion failed.
We returned to the original Constitutional Amendment. Rob clarified that a 2/3rds approval here meant that it would get automatically forwarded to the Convention where it could it be ratified with a majority vote. If it fails to get a 2/3rds vote, it can still be brought directly to Convention but it would require a 2/3rds vote in that venue.
There were 63 yays and 38 nays and 1 present. The vote failed (it required 68 yays).
Since we had 15 minutes left, Aaron Bullen, Utah County, made a motion to suspend the rules to move item 11 before the current item. It was seconded. The motion passed and the agenda was amended.
Christina moved to approve the resolution, Resolution in Support of Repealing R277 - 328 and All CRT PRAXIS in Utah Schools, by Christina Boggess. She then moved to allow Representative Tim Jimenez, who is not a member of the SCC, to address the body. The motion to allow Rep. Jimenez to address the body passed without objection. Rep. Jimenez addressed the SCC.
Tom Hansen proposed an amendment to strike “all rules and practices within their agency and the Utah educational infrastructure consistent with HB 427” and replace it with: “All current and future policies/resolutions consistent with laws that the legislature may designate, including HB427.”
Christina Boggess made a motion to amend the amendment to add “HB427, passed in 2023, and all other” after “with” and before “that” and strike the comma and “including HB427”. The amendment passed.
We then voted on the amendment, as amended. It passed. Then we returned to the resolution itself, as amended. The resolution passed.
We considered the bylaw amendment, Amendment in the Definition of Party Membership, by Aaron Bullen. Aaron Bullet gave the C&B report, which was 6 for and 1 against. Then Aaron Bullen made a motion to adopt the amendment.
Chad Saunders made a motion to amend to strike the final phrase of the bylaw amendment “, and has not been removed from the party.” and added an “and” before “is not a member”. There was a discussion.
Mac Sims called the question and all underlying questions, but Rob recognized the speaker who had originally come to the mic. The motion to call the question and end debate passed by a 2/3rds vote.
We then turned to the vote on the amendment to strike the last phrase. The amendment failed.
We moved to consider the proposal without amendment. The amendment passed with 76 yesses, 17 nos and 3 present.
We were out of time and stood adjourned at 4:46pm.