Candidate concedes mistake on GOP rules

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 29, 2008 | by Deseret News

A Salt Lake County GOP candidate for the Utah House now says he was mistaken about several Republican Party rules when he was "encouraged" to drop out of the House District 35 race by another party officeholder.

In his original posted comment on a Deseret News online article, Rob Alexander asked that GOP state chairman Stan Lockhart resign because of a number of conflicts of interest. Alexander then went on to write that he thought it wrong that a Senate district chairwoman, Carrie Towner, had called him and asked if he wanted to drop out of the intraparty race against Rick Taylor.

Alexander thought the phone call inappropriate at the time. But in following postings Alexander says he mistakenly believed that Towner was not his Senate district chairwoman and so had no business calling him and asking if he wanted to drop out.

But it turns out Towner was, indeed, his Senate district chairwoman. And considering that Towner also called Taylor and asked if he wanted to drop out -- to avoid a convention fight and perhaps even a primary -- Alexander says he doesn't see where any laws were broken. Alexander apologized to Towner in a posting "for this misunderstanding getting escalated to the point it has."

Alexander faces Taylor in Saturday's Salt Lake County Republican convention. If one candidate gets 60 percent of the House District 35 vote, then he is the party's nominee. If neither get 60 percent, then Alexander and Taylor face each other in a late June GOP primary, the winner to face Rep. Mark Wheatley, D-Murray.