Richard Eyre "tipped off" his gubernatorial campaign Friday, introducing the men and women who will manage different parts of his campaign while saying he believes he'll convince first Republicans and then all Utahns that he should be elected the state's chief executive.
In recent Deseret News/KSL-TV polls conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, Eyre leads other Republicans in the contest. Eyre says a delegate poll conducted by U.S. Senate GOP candidate Joe Cannon also shows Eyre leading among current GOP delegates. New state delegates will be chosen in April party caucuses (formerly mass meetings).Eyre says his campaign organization is different from traditional campaigns because his principals "are highly respected people from the private sector - people I couldn't afford to hire for my campaign - who are volunteering - giving significant amounts of time to have line responsibility in the campaign."
He says most other campaigns rely on a few paid staff members and many "young political professionals looking for a job in government."
"We're organizing the campaign this way not just to be different, but because we truly believe that politics as usual is dead in Utah," said Eyre, who is a businessman and writer. "Utahns are sick and tired of seeing campaigns and politics unfold in the old way."
Eyre repeated his pledge not to accept political action committee money and to limit personal contributions to $500 a person ($1,000 for a husband and wife) and $5,000 per business (upon the assumption that 10 people in the firm give $500 each).
Pointing an unnamed finger at GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Leavitt - whom Eyre considers his main competition - Eyre said some campaigns are trying to line up support from "opinion leaders," hoping that those leaders will in turn convince rank-and-file Republicans to support them. "That's an insult to the intelligence of the voters. We're focusing on the grass roots, the voter, the delegate."
Attorney Randall Mackey, a longtime friend of Eyre's, will serve as campaign chairman. Former State GOP Chairman Richard Snelgrove will head the delegate recruitment effort. And Rod Snow, former special prosecutor for the Salt Lake County Grand Jury, will head Eyre's "fair campaign" group, which will make sure Eyre's campaign has no negative campaigning and "aggressively" watch others' campaigns, as well.
Others leading different parts of Eyre's campaign are: Corry DeMille, Lloyd Carr, Rick Maw, Charlie Evans, Sandra Covey, Gail Lemmon, Steve Shalenberger, Jerry Higginson, Steve Densley, Larry Gelwix, Bill Vriens, Mac Oswald, Mark Hurst, Gordon Bowen, Jack Lake, Mick Shannon, Jim Cannon, Carolyn Dailey, Gordon Jones, Mike Jones, Stewart Hinckley, Dickson Burton and Gifford Price.