In an unprecedented election effort, GOP Gov. Mike Leavitt and Utah House and Senate Republicans will spend $5,000 to run a last-minute, get-out-the-vote advertising campaign before Tuesday's primary election.
Leavitt spokeswoman Vicki Varela said Wednesday afternoon the effort will target all Utahns who can vote in primary elections - a laudable, public-spirited goal by any means. But some conservatives worry it's a back-handed attempt to get Democrats and independents to vote for moderate GOP incumbents Tuesday and eliminate the officeholders' conservative challengers.There are basically only Republican primaries Tuesday - Democrats have no primaries in Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties - the state's four largest counties.
In many of the primary races, the final GOP nominee has no Democratic opponent or only token opposition. In effect, Tuesday's election will be the final election in some contests.
Don Ruzicka, co-chairman of the Utah Republican Assembly, a conservative GOP group whose goal is to return the Republican Party to its conservative principles - doesn't say that Leavitt and the GOP legislative leaders are out of line with the voter turnout effort.
"I can't ascribe any motives to what they are doing," Ruzicka said Wednesday afternoon, "because I can't read their minds. If they want people to participate in voting - in the political process - I support that. I absolutely don't want (Democrats and independents) voting in the Republican primaries, however. If that's what they want, I don't support them at all."
It is the first time anyone can remember where the governor and legislators have coordinated to run a public get-out-the-vote effort for a primary election.
Historically, political parties - along with labor unions or other special interest groups - organize get-out-the-vote efforts, most often in general, not primary contests. Of course, candidates in big races - like the governor's and U.S. Senate races - organize their own voter identification programs and try to turn out their voters on election day.
But this effort is different. It is not aimed at any one candidate, not aimed at the members of any party. It's just an effort to let Utahns know there is a primary election Tuesday and they should go out and vote, if there's a primary in their area, said Varela.
Varela said this year there are no major primary contests where candidates are spending adequate money in get-out-the-vote efforts. (Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, does have a primary against newcomer Jeremy Friedbaum in the 3rd Congressional District. Cannon is conducting his own voter-turnout effort there, his aides say).
So, said Varela, the governor and GOP legislators are doing it as an act of good citizenship. They hope local radio stations will "match" the $5,000 with a similar amount of free, public service, air time, she said, "so we can get two ads for the price of one."
But in nearly a dozen races, "mainstream" Republican legislators - as they like to call themselves - are being challenged by conservative Republicans, many with the backing of Ruzicka's Utah Republican Assembly.
Tuesday night, Leavitt, House Speaker Mel Brown and Senate President Lane Beattie attended a fund-raiser/campaign rally for three of the House moderates - Reps. Susan Koehn, R-Wood Cross; Richard Siddoway, R-Bountiful; and Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful.
Koehn and Siddoway have primaries Tuesday, challenged by GOP candidates from the right.
Koehn said Wednesday that the general feeling is the more voters turn out, the better the chance that "mainstream Republicans" will win in the primary.
Leavitt said Tuesday, before the get-out-the-vote ad campaign was announced, that he was doing nothing out of the ordinary by endorsing and raising money for incumbent Republicans before the GOP primary election.
Speaking about Koehn and Allen, Leavitt said they have formed the new "mainstream" caucus within the House GOP delegation that has "coalesced some very clear thinking" in the Legislature. The mainstream caucus "has added a very valuable dimension" to House debates, said the governor, who has had his spats with House and Senate GOP conservatives over concealed weapons law, open space preservation and transportation taxes.
Joe Hatch, Salt Lake County Democratic chairman, has already called for Democrats in the state's largest county to go vote Tuesday and vote to eliminate Republican "extremists" from the GOP ballot.
"We in the assembly want all Utahns to get more involved politically," said Ruzicka. Get to know the candidates, the issues, pick a party and make an impact, he advocates. But he doesn't want Democrats and independents jumping into the GOP primaries - in effect trying to choose candidates that they won't be supporting in November.
Varela said that as plans for the quick get-out-the-vote effort were being formulated Wednesday afternoon, Leavitt and GOP leaders would not be calling for good Republicans to vote in Republican primaries, but for Utahns to just get out and vote Tuesday.
Rep. Don Bush, R-Clearfield, brought up just that point in the House GOP caucus. "Shouldn't we try to get Republicans to vote" in the party's primaries? Bush asked. Bush, who is pretty conservative himself, may find himself in the opposite situation of Koehn and Siddoway. He's being challenged in the primary by a young, former legislative staff member.
"We consider that most Utahns are Republicans," responded House Majority Leader Chris Fox-Finlinson, R-Lehi. "So getting (Utahns) to vote is getting Republicans to vote."
"We fear a very bad turnout" of voters, said Varela in explaining the reason for the unprecedented effort by the governor and GOP legislators. It is June, she noted, a vacation month, and there is little interest in the primary elections. "Legislative and county candidates don't have the resources" to run a media get-out-the-vote effort, she said.
This is the third June primary held in Utah. The 1994 primary was the first - the primary was formerly held in September. Voter turnout in the June 1994 and 1996 primaries hovered between 10 percent and 20 percent, poor by Utah voting standards.
In explaining the ad campaign to House Republicans Wednesday afternoon, Brown said House Republicans would put in $1,250, Senate Republicans $1,250 and Leavitt $2,500 for the $5,000 ad campaign. The money comes from the trio's individual political action committees, fueled by various fund raisers through the year.
The radio ads may be targeted in areas where a number of GOP primaries are taking place, said Brown. He said the effort would be coordinated by the State Republican Party.