Alan Dayton resigned his post as Salt Lake County Republican Party secretary Wednesday and then unresigned less than a day later in what has become a bizarre cat-and-mouse game among county GOP factions.
Dayton offered to step down after he was informed by the Deseret News that, according to party bylaws, his job with the county prohibited him from being a party officer."There's no way around the rule and I don't want to try to get around the rule," Dayton said at the time. "I don't want to wiggle around it and pull a Bill Clinton."
Article XIII, section 1 of the party's bylaws states that a party officer can't be a full-time employee of a county commissioner, among other things. Dayton is a top aide to Salt Lake County Commissioner Brent Overson.
Thursday, however, Dayton withdrew his resignation at the request of members of the party's executive committee. They believe the rule may not apply to him because he is a merit rather than an appointed employee. The bylaw itself, however, does not make the distinction.
The action is the latest in a series of rancorous maneuvers that have left the party splintered and, depending on what ultimately happens with Dayton, may leave party chairman John Rosenthal as the sole permanent county GOP party officer.
This with neighborhood precinct caucuses less than a week away, where delegates are selected for the county convention on April 29.
In addition to the Dayton affair, a dissatisfied group within the party is pushing for vice chairwoman Maureen Casper to either resign or quit her paid position as a campaign staffer for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
Casper has taken a leave of absence from her party position, but Mike Ridgeway, one of the Republican activists who brought to light a Casper conflict of interest, says that's not enough.
"The county bylaws have no provision for a leave of absence. All we ask, all we've ever asked, is that the bylaws on conflict be enforced. Maureen needs to resolve the conflict, either by resigning (her party post) or resigning her paid consultant job."
Ridgeway and GOP supporter Nancy Lord say they will take action against Casper at the county and state conventions, if need be.
Other convention action could include addressing Dayton's situation, with one option being changing the bylaw. Dayton concedes that the actual terms of the bylaw appear to apply to him, putting him and the executive committee in the awkward position of sanctioning violation of one of their own bylaws if he does not ultimately resign. However, "it's a bad law," Dayton said. "It could apply to hundreds of county employees."
Muddying county party waters further, treasurer Sean Hales left his position several weeks ago to take a job in Phoenix. Party stalwart Bruce Jones has been filling in temporarily.
Things, in short, are in a bit of a chaotic state. At a time when the party has only $750 in its bank account and is having trouble raising funds because of an ongoing lawsuit, Rosenthal says he is sick and tired of Ridgeway, Lord and their group of "malcontents."
"These people don't give any money to the party," he said. "They don't volunteer their time. They just want to make trouble. These people will never be satisfied until they have control of the Salt Lake Republican Party, and I won't allow that. If it happens, God help us."
But Lord contends she and Ridgeway are not trying to take over the party. "We want to see the party follow the rules. We want a level playing field for all candidates, an equal shot at getting their delegates elected (to the county and state conventions). We want a fair and clean process."
The Deseret News was informed of Dayton's conflict of interest by an anonymous source. Dayton said he is convinced Ridgeway's group was behind it.
"It's interesting no one has pointed this out to me before, but there are some people who are really ticked off right now and they're going through the bylaws with a fine-tooth comb trying to get rid of the officers," he said. "These guys will probably try to conflict out John Rosenthal and the party will have to go into receivership."
With regard to Casper, Ridgeway's group maintains that a vote on her situation at a recent county party central committee was a sham. On a resolution praising Casper and asking that she stay on as vice chair, a voice vote "clearly failed" among the 300-plus committee members in attendance, Ridgeway said. Then a standing vote was wrongly counted, he said, to show 145 for Casper, 143 against.
Rosenthal says both votes were accurately tallied.
Faced with a recall, Casper decided to take a leave from her vice chairmanship until after the U.S. Senate GOP nominee is picked, either in the state convention or the June primary.
Ridgeway points out that as vice chairwoman, Casper was in charge of organizing next Monday's party caucuses or mass meetings, which could have allowed her and other Hatch supporters in the county party to pick Hatch-sympathetic caucus hosts or otherwise play favorites.
"Hawkins could have his clock cleaned in Salt Lake County" caucuses, Ridgeway said, referring to Greg Hawkins, who is challenging Hatch for the GOP nomination.
Getting delegates to the convention is the only real chance Hawkins has, considering the 24-year-veteran Hatch has a $1 million war chest waiting for a primary race.