Asked Thursday if he feared that Vice President Dick Cheney would be booed during his address to Saturday's state GOP convention, Republican Gov. Mike Leavitt joked that, if so, Cheney would be in good company.
Leavitt was referring to an incident in the May 2000 convention when he and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, were booed and jeered by some people when they gave their convention nomination speeches.
But while Cheney may not worry too much about a disquieting reception Saturday, Hatch, Leavitt and other top GOP officeholders won't face any rude convention delegates or guests either: Breaking a long-held tradition, they aren't on the agenda and probably won't be speaking.
Utah's congressional delegation and governor don't always speak at their party's state conventions — sometimes they are out of town. But if they want to give a short speech, they are placed on the agenda.
"They usually do speak," said Scott Parker, executive director of the Utah Republican Party. "We already have a distinguished keynote speaker (Cheney)," Parker said. "And it's a scheduling problem, some of our (top GOP leaders) are accompanying the vice president to another event right after his speech."
An odd exception to that was last year's candidate nominating convention when 20-year Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, was not on the agenda because he had no GOP challenger. When the convention was asked to authorize an exception to the adopted agenda and give Hansen two minutes to address the crowd anyway, convention delegates loudly voted down Hansen's offer to speak. And so he didn't speak.
In the 1997 GOP convention, delegates passed a resolution opposing Hatch's plans for a new federal health-insurance program for sick children of the working poor who weren't getting Medicaid. Hatch used his convention speech time to chide the delegates. His program, CHIP, ultimately became law.
In Saturday's convention, delegates will consider a resolution opposing any kind of federally funded embryonic stem-cell research sponsored in part by Don Ruzicka, a conservative activist. The resolution is opposite the position of Hatch, who favors stem-cell research on embryos that would ultimately be destroyed anyway.
Delegation leaders who are in town will be at the meeting Saturday. Top Utah Republicans are expected to meet privately with Cheney briefly for discussions and pictures and accompany him to the dedication of a new Huntsman cancer hospital. In fact, Hatch was instrumental in getting Cheney to appear — a plum for an off-year convention where party leaders — not candidates for elective office — will be picked. Such off-year conventions are usually poorly attended by delegates and a bit boring.
But not this year, with Cheney coming and the controversy over gun-right advocates complaining that Secret Service restrictions will keep them from bringing their legally permitted concealed weapons into the hall during the vice president's appearance. (One resolution submitted for convention consideration urges Congress to allow the current ban on high-capacity magazines and semiautomatic rifles to sunset in 2004.)
The gun-rights advocates urged followers upset with the concealed-weapons issue to make some kind of public display — either booing state officials like Hatch, Leavitt and retiring party chairman Rob Bishop when they spoke, or carry signs complaining about the purported violation of their Second Amendment rights. While that controversy has been muted by Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's actions in providing lock boxes outside the hall for any concealed weapon-toting delegates and guests to place their weapons in, the chance of some kind of demonstration is still possible.
But Hatch, Leavitt or any other elected officeholders won't feel the brunt of it. They won't be giving speeches.
The decision not to have local officials address the convention was made some time ago, state GOP officials said, before the gun controversy. But considering the reception that Hatch and Leavitt received a year ago, it could have still been possible boos could have rung out in the hall even if the gun controversy had not arisen.
Leavitt spokesperson Natalie Gochnour said Leavitt chose not to speak because this is an off-year election convention, "and the vice president is coming and we chose to showcase his appearance."
Leavitt weighed in on the Secret Service-imposed ban on guns Thursday during his monthly KUED Ch. 7 news conference.
"I think common sense tells you there are times when you have the president and the vice president of the United States that unusual security precautions should be taken," Leavitt said.
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