Utah Democrats are courting Alicia Suazo, hoping to convince her to take over the Senate seat of her husband, who died last week in an ATV accident.
Delegates to the state Democratic convention, held Saturday, unanimously endorsed Suazo to be the new senator from the west-side Salt Lake district. Earlier, at a meeting of the party's Hispanic Caucus, members voted to send a delegation of three Latina women to speak to Suazo. This follows a letter hand-delivered by state Democratic Party Chairwoman Meghan Holbrook last Wednesday asking her to consider the seat.
There is no indication yet whether Suazo will choose to follow in her husband's legislative footsteps. "It's about 50-50," said Hispanic Caucus officer Frank Cordova.
The consensus, though, was that Alicia Suazo would be a good choice. "When she spoke yesterday (at Pete Suazo's funeral), I saw a state senator up there," said Andy Gallegos.
If Suazo turns down the offer, Hispanic Caucus members said they hope to find another Latino to take her place. "We want a Latino in that position, period, and that's what we'll fight for," Cordova said.
State party leaders say they will call together the delegates for Senate District 2, and nominations to replace the late senator will be taken. If one person gets 60 percent of the vote or more, that name will be sent to Gov. Mike Leavitt, who can accept it or reject it. Following state law, whoever is picked must run for re-election in 2002, even though Pete Suazo's term would have run to 2004.
Pete Suazo's name was invoked over and over at the convention, held at Salt Lake Community College's South City campus. The convention was dedicated to the late senator, and a proposed piece of legislation was named in his honor.
A resolution, proposing the Pete Suazo Hate Crimes Act, was passed unanimously — just hours before the state Republican convention, meeting at the south end of the valley, approved a resolution against such hate crime legislation. In the 2001 legislative session, the late senator had championed a hate crime bill, which was defeated.
"The Democratic Party will not tolerate that," said Holbrook of the Republican resolution. Noting that the world will be coming to Utah next winter for the 2002 Olympics, she asked "What are the Republicans thinking? It's embarrassing."
"Pete would want us to step into the ring and fight the good fight," said Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.
Holbrook and others also chided Republicans for redistricting efforts that they say will make it hard for Utah minorities to have a voice in state and national politics. The fight against the map as drawn by Republican lawmakers was one of the last battles Suazo engaged in. Holbrook called the Republican resolution a "conscious disregard" for Latinos and other minorities.
"Their goal may be (defeating) Matheson" in the 2nd District congressional race, said Gil Martinez, "but they're trampling on us to do so."
About 500 people attended Saturday's convention, according to Democratic Party executive director Todd Taylor. Delegates voted on a new slate of party officers, choosing Holbrook again as chairwoman, Charlie Luke as secretary and J. Dell Holbrook as treasurer. In the only contested office, Rod Julander defeated Gary Tassainer for vice chairman.
In both general talks and in breakout sessions, Democrats agreed that they have to stop letting Republicans define what it means to be a Democrat. They also agreed that they need to teach Utahns "it's OK to question authority."
E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com