Former Utah County Sheriff GOP candidate Richard Mack is running for governor next year as a Libertarian, and so leaving the Republican Party.
On Thursday, Mack filed papers in the state Elections Office to set up a political action committee. Candidates for state office can't actually file until mid-March.
Mack, who said he's a speaker and consultant, said he decided to run as a Libertarian "because, frankly, the Republican and Democratic parties are part of the problems" with Utah and America, not part of the solutions.
Mack got most of delegate votes in the 1998 Utah County Republican Convention in his challenge of longtime County Sheriff David Bateman. But after a controversial primary campaign, Bateman easily defeated Mack to win the GOP nomination. Along the way, Bateman called Mack "an extremist" who came from the "far right" of the GOP.
Two months ago, on the steps of the Utah Capitol during a rally against the federal Patriot Act, Mack called for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a strong supporter of the act, to resign.
"No way I could be in the Republican Party anymore," said Mack. He said he decided to run for governor next year "because I've been very outspoken about the problems in this state and nation. And, frankly, I figured I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't run and try to solve some of them."
Mack, educated at Brigham Young University, was a Provo City police officer for 10 years before moving to Arizona, where he was twice elected Graham County sheriff.
In that post, Mack and several other county sheriffs challenged the first Brady bill gun-control law. Ultimately, the sheriffs' case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that Congress couldn't make local sheriffs pay for conducting background checks on gun buyers. In the process, Mack became a hero to gun rights activists across the nation, although he was voted out of office in 1994.
Mack then moved to Utah, with an eye toward the Utah County sheriff's race in 1998.
In that contest, Mack showed his Libertarian leanings, saying the only reason he paid federal income tax, which he believed unconstitutional, was because he didn't want to go to jail for not paying it.
He also said jail inmates were being coddled, allowed to watch TV and eat three hot meals a day. He said if he were sheriff, he'd make many of them go on work details and start serving inmates cold bologna sandwiches and cereal.
Mack lost the GOP sheriff's primary. In 1999 he ran for Provo City Council, a non-partisan post, but was again eliminated in the primary.
"I will be on the ballot as the Libertarian Party's governor candidate next year," Mack said Thursday, anticipating no other Libertarian will file against him. "In fact, I expect to be a consensus candidate for several third parties — already the Independent American and the Constitutional parties endorse me."
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com