Nancy Lord for Utah GOP
National Committeewoman
National Committeewoman
and At-Large National Delegate
- Sponsor (one of five) of last year’s statewide referendum on HB 477 Thanks to tremendous community and media support for the referendum, and its legal power to stop the law from taking effect if sufficient signatures were gathered, the Legislature held a special session to repeal HB 477 an unprecedented mere seventeen (17) days after it was signed into law by the Governor.
- Cofounder, SaveGRAMA.org, the organization that funded and spearheaded the referendum on HB 477
- Recipient, Society of Professional Journalists Utah Headliners 2011 Roy B. Gibson Freedom of Information Award, “in recognition of her great service to the people of Utah and the cause of open government through her tremendous work in defeating HB477, a bill that would have decimated GRAMA, the state’s open records law.”
I am a long-time fighter for grassroots initiatives within the Party which increase participation, fairness and predictability. During my time as our state's representative on the RNC's Rules Committee, I was directly responsible for successfully proposing changes to the Rules of the National Republican Party...
- to prohibit state parties from charging filing fees to candidates for either National Delegate or Alternate National Delegate.
- to clarify that, where the rules previously only discussed "selecting" or "electing" National Delegates, they are also referring to the "allocation" or "binding" of those delegates. This change prevents a state like Texas from making a last-minute effort to game the system by changing from proportional to "winner take all".
- to give more states, including states that allocate their delegates proportionally, the ability to participate in actually placing a candidate's name in nomination for President by requiring a "plurality" of delegates to nominate.
- Currently, Lead Sponsor of Amendment #3, the “DELEGATE- ENDORSED CONSTITUTION & BYLAWS AMENDMENT(S)” (originally called the “DELEGATES’ RIGHTS TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION & BYLAWS” amendment), to be voted on at this year’s State Convention, the purposes for which are to 1) restore once again for State Delegates the ability to propose reforms for how the State Party should be governed and have them considered by the State Convention delegates without being blocked or diverted by the Constitution & Bylaws (C&B) Committee, and 2) to end the seven-year conflict over this issue.
- Helped draft and work with legislators in 2004 to successfully adopt HB 40, a bill giving county and state parties the unilateral ability to fill mid-term vacancies in the Legislature. Under the old system, we had to submit up to three names to the Governor, who then made the final choice. Now, when a Republican seat goes vacant, the delegates fill that vacancy.
- Required the State and County Parties to make delegate and Central Committee lists available to candidates and other interested parties at no cost. (In 2003, the Utah Republican Party was charging $350 just for a list of state delegates.)
- Protected each precinct’s right to their full allocation of delegate seats by eliminating or at least minimizing the practice of giving automatic delegate seats to party leaders and elected officials. Over the past dozen years, the total number has been reduced in several counties.
- Added a state-party-officer neutrality requirement to the state party constitution which requires that all party officers avoid taking sides in any race for the Republican nomination for a partisan public office.
- Implemented an innovative balloting method called Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) which was used in State Conventions from 2001 to 2004 and which is still used in some of our County Republican Parties today. Were instant-runoff voting used in public elections, Republican losses to Democrats caused by "spoiler" candidates (third-party candidates who siphon away Republican votes) might be largely avoided.
- Other reforms, including increasing the number of state delegates, requiring county parties to initially hold precinct-caucus elections to fill state delegate seats (not electing them en masse at the county convention, where they are not as well known by those who are voting) and creating the current method for secondarily filling precint-unfilled state delegate seats at county conventions.
As an active member of the Salt Lake County Republican Party, I have...
- Defeated a radical proposal by the Salt Lake County Republican Party C&B Committee, including Enid Greene Mickelsen as its Chairman, to eliminate the off-year convention and the county delegates authority to elect party officers and state central committee members. (Note: A similar proposal was submitted this month by Clair Ellis, a current member of the State Party's C&B Committee, for consideration by the 2012 State Convention that would do much the same thing, only with respect to state delegates. Call it the "You're Fired" proposal, because it would eliminate the state delegates' job of electing state party officers in the off-year convention. Thankfully, this has been referred back to the State Central Committee, for now.)
- Changed the rules to provide for direct election of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee. Previously, this important committee was appointed by the county party officers, and its initiatives (like the one above) were often focused on transferring power away from grassroots party members and into the hands of party leaders and their friends.
- Brought greater transparency and openness at all levels of the nominating process.
- Blocked a proposal by Salt Lake County party leaders for a massive increase in the number of "automatic delegates" in the largest county in our state.
- Eliminate the unauthorized past practice of appointing state and county delegates at the whim of county party leaders.
