Response to Linda Houskeeper, and a Challenge to Gary Anderson

Since one of Gary Anderson’s campaign supporters, Linda Houskeeper, made a series of baseless attacks on our campaign last Tuesday, we have been hoping that Gary Anderson would publicly distance himself from the actions of one of his supporters. Since he has not yet done so, we feel obligated to defend ourselves from these baseless charges, and challenge Gary Anderson to refuse to participate in any more Meet the Candidate events sponsored by Linda Houskeeper unless all county candidates are invited to attend, which is what the overwhelming majority of the county delegates would prefer.

Campaign Tactics used by Linda Houskeeper and Sandi Hoffman, supporters of Gary Anderson

Facts:

1. Linda Houskeeper is currently a Republican candidate for Utah County Commissioner Seat B, and Sandi Hoffman is a county employee.

2. Both Ms. Houskeeper and Ms. Hoffman are supporters of Gary Anderson for Utah County Commissioner Seat A, and are doing everything they can to help Gary win a fourth term as County Commissioner against Joel Wright.

3. Ms. Houskeeper scheduled a number of Meet & Mingle events that were advertised to the county delegates as being held for all county candidates with all county delegates invited. The emails advertising these events did not disclose they were Linda Houskeeper campaign events, as required under Utah Code 20A-11-901. The sign at the door of each Meet & Mingle event stated “Utah County Republican Party – Meet and Mingle – Utah County Office Candidates” – and did not clarify they were Linda Houskeeper campaign events. This gave most, if not all, county delegates the false impression that the Utah County Republican Party was sponsoring these events, instead of being sponsored by the candidate Linda Houskeeper.

4. At the Meet & Mingle scheduled by Ms. Houskeeper on Tuesday, April 6th, Ms. Hoffman came over to Mr. Wright’s table and repeatedly interrupted a conversation Mr. Wright was having with a delegate who was complaining about the difficulties he encounters in filing personal property taxes. Ms. Hoffman told the delegate that she makes such filings all the time and they are easy to do.

5. Mr. Wright then asked Ms. Hoffman to stop interrupting their conversation because he wanted to hear from the delegate.

6. Ms. Hoffman then raised her voice and called Mr. Wright a “liar” because “everyone knew Mr. Wright had promised to cut the salaries of county employees if elected, and now he was saying something different.”

7. Mr. Wright told Ms. Hoffman that he would indeed likely propose a cut to the salaries of county employees if the economy got worse and the tax revenue continued to decline, and would make no promises either way.

8. Ms. Hoffman called Mr. Wright a liar again, and then Mr. Wright’s campaign manager intervened and asked her why she was doing this. They spoke for a short while, and Ms. Hoffman then left, and she was not crying at any point. Mr. Wright’s campaign believes Ms. Hoffman has no grounds for her claim that “I have never been so publicly humiliated in my whole life.”

9. Mr. Wright never used any personal attacks or disparaging comments in his conversation with Ms. Hoffman. In contrast, Ms. Hoffman called Joel Wright a liar.

10. After this incident, Ms. Houskeeper asked Joel Wright about it, and Joel Wright discussed the event extensively with her on several occasions along with at least one witness of the event. Ms. Houskeeper then decided to “uninvite” Joel Wright from attending all future Meet & Mingle events based on this incident.

11. Ms. Houskeeper has also “uninvited” Jeff Buhman, the only Republican candidate for County Attorney, from attending her Meet & Mingle events, because she also dislikes him for reasons we do not understand, but we believe to be without merit.

12. Ms. Houskeeper continued to promote her Meet & Mingle events as open to all County Candidates, despite the fact she had uninvited both Joel Wright and County Attorney Jeff Buhman.

13. Joel Wright’s campaign then did their homework, and learned there are a number of restrictions on public buildings holding campaign events. Our campaign shared this research with the public charter school in Salem, and they concluded that their tax exempt status could be revoked if they held a campaign event that favored one candidate over another (see applicable IRS guidance here: http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/article/0,,id=163395,00.html), and they also learned that their insurance through the State of Utah would not cover any campaign event because the taxpayers would then be subsidizing a political campaign. The school then informed Ms. Houskeeper of these facts.

14. Ms. Houskeeper’s response to these facts provides tremendous insight into her true motives. When Ms. Houskeeper was informed that the public charter school in Salem could not host the Meet & Mingle unless all candidates were invited, Ms. Houskeeper sent Joel an email dated 9:58 AM on Tuesday, April 20, revoking her previous “uninvite” and re-inviting Joel Wright to attend the Meet & Mingle that night. In other words, if Ms. Houskeeper truly believed that the incident she cited above was a legitimate reason for “uninviting” Joel Wright from attending any future Meet & Mingle events, she immediately discarded that reason once it was not in her best interests. In other words, she did not “uninvite” Joel Wright on principle – she only uninvited Joel Wright because she thought it was in her best interests, and then immediately re-invited Mr. Wright once it was in her best interests to do so.

15. The public charter school in Salem then informed Joel Wright that because he had been invited, that they would go ahead and allow Ms. Houskeeper to hold her Meet & Mingle that night at their school, so long as Ms. Houskeeper could provide event insurance as they were required to do so by the State of Utah’s Division of Risk Management. (Call Morris Haggerty at the State of Utah at 801-538-956 to confirm the requirement that a public charter school may not use their insurance on a campaign event.)

16. Ms. Houskeeper failed to provide event insurance to the public charter school in Salem by that afternoon as required, so the public charter school cancelled the event.

17. Ms. Houskeeper then indirectly “uninvited” Joel Wright again to all the remaining Meet & Mingles on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 20, when she sent out an email to all county delegates stating I was “officially uninvited” from all the remaining events. Once again she violated the law by failing to disclose these were Linda Houskeeper campaign events, as required under Utah Code 20A-11-901.

18. Ms. Houskeeper also accused Mr. Wright of using “legal tactics” to prevent her from hosting a Meet & Mingle the night of Tuesday, April 20 at the public charter school in Salem. Mr. Wright’s campaign respectfully disagrees, and believes that all elected officials take an oath to uphold and defend the law, so candidates should respect all applicable laws, even when such laws are not convenient or in your favor.


Our Challenge to Gary Anderson:

Please make a public statement today that you will not attend any campaign events for multiple county candidates going forward unless ALL county candidates are invited, including Joel Wright and Jeff Buhman. And then please refuse to attend any such events unless you have solid proof that all county candidates have been invited. Note that Joel Wright promises you that he will not attend any campaign event for multiple county candidates unless you are invited on equal terms as well.

Note that Joel Wright’s campaign is not asking Gary Anderson to determine the truth of the facts above. We are simply asking him to comply with the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the county delegates to allow all candidates to attend so they can decide for themselves who deserves their vote.