Joe Pyrah - Daily Herald | Posted: Wednesday, November 5, 2008 11:00 pm
So you stayed up all night watching the election returns and are ready to leave politics behind for a while.
Hold up a second.
There are two more elections in the next week that are going to carry a lot of weight for Utah County residents. The Utah Senate and House majorities will be choosing their leaders on Friday and Tuesday, respectively. With Republicans so powerful in the state, having a politician at the leadership table can be critical.
That's especially true as lawmakers will have to figure out how to pay for the multi-billion-dollar Interstate 15 reconstruction project slated for Utah County over the next several years.
"The question is, in the economic situation we are in now, what does that mean?" said Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, who is running for assistant majority whip in the House.
Utah County has had a powerful duo in the Senate for the past several years in President John Valentine, R-Orem, and Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo.
They've helped shepherd through such things as the I-15 project and funding for Utah Valley University's transition from a college. But the duo has challengers this year. Sen. Mike Waddoups, R-West Jordan, is once again running for Senate president, and Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, is competing with Bramble for majority leader.
It's "fairly strong competition," said LaVarr Webb, a political consultant and former Gov. Mike Leavitt staffer.
Valentine rubbed some in the party the wrong way during the past session over a letter sent by Sen. Chris Buttars to a judge complaining of a ruling in a Mapleton land case. Shortly after the letter came to light, Valentine removed Buttars from his position as chairman of the Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee even though Valentine had seen the letter before it was sent to the judge.
Bramble, says Webb, is viewed by some as too aggressive for the position.
While sitting senators will be defending their positions, the House has a power vacuum with Tuesday's defeat of Speaker of the House Greg Curtis, R-Sandy.
The Utah County Caucus decided Lockhart, as the group's longest-serving House member, will run for a leadership position.
"Seniority is part of it, but it is more than that," says Webb. For instance, the Senate president before Valentine was Al Mansell, who wasn't the most experienced in that body, but was able to win the position anyway.
It can also come down to turn protection. If Valentine and Bramble hold their positions in the Senate, House members may hesitate to give Utah County lawmakers more clout by putting them in a leadership position in the House.
Lockhart said she feels the two houses are independent enough to make their own decisions.
"The Senate's going to do what the Senate's going to do," she said. "Many times the bodies are at odds."
Lockhart may not be the only representative eyeing a leadership position. Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, says he's been asked by multiple people to run, even though he is focused on Lockhart's efforts.
"Give me a few days and hopefully we'll have something a lot firmer," he said.
When votes are cast in the Senate, they will be taken out of the room and counted by Senate Chief Deputy Ric Cantrell and two former senators. Once they get to 11 in the vote count ¬ -- a majority of the Republican senators ¬ ¬ -- they will stop counting.
"Nobody ever knows how bad they beat the other guy," Cantrell said. "It's a caucus that's powerful when it's united."
The positions in the two houses:
Senate President/Speaker of the House
Majority leader
Whip
Assistant whip