Every two year, the odd ones, there is county organizing convention for the GOP. This year it will take place on April 26th at Salem Hills High School.
Chair
Cristy Henshaw
Cristy Henshaw is finishing up her first term as the Utah County GOP Party Chair and decided to run again. She has no challenger. During her first term she said they had two very successful Lincoln Day dinners, fixed the website, and has been able to increase attendance during special elections and during the county central committee meetings.
One new thing that Cristy tried was to have Legislative Collaboration Committees. These were made to give real time information to legislators during the legislative session. Cristy said that there were mixed results. Some worked really well while others didn’t. She hopes to develop them further in the future.
One controversy during her first term was when Michael Cook was allowed to act as a convention candidate after failing to file as a convention candidate, or even as a Republican. County Clerk Aaron Davidson was reprimanded for trying to fix his form. (Utah County clerk reprimanded by state for modifying candidate’s filing form | News, Sports, Jobs – Daily Herald)
Cristy said that she took the question to the county central committee, and they voted to allow him to participate in the convention process. Michael Cook was removed from that process when he failed to gather signatures, and a decision was made by the state elections office.
For her second term, she wants to improve fundraising, engage the youth more, and be prepared for the caucus meeting next year, and add more information to the website to have a great handoff to the next person.
When asked what she is currently reading or has recently read, she listed:
On Liberty – John Stuart Mill (rereading)
Strength to Love – Martin Luther King
Secretary
Kirby Glad
Kirby Glad is running for reelection as the county party secretary. He has also served as the secretary twice before this set. Kirby has also previously served in many positions, including Treasurer, Education Officer, and on the steering committee. He is a registered parliamentarian and loves serving the party, especially in things he is really good at.
Kirby has been able to move delegate tracking from a spreadsheet to a dedicated system, VoterClick, which allows precinct chairs to make changes. He has also been able to find lost party documents regarding changes to the party Constitution and Bylaws. Kirby consolidated them into a single document, which he then had approved. He has made this historical record accessible to the public.
As a parliamentarian Kirby has focused on making things easier for delegates, such as proposals to limit the default time in a debate to 10 minutes, which can be overridden. He has also run an ad hoc outreach committee and published a Spanish version of the platform and published some Spanish Facebook ads as well. Kirby wants to invite more people, of all walks of life, to join the party, without changing the platform. He wants to offer Hispanics another choice in party.
Kirby wants to keep the trains running on time in another term, so the chair can focus on better things and being more creative. He also wants to open up more channels of communication with voters, have attendance reports for meetings, such as central committee meetings, increase outreach, and keep improving the bylaws and process.
When asked what books he is currently reading or has recently read, he listed:
The Fearless Mind – Craig Manning
Jack Reacher books – Lee Child
Elizabeth Rivera
Elizabeth Rivera is relatively new to politics and is eager to throw her hat in the ring. She is a mother of 3, runs a small veterinary clinic with her husband, and also manages a commercial real estate property. Elizabeth said she is “just an organized person” and gets the information to the people that need to get it.
She started getting involved after Covid and is in her second term as a state delegate. Elizabeth is impressed by the caucus/convention system and trusts the judgement of the delegates. She wants to protect the system and prefers votes happening at the local level.
Elizabeth is concerned that Utah is in the news for being weak on conservative issues, like illegal immigration, opposing DEI, and protecting women’s sports. She recognizes that she is still new to the process and wants to serve where she can.
When asked what books she is currently reading or has recently read she listed:
Following the Light of Christ – John Pontius
The 5000 Year Leap – Cleon Skousen
Good read JM 👍👍