Phil Lyman – Qualified at convention – https://lymanforutah.com/
Phil Lyman was a San Juan County commissioner for 8 years and has been serving as a state representative for the last 6. He has a CPA firm in Blanding and is very involved in helping other people start businesses, which benefits the community.
When asked about current and recent books he is reading, Phil listed
End the Fed – Ron Paul
The Marxification of Education – James Lindsey
The Indictment- Frank Gaffney
The Roots of the Federal Reserve – Laura Sanger
Phil has worked extensively with clients involved in mineral extraction, logging, and cattle industries. He said that ranchers are under attack and that federal agencies have been hijacked by environmentalist groups. He is offended by the weaponization of those agencies.
Phil said that he has a reputation for standing up for clients and constituents. He said “Anybody who tells the truth in an empire of lies becomes a controversial figure.” Environmentalists really want the mineral wealth locked up. The country used to get 80% of its tax revenue from mineral extraction. That is now down to 10%. The revenue now has to come from other taxes.
Many power and mining companies have already left and Phil said it will soon be the cattle companies that leave. They are being shut down by federal agencies. There is a war on producers. They go straight for the weakest counties, close roads, and sue into oblivion.
Phil said that he likes the environment but that foreign billionaires such as Hansjörg Wyss are heavily funding groups like the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, where Hansjörg serves as a member of the board.
Phil then said that people need to understand personhood, parenthood, and statehood. The state should support the citizens. You currently have to play the game to get favors from it. Phil mentioned a recent bill that gives $300 million to developers as part of the Utah Home Investment act (HB 572). Phil voted against this bill.
He said that each county used to have at least one state representative. Some counties have lost a lot of revenue and should still be represented fairly. He supports going back to representation per county.
In 2014 Phil led a protest up Recapture Canyon and was charged with conspiracy to trespass. He said the charges were based on Facebook likes and shares. Phil said that nobody actually trespassed and that the judge declared him guilty of trespass before the trial even began. According to Wikipedia, “the federal judge who presided over Lyman’s trial, was forced to recuse himself and was removed from the case because of his close ties to environmental groups which he failed to disclose.” Phil said the whole thing cost him $400k. He was later pardoned by President Trump.
Phil said that he requested voter rolls and was denied. He wants to compare the list of those who can vote with how many did. Phil wasn’t even requesting sensitive data. He believes that CPA firms should do an audit of elections.
Phil was recently in the news for retweeting a tweet saying “This is what happens when you have governors who prioritize diversity over the wellbeing and security of citizens,” right after a ship lost power and collided with a bridge. The tweet then showed a short bio of Karenthia A. Barber, the only black woman on the commission. It showed a short bio that includes her work in the DEI space. No other commissioners were mentioned. Phil later told the media it was his staff who put out the tweet without him seeing it first.
When asked he said “I did not blame my staff for the dei post I acknowledged that I had not seen the post before it was made but that I stood by the post that DEI, when it is given a top priority in policy making, as it had been given with the Baltimore Port Authority, it is fair to question those policies, especially in light of a tragedy like what happened. I tagged a post that included the bio of the director of the port authority whose only qualifications mentioned were her DEI experience. Correlation is not causation and I did not blame her for the collapse.”
Spencer Cox – Qualified through signatures
Spencer’s team was contacted multiple times to schedule an interview and has not responded. The article will be updated when he does.
Scott Robbins – Lost at convention https://robbinsforgovernor.com/
Scott Robbins is from Magna and serves in the Marine Corps as a field artillery officer. He received his Bachelor’s in Information Systems and his Master’s in Public Policy with an emphasis in Public Relations, both from BYU.
When asked what books he is reading or has recently read he listed
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer.
The Shortest History of the Soviet Union by Sheila Fitzpatrick.
Scott said that he sees a lot of things that don’t benefit the people of Utah. He hasn’t seen the governor do anything about immigration for the last three years. It is a full on invasion now. Scott said that this is what is contributing to the housing crisis. We are giving handouts to illegals. He wants people to be able to walk down the street safely. Scott has heard of illegal immigrants raping and murdering.
He wants to go after the non profit status of organizations of those who benefit those who are invading our country. Scott clarified that this includes both the Catholic and LDS churches. He said that Catholic charities get money from the federal government and have ties to Biden, who is Catholic. Scott also said that he has seen LDS senior missionaries called to missions to specifically help illegal immigrants. He said that he thinks they are benefiting financially from the invasion and are helping people avoid the law. He called them future Democratic voters.
Scott also wants to focus on nation enriching education. He wants to ban DEI, saying that all discriminate, and that U of U professors don’t see anything wrong with anti-white discrimination. Scott is glad that the legislature is finally catching on. He believes that DEI is rooted in anti whitism and discrimination. He said that the BYU DEI program wants to hire a lawyer to help get around laws and give out more handouts to non-whites. Scott said that businesses have adopted these policies as well and have hiring quotas based on protected characteristics and white Utahns that are poor left in the dust.
When asked for specific cases of discrimination, he didn’t have any but pointed to average ACT scores and GPAs to show evidence of favoritism. He still insisted that almost every university and big company has a DEI program and that means discrimination.
Scott said that most people support racial harmony that involves white people. We should treat our neighbor as ourselves. We need to focus on nation enriching immigration, education, and nation enriching harmony.
Carson Jorgensen – Lost at convention https://www.carsonjorgensen.com/
Carson Jorgensen studied Diesel Technology at UVU, which is one of the best in the country and graduated at the top of his class. He then went on to represent Utah at SkillsUSA, a competition where many different skills are showcased. Carson finished in the top 10. He is also a 6th generation rancher, with over 4500 head of sheep. He is also a silversmith and makes high quality horse bridles, which are shipped worldwide.
When asked what books he was reading, Carson said he really enjoyed Becoming George Washington. He also really likes the two 12 step books from Dr. Jordan Peterson and many books by Louis L’Amour.
Carson was elected to be the state party chair from 2021 to 2023. He said he helped give the party a sense of direction, rebased the party on the platform, and was able to bring the 3 different factions together. The party was able to retain all the congressional seats and picked up 3 house seats along with several county commission seats. He was even able to bring Ron DeSantis out for the state convention.
Carson explained the history of sheep in Utah and how his family had been here doing it for 170 years. Sheep do very well down in Sanpete County and there used to be 2 million head back in the 50s, which caused overgrazing but made it the sheep capital of the country. They even opened their own bank. He even explained the difference between the sheep here and those in Australia and New Zealand. Carson tries to know a little about everything.
Carson has seen a lot of things, and has all but given up on the federal government. He believes that things need to come from the states, from the governors. He sees the state and the country drifting. What is going to be there for our kids in the future?
Carson thinks that there are too many laws. He sees HB454, which studies if constitutional offices should be appointed, as a huge mistake. The governor shouldn’t appoint the Attorney General or members of the school board. He also said that since 2014 the budget has doubled. Under Governor Cox alone it has gone from $20.5 billion to $29.5 billion. The take from the federal government has gone from $4 billion to $9 billion. The tax cut was replaced with $1 billion from Biden’s America Rescue plan . Over 30% of the budget now comes from the federal government. Both the Auditor’s office and the Utah Taxpayers Association have blown the whistle. The budget isn’t following growth.
Most of the money is going into new spending. $300 million is going to affordable housing and we are taxing for things that we want, not things that we need. We are considering subsidizing a baseball stadium with $1 billion and one for an NHL team for another $1 billion. It is a poor time to be extending our spending. Why are we subsidizing the risk and privatizing the reward?
Carson also doesn’t like special districts in general. They are run by unelected people who are able to levy taxes. They are hard to hold accountable. The inland port has failed its last five audits. We need to stop creating them.
Carson has looked at our education system and says that far too much goes to administration. The test scores aren’t reflecting the increased funding. 9% of our education budget comes from the federal government. The strings attached just aren’t worth the extra cost. Things like DEI and problematic textbooks come from this. They don’t teach Utah values.
Carson wants to send Utah National Guard troops to protect the border. He doesn’t like that Utah gives driver’s licenses to people regardless of their immigration status. He also questions how many of them are signing up to vote at the same time, although he offers no evidence that this is happening.
When asked what Utah values are, Carson said independence and self sufficiency and we don’t need climate change and DEI. When asked about kids learning the ugly side of our history he said that we are still the greatest country that ever happened, even with mistakes. The kids should learn our country’s mistakes as well. They are part of life for all of us. It is pretty simple and we need to take care of the things that are in front of us. We get too out of sorts looking for a solution that is right in front of us. It all starts here.
Sylvia Miera Fisk – Lost at convention
Sylvia declined the interview.