Weber County Convention Roundup

I attended the Weber County Republican Convention yesterday as a candidate.  It was held at the Browning Center at Weber State University.

It was great to see so many delegates attend the convention this year.  You could feel the energy in the room.  There was a certain "electricty" to the event this year that was missing two years ago.

One of the most interesting parts of the convention was listening to candidates for the Senate speak to us.  Their fate will be decided at the State Convention on May 8.

Tim Bridgewater



Tim give a pretty impressive speech. However, he has not campaigned heavily in Weber County and so his straw poll result was only 10%.

Leonard Fabiano
(no Video)

Leonard gave a very good speech. I wished my camera had enough room to record it. Although a completely unknown candidate prior to his speech, he was running on the honorable principles of refusing campaign contributions and he refused to be compensated for office if elected. He seemed like a nice man. His straw poll result was only around 5%.

Merrill Cook
(no Video)

Merrill gave a speech that I wished I had recorded but for the opposite reasons. Each candidate had three minutes to make their pitch. If they went over, the audience was instructed to start clapping. Merrill rambled about his past experience, didn't make any cohesive points, and then was cutoff by a clapping audience. Poor performance. Merrill received few votes.

Jeremy Friedbaum
(no Video)

Mr. Friedbaum gets the Persona Non Grata Award. In a very self-righteous and yet disingenuous tone, he thanked Bob Bennett for his work and asked the delegates to raise their hands if they were going to support another candidate. This was booed down by the audience. He then tried another ploy by telling the audience that their applause should not be for him but for congratulating Mr. Bennett on the end of his career. As Mr. Friedbaum walked off stage there was only a smattering of applause.

Mike Lee



Mike gave a good speech. He is my personal favorite for this race.

Bob Bennett



Bob gave a good speech. His 2-year warning on our deteriorating national fiscal status was poignant. However, it's time for Bob to go. In December 2008, I sat at the lunch table with Bob Bennett and the Weber County Republican Executive Committee. It was a Q and A session. I was able to ask the second question to Mr Bennett which was: "How do you reconcile your vote for T.A.R.P. with conservative government values?" Mr. Bennett proceeded to filibuster the lunch and refused to answer my question or any additional ones. This type of behavior is why he is in trouble right now. Despite this he received 22% of the straw poll vote.

Cherilyn Eager



Unfortunately, my camera cut off the rest of her speech.

Cherilyn presented herself very well at first. She was very comfortable on stage and made a solid presence. Where she lost me was on substance. She told us that we should vote for her because, according to people she talked to in Washington D.C., they are "desperate for a conservative woman in the Senate." So she was telling us that the meaningful difference between her and the other candidates was that she was a woman and that should be enough to earn our vote. Pardon me, but what if Bob Bennett got up there and said we should vote for him because he is a man? Cherilyn's argument, in my opinion, is unfortunate and also shows she is easily swayed by the crowd in Washington D.C.. True conservatives don't preach affirmative action.  They preach equal opportunity and action based on merit. It's sadly ironic for her ask for our vote based on principles of affirmative action. 

For more videos of the convention go to my YouTube Channel.