Republican Neighborhood Caucus In Cottonwood Heights Sparsely Attended

Mar 26, 2008 by Eric Ray

(KCPW News) Lots of empty chairs. That was the scene at one Republican neighborhood caucus meeting held last night at the Cottonwood Heights home of Senator Carlene Walker.

"We've been having precinct caucuses at our home for fifteen years, and this is the lowest turnout we've ever seen," says Walker. "We usually have a very active precinct, but we had only six total and three were residents of the house. So it was very, very low."

Senator Walker suspects the reason for the low turnout is the lack of highly contested races. She says some incumbents seem to already have a stranglehold on another term in their respective seats.

"Four years ago the Governor's race was big and each one of the gubernatorial candidates had mobilized delegates in their neighborhoods. Of course, Huntsman is the man for the Republican Party, so we don't have that. We do have a number of people running for Congress, but Jim Matheson is so strong that that has not been a big deal," says Walker.

State and county delegates were elected at each neighborhood caucus meeting last night. Senator Walker's husband, Gordon Walker, who works as the state's Director of the Division of Housing and Community Development, was elected as a state delegate. He says his interest is to make sure candidates stay on track and discuss issues that pertain to the political arena for which they are running.

"There's some very big issues, but they may not be at the state level. For example, Immigration is a big issue. But that's a federal issue. So in electing people, whether it be for the Legislature or at the state level, we need to make sure they can differentiate between local politics, state politics, and federal politics," says Walker.

With both Governor Jon Huntsman and Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon both promising to serve only two terms in office, Gordon Walker says he expects more people will attend neighborhood caucus meetings four years from now when those seats will be incumbent free.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom and Election 2008. Copyright 2008 KCPW