by Clark Larsen
GUEST COLUMNIST
As a new resident of Tooele City, I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with a few of my neighbors and discuss issues important to us and our community during our neighborhood caucus meeting last week.
Statewide, Utah voters attended caucus meetings held in hundreds of locations. The main purpose of these meetings is to select delegates for the county and state conventions. In turn, these delegates select the party nominees for county and state office. The process might sound pretty boring to some, but to others, it is an important exercise in grassroots democracy.
The meeting I attended was a Republican caucus, held at Northlake Elementary School in Tooele. Several caucus meetings were held at Northlake, and while I do not know how many attended the others, my specific meeting had an attendance of eight people.
Being the new kid in town, I had never met any of the other seven attendees before. Our group was a hodgepodge of citizens, from a retired school teacher, to a husband and wife who operate a small business, to me, a married 34-year-old who moved to Tooele from Cottonwood Heights only a few weeks ago.
The eight of us spent just over an hour introducing ourselves, electing our delegates, learning more about a few of the local candidates for office, and discussing upcoming events in the community. We also ate a few cookies along the way.
Some might argue that caucus meetings should go the way of the Studebaker, that such grassroots meetings are only attended by members of special interest groups intent on robbing the average citizen of having a true voice in Utah democracy. Sorry, but in my experience attending caucuses in Salt Lake County, and now Tooele County, I simply do not buy that argument.
I can not think of another venue where I would have been able to meet the people I did on Tuesday night, and discuss with them the topics which we discussed. The only thing I would change about party caucus meetings would be a greater emphasis on getting the word out about when and where they take place. Greater awareness leads to more involvement by citizens, and greater involvement by citizens leads to a stronger, more effective democracy.
But do not take away the opportunity for hard working citizens of Tooele County, as well as all of Utah, to sit down, face to face, and discuss who we want representing us at each level of public office.
By the way, I was elected a county delegate at my meeting -- I think partly because of a tie I wore with red, white and blue elephants on it. So, to all my fellow county delegates, see you next month at Tooele High School for our convention. I'll be wearing the same tie.
Clark Larsen is a communication sales representative who lives in Tooele.