Dan Liljenquist goes up with his first TV ad

The Deseret News, in a strongly worded editorial, agrees that Utah voters deserve the openness and transparency of a debate with both candidates side-by-side. The DNews says: “Voters have come to expect, and they deserve, an opportunity to see their candidates in open issue-oriented debate. Indeed, few skills are more important to the job of senator than the ability to argue and persuade — in committee, in the well of the Senate and in the court of public opinion.

We have previously observed that the U.S. Senate has become one of Washington’s most dysfunctional institutions, a place where the cynical misuse of position, procedure and protocol has led to a lack of accountability and transparency. Based on our effort to provide the broadest and most accessible platform for civil debate in this important primary, it appears Hatch has picked up some bad habits from the Senate. At least in this instance, he has shown he is willing to cynically use his position to block the open and transparent debate his constituents deserve. We are sorely disappointed.”

They are joined in calling for a debate by the Salt Lake Tribune (Hatch Hides), the St George Spectrum (Step up, debate), The Standard-Examiner (Thumbs Down), and the Daily Herald (Buffalo Chip).

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Dan Liljenquist’s convention speech

Doing the impossible: forcing Orrin Hatch to a primary

Two years ago, GOP delegates to the state convention knocked off Senator Bob Bennett, sending now-Senator Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater to a primary.  Orrin Hatch started his campaign for an unprecedented 7th term that very day. The Hatch campaign polled delegates and realized they could not win with that group, so they launched a campaign to target and remove the 75% of delegates that voted for change. “This is not going to be a campaign of persuading delegates,” said Dave Hansen at the time, former GOP party chair, now campaign manager for Hatch. “This is going to be a campaign of replacing delegates.”

They meant business. They hired 36+ staffers, not including the ones they sub-contract with. From January of 2011 through caucus night of this year, they spent almost $6 million.  They targeted primary voters in an older demographic and helped drive caucus turnout to record highs. Six out of seven delegates were new this cycle, were considerably more moderate than previous delegates and many were elected on one simple platform: “I support Orrin Hatch.”

After caucus night, the Hatch campaign claimed victory. They released poll after poll after poll that put them comfortably above the 60% threshold. Senator Hatch trumpeted “Mitt Romney needs me” at every turn. Never mind that Romney endorsed Hatch last September, long before there was a challenger in the race and when Olympia Snowe was still planning on running ….

Even with all of that – $6 million, 2-years of campaigning and a very favorable caucus night, Hatch could not seal the deal on convention day. Dan Liljenquist, his primary opponent, worked hard, holding 108 delegate meetings between caucus and convention. He traveled the state, looked delegates in the eye and answered every question. Dan’s message of true entitlement reform and the need to stop doing what we’ve always done in Washington resonated with delegates. Starting out with poll numbers around 16%, no one thought he had a shot. In fact, one anonymous “insider” said “Romney’s public embrace would hand any candidate a 70 percent chance of victory at the April 21 convention. It’s already over. Orrin Hatch has the election won. He won it caucus night. They don’t even need to have the convention.”

Yet here we are…..an unstoppable work ethic, hundreds of volunteers, thousands of live phone calls, a powerful speech and Dan got just under 41% of the vote – a 25-point swing in just 3 weeks.

Headed in to the primary, Hatch is already claiming victory – again. But even the national pundits are seeing cracks in the armor, writing articles with titles like “The Meaning of Orrin Hatch’s Nightmare” and “Hatch Heading for a Fall?” Dan Liljenquist has momentum, with hundreds of volunteers flooding his campaign since Saturday and more than 400 individual financial donations in 72 hours. He has passion, he has drive, he has a vision for America’s future – and the ability to lead us there.

We can not change Washington  unless we change who we send to Washington.   We all know it’s broken back there.  You see that reflected in the abysmally low approval ratings for DC politicians, hovering somewhere around 10%.  You also see it in the high rate of turnover. In the Senate alone, there have been 55 new Senators since the end of 2002. Long-time incumbents are passing the torch – ten more Senators are retiring this year, making room for new ideas and fresh faces.  That means a super-majority of the Senate will be turned over in just a decade.  Those new Senators are ready to change the way business is done in Washington – and that means changing the way things have “always been done.”  A primary – Orrin Hatch’s first in 36 years – now means that all Republican voters in Utah have a choice.

Orrin in his own words

“We must work to assist in the dismissal of many others who have been dominating our country for years and running us into bankruptcy.”

“Give the people of Utah a choice. We must have a change.” Amen.

Momentum – Dan Liljenquist’s got it!

Join us!

Dan Liljenquist: Politics and Hungry, Hungry Hippos

Our politics have become a high-stakes game of Hungry, Hungry Hippos. 

 

 

It’s time for that to change. We need more of the “Audacity of Nope.”

 

I resigned today

This morning, I tendered my resignation as a member of the Utah House of Representatives to join the Dan Liljenquist for US Senate campaign.

It has been an honor to serve the people of District 57. I thank them for allowing me to serve them for the past year. I have SO enjoyed the opportunity to represent them and hope I was able to add to the dialogue on Utah’s Capitol Hill.  I am pleased to say there are many good people in Pleasant Grove who could step into the legislature and continue to advocate for limited government and fiscal restraint. The people of District 57 are good people and I am confident the delegates will choose my replacement wisely.
 
It was a difficult decision for me and not one that I made lightly.  As I decided to join Dan Liljenquist’s campaign, I knew I could not in good conscience focus on a Senate race AND be fully present during the legislative session.  It would not be fair to my constituents to be distracted by another campaign.  I will continue serving whole-heartedly – it will just be in a different capacity.  At the end of the day, we need good government at ALL levels – and that includes the federal level.

After decades of politicians centralizing power and money in Washington in the misguided belief that somehow a bloated federal government knows best, we have arrived at a critical juncture. Do we continue down the road of big government and massive spending? Or do we face reality, rebalance as a nation and move forward with a limited government that lives within its means? I have not given up on America, but to reclaim its greatness and its shining spot on the Hill, we must change the “business as usual” in Washington. To do that, we must change who we send to represent us.  We need leaders who understand that our debts must be paid, that we must stop spending money we do not have, who will look the American people in the eye and tell them the truth and we need leaders who care more about the next generation than the next election. Dan Liljenquist is that type of leader.

As my children continue to grow up, I’ve had to answer hard questions about the massive debt our generation has saddled them with – $48,500 per person and rising. I am beyond concerned at what their future looks like if we continue down the same path of economic uncertainty, regulatory strangulation and the punishing of innovation and success. Utah enjoys being ranked the best managed state in the nation – but if we cannot fix things at the federal level, it simply will not matter.  We need bold, new leadership and we need it now.

Orrin Hatch ran against incumbent Frank Moss in 1976. As he campaigned, he asked repeatedly “What do you call a Senator who has been there 18 years? You call him home.” Now, almost 40 years later, he has been in office longer than 60% of this state has been alive. He was elected during the Bicentennial year, in an era of wood-sided station wagons, gold shag carpeting, bell bottoms – and a belief that government held the solution to our problems. 

Over the years, his votes have demonstrated a consistent belief that government – particularly the federal government – knows best.  Hatch voted for spending bill after spending bill filled with pet projects and pork, adding millions and millions of dollars worth of his own requests.  He voted time after time after time to increase the debt ceiling, giving us trillions of dollars in debt we have no realistic way to pay for. He laid out the Constitutional arguments for the individual mandate in healthcare – the very arguments later used by others to justify Obamacare. After Hillarycare was killed in the late 90’s, he personally partnered with Ted Kennedy to resurrect part of it, rename it SCHIP and pushed hard to get it passed – over the objections of many fellow Republicans. He decided to pull educational decisions from the states when he created the National Department of Education and then later advocated for No Child Left Behind.  He championed Medicare Part D, the largest entitlement expansion in decades, one that added TRILLIONS in unfunded liabilities OVERNIGHT and called “the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960’s” by the former Comptroller General of the United States.  Just a couple of months ago, our senior Senator went on Fox News and said that we did not need to cut entitlements. The truth is, if we ignore entitlements – the big 3 of “Mandatory spending” – there is no way to pull ourselves out of the abyss we are in.  

We need leaders willing to lay it all on the line and work to fundamentally reform the biggest problems we face today – runaway spending and unlimited debt. We need leaders who will look down the road – not just to the next election – and who will do what needs to be done. Dan Liljenquist has done that in the Utah legislature.  He will do that in Washington. It has an honor to have been asked to join him in his campaign.  There is no question that he is up against a formidable opponent with virtually unlimited amounts of money. This campaign will require lots of hard work from a lot of people. 

I invite you to join me in getting Dan elected. Check out his website at http://www.DanForUtah.com, “like” him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter @DanForUtah, donate time and/or money and join me in being a Dan fan. It’s Time!
 

Dan Liljenquist in US Senate race

Meet Dan Liljenquist!

Dan Liljenquist resigns, followed by Dave Clark

The surest sign so far that Dan Liljenquist will be running for federal office was his resignation last week from the Utah Senate. Recently named “Legislator of the Year” by left-leaning Governing Magazine and “Legislative Entrepreneur of the Year” by right-leaning FreedomWorks, the Bountiful businessman has said simply that a decision has been made and an announcement will be forthcoming after the first of the year.

Known for his ground-breaking work on pension reform in 2010 and Medicaid reform in 2011, Liljenquist recently concluded a well-received statewide series of 21 “Fiscal Reality” townhalls over the last 3 months. He is widely rumored to be running for the US Senate.

Former Speaker of the House, Dave Clark, also announced his resignation from the Utah legislature yesterday. He will be seeking the nomination for the 2nd Congressional district.

There are several other Utah legislators running for different offices in the 2012 cycle but who are not expected to resign. Senators Romero and McAdams have announced they are running for Salt Lake County mayor, Reps Wimmer and Sandstrom are running for the 4th Congressional district, Rep Herrod is rumored to also be running for the US Senate and Rep Sumsion is running for Governor. Should be an interesting legislative session!

Utah’s rising star, Dan Liljenquist

State Senator Dan Liljenquist recently returned from Washington DC where he received back-to-back awards for his courage and innovation tackling the complex problems of exploding pension and Medicaid costs.

Governing Magazine called Senator Liljenquist the “Change Agent” for his reforms. Each year, Governing chooses only one state legislator, out of over 7000 nationwide, one Governor and a handful of others involved in government at the local level. This year, they also honored the Governor of Arkansas, Mayor of Atlanta, a county executive, a police chief, a judge, a couple of very cool techie innovators working with the city of Boston and the Chancellor from CUNY, the City University of New York. Governing, a non-partisan group, does not appear to care which political party their honorees belong to and in fact, they gave more awards to Democrats than to Republicans. There was one consistent theme however – fiscal reforms. The presenters repeatedly mentioned we were “standing on a burning platform” financially and it was way past time to start addressing the real problems. The award winners were, for the most part, public officials willing to step up and tackle thorny problems head-on.

In addition to the award from Governing, Senator Liljenquist was named the “Legislative Entrepreneur of the Year” by FreedomWorks. The award – given out only a handful of times – has been given to people like now-Senator Marco Rubio, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and then Georgia House Rep Tom Graves, now in Congress. “Legislative entrepreneurs are tenacious political leaders who challenge the status quo and take bold action to advance liberty and limited government. We can thank Senator Liljenquist for the ground-breaking pension and entitlement reforms in Utah that are now the envy of states across the country, and serve as a model for the nation,” read the press release. “The fact of the matter is, while states like New York, Illinois and California are headed for bankruptcy, the financial future of Utah is secure because of Liljenquist’s reforms.”

FreedomWorks praised Liljenquist’s legislative innovation as he introduced free market principles into the “most difficult spending issues in government.” Senator Liljenquist, widely rumored to be challenging Orrin Hatch, caught the eye of a number of national media peeps as well. Check out some of the press he picked up this weekend: Daily Caller, CNN,  National Journal, Red State’s Erick Erickson, Politico, the Rising Republican and all over the AP wire.

He felt the love here too. Daily Herald, SL Trib, DNews, Fox 13 and the Standard Examiner all carried stories about his awards and his potential run for the US Senate.  Stay tuned – things are getting interesting!