Bush leaving with 44% approval in Utah

That's right. Bush's approval rating in Utah is below 50%.

Ouch.

Utah Republican Party Lobbyist, er Chairman, Stan Lockhart has this to say, according to KSL:

State GOP Chair Stan Lockhart says you need to consider the source of any poll, to begin with. But setting that aside, he says it's easy for people to armchair quarterback once the game is over and another thing entirely to have to make the same calls.

"To give all the blame to President Bush for what's been going on in this country the last six months or so, it's probably a little unfair," Lockhart said.

I sure hope this means Chair-lobbyist Lockhart still supports Bush and his (truly) socialistic ways.

-Bob

Utah GOP ChairLobbyist Apparently Can't Read

DeseretNews.com:

Late last week, Stan Lockhart, Utah GOP chairman, sent out an e-mail to the 180 central committee members (the basic governing body of the state party) saying that he had thoroughly researched the state GOP constitution, the party bylaws, had spoken with Republican National Committee officials and studied Roberts Rules of Order.

And it is his decision that he can release the Romney delegates himself, as Romney desires and has asked him to do.

[...]

In his e-mail, Lockhart said Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, in a written request recently received, asked that Utah GOP national delegates be released to vote for McCain. With that new request in hand, Lockhart decided to review whether he had the authority to release delegates as Romney asks.

"I have had many discussions with the Romney campaign on this issue," Lockhart wrote. "They are firm in their desire for their delegates to be released."

After reviewing all party "governing documents," Lockhart then writes, "I have concluded that our national delegates can be released. ... I am asking for your support of my finding to allow Utah's national delegates to be released from voting for Mitt Romney."

Utah GOP bylaws, section 7.0, paragraph B (page 5):

Allocation and Binding of National Delegation. All National Convention delegates and
alternates shall be allocated to the candidate receiving the most votes of the statewide vote in the
Republican Presidential Primary. On the first ballot, the national delegation shall be bound to
vote for the candidate who has received the most votes in the Republican Presidential Primary,
but the delegation shall not be bound on any subsequent ballots.

Maybe Stan is bad at math....

Legal Bribery

KSL:

Getting some of the toughest tickets in town was no problem for some state lawmakers thanks to a paid lobbyist.

Financial disclosure reports due Thursday show Micron Technology lobbyist Stan Lockhart paid for seven legislators to go the NBA playoffs.

Democratic Sens. Ross Romero and Scott McCoy received tickets to a Jazz playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers, along with Republican state Rep. Kerry Gibson. The tickets were worth $400.

Republican Sens. Pete Knudson and Howard Stephenson accepted tickets from Lockhart to a playoff game against the Houston Rockets.

Republican state Reps. Paul Ray and Lorie Fowlke also accepted tickets to see the Jazz and Rockets play. The tickets to the Rockets' game were worth a combined total of $500.

Antone want to tell my why this isn't blatant bribery by GOP Chairman Lockhart?