National Chairman's Letter

January 2000

Dear Members and Friends of the Independent American Party,

The IAP has its first presidential primary! Howard Phillips of the Constitution Party and Earl Dodge of the Prohibition Party filed their candidacy papers several days before the January 17 filing deadline to enter the Utah Presidential Primary Election under the Independent American Party. The Utah Democrats have Al Gore and Bill Bradley running in their primary. The Utah Republicans have George Bush, John McCain, Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes, Gary Bauer and Orrin Hatch. Sen. Hatch (R-UT) is a "favorite son" for the Utah GOP.

Earl Dodge of Lakewood, Colorado is a five-time (and current) presidential nominee of the Prohibition Party. Howard Phillips of Vienna, Virginia is the founder and three-time (and current) nominee of the US Taxpayers Party, now named Constitution Party. We are grateful for their entering our Utah IAP presidential primary and for the spirit of cooperation between our three like-minded third parties. Brief biographies are given for both of these good men on our USIAP.ORG web site.

The national and Utah officers of the Independent American Party have pledged to remain neutral between our two presidential primary candidates until after the primary election. We want to be as fair as possible and assist both of them in their campaigns. We see this as a prime opportunity (1) for them getting their messages of conservatism (with which we are all in general agreement) to the public, (2) for promoting their candidacies, and (3) for promoting the IAP as well as their respective parties.

The IAP National Executive Committee will soon make plans for the next National Committee meeting in late February or early March. Originally scheduled for January, the meeting has been postponed to maximize the exposure for our two presidential candidates just before the Utah presidential primary election. We hope for their participation in press conferences, and radio and television talk show interviews.

The Utah Presidential Primary Election (which is part of the Western States Primary that also includes Colorado for two parties and Wyoming for only one party) will be Friday, March 10. The Utah IAP will allow all registered voters to vote in its primary, whereas the Utah Democrats and Republicans will allow only registered members of their respective parties and independent or unaffiliated voters to vote in their primaries. The Utah IAP Constitution says that its delegates to the IAP National Convention shall cast their first ballot for president for the majority winner of the IAP presidential primary. We look forward to this exciting presidential primary election!

Yours for Freedom!

Bruce Bangerter
IAP National Chairman