Conference HighLights

August 2-3, 2002
Salt Lake City, Utah

Our eight National Conference was very successful with the completion and adoption of our IAP National Platform.  Will Christensen (Utah), Grant Solomon (Arizona) and Ken Bowers (Utah) were featured speakers at our Freedom Forum.

Platform Committee

We met all day Friday in Platform Committee Session in a board room at the Salt Lake County government offices in Salt Lake City, Utah.  We debated, revised and approved 14 Platform sections, which are Introduction, Preamble, Christian Heritage, Family, Citizenship, Unalienable Rights, Education, Economy, Society, Natural Resources, U.S. Constitution, Government, Defense, and U.S. Constitution. We incorporated (and revised) the former Legacy and Family sections that were adopted in January. We were surprised at the great efficiency we had and harmony we felt in approving the entire document for presentation to the National Committee.

Evening Social

Friday evening we held a restaurant social at Frontier Pies in Sandy (Salt Lake City) Utah.  We enjoyed the food and comradeship, listened to impromptu introductions and remarks by everyone present, and listened to short talks by two of our Saturday Freedom Forum speakers. 

Business Meeting

We met Saturday morning and early afternoon in the Salt Lake County Commission Chambers, Salt Lake City, Utah.  We heard both live and absentee state reports from several of our state parties and a national report.

We formally proposed several changes to our IAP Constitution and Bylaws, that will be submitted for ratification in January.  The proposed changes include restructuring of national officer positions, providing for auxiliary officers, and a number of other changes.

We held interim elections of several officers, resulting in promotions, to fill two vacancies. Cheryl Tullius was prompted to Vice Chair from Secretary.  (Former Vice Chair Sandra Richter died last month).  Renee Dale was promoted to Secretary from Assistant Secretary.  Pat Champion was promoted to Treasurer from Assistant Treasurer.  (Former Treasurer Clair Bangerter resigned last month.)  Richard Wilde was promoted to Assistant Treasurer from Assistant at Large.  (Bruce Bangerter remains as Chair.  The positions of Assistant Secretary and Assistant at Large are being phased out.  The terms of all current officers end in January.)

We spent most of our time in spirited debate on 13 of the 14 sections presented by the Platform Committee.  And we happily adopted an excellent National Platform for the Independent American Party that everyone felt good about.  The Preamble was the only section that was not adopted account of lack of time to consider it before the business meetings adjourned.  (The Preamble section will be considered and possibly adopted by the National Committee via email in the next month or so.)

Freedom Forum

At Saturday mid-afternoon we held our Freedom Forum in the Salt Lake County Commission Chambers.  Will Christensen, our Western States Coordinator spoke on "A Program for Victory."  Grant Solomon, our Arizona State Chair, spoke on "Are We Hanging by a Tread, Yet?"  Ken Bowers, author of Hiding in Plain Sight, spoke on "The Wizard of Oz Revisited."  Bruce Bangerter, our National Chair gave closing remarks.

During the forum, we remembered three or our own who have fallen.  Dan Hansen, a speaker at most of our conferences, died in a car accident in Nevada while returning home from our January conference.  Sandra Richter, our national Vice Chair and a founder of the national party, died from cancer in July.  Larry Garske, another founder and former national Treasurer, died from cancer in July also.