Conference HighLights

January 17-18, 2003
Salt Lake City, Utah

Our ninth National Conference was very successful with two two speaker forums, two business meetings, the election of officers, and changes to our national Platform, Constitution and Bylaws.  This was probably our best National Conference yet.

Rules and Platform Committee Meetings

We met all day Friday, first as the Rules Committee for several hours, then as the Platform Committee for the rest of the day.  Everyone present participated in both committee sessions.  Our efforts were very harmonious.  We met in a conference room at the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

As the Rules Committee, we reviewed all changes to the Constitution and Bylaws that were formally proposed at our last Conference and were up for ratification at this Conference.  Then we closely scrutinized each article and section of our Constitution and Bylaws and considered additional changes for our C&BL.  This was the first time that these documents had ever been scrutinized by committee.  Both major and minor changes were proposed.

As the Platform Committee, we debated over a newly proposed Preamble draft for our Platform.  (At our last Conference we adopted all sections of our national Platform, but did not have time to adopt a Preamble section.)  Next, we closely scrutinized half of our Introduction section, and the first six sections of our national Platform.  We proposed minor changes to each section that we considered.  (At our next Conference, we plan to closely scrutinize the other half of the Introduction section and the remaining other six sections of the Platform.)

Evening Social and Speakers Forum

Friday evening we met at Home Town Buffet restaurant in Taylorsville (Salt Lake City), Utah.  We all enjoyed the buffet dinner and visiting, and then settled down for our speakers forum.  Gary Van Horn (Utah), a former IAP of Utah State Chair, spoke on "Survival and Success."  Ken Bowers (Utah), author of Hiding in Plain Sight, spoke on "Truth and Lies About Welfare."  Will Christensen (California), IAP Western States Regional Coordinator, spoke on "The Climate for Freedom."  And Grant Solomon (Utah), our IAP of Utah State Chair, spoke on "Hey Ref, Are Ya Blind."

Special guest speaker Richard Mack (Utah) spoke on "Duties of a Constitutional Sheriff."  Richard is a former Arizona sheriff who gained fame as a successful challenger of the Brady Bill by taking it to the US Supreme Court.  The banquet room of our restaurant was filled to capacity as they come to eat, then hear Richard and our other speakers give their addresses.

National Committee Meeting

We met for five hours on Saturday for our National Committee business meeting in the Salt Lake County Commission Chambers, at the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.  After opening ceremonies, we heard both live and absentee state reports from several of our state parties and a national report.  We approved the proposed rules for the session and the proposed session agenda.

We received the Rules Committee report, then deliberated on changes to our national Constitution and Bylaws.  All changes that were formally proposed at our last Conference were ratified.  New changes that were suggested by the Rules Committee were formally proposed (and will be presented for ratification at our next Conference).  The more significant changes to our C&BL involve the requirements for Official State Party recognition and state party representation on the National Convention.

Our next matter of business was the election of national officers for a two-year term.  After hearing from the officer nominees, we reelected Bruce Bangerter (Utah) as our National Chair, and Will Christensen (California) and Connie Gammon (Tennessee) as national Vice Chairs.  This is under a new structuring of our officer positions.  We thanked outgoing officers Cheryl Tullius - National Vice Chair, Renee Dale - National Secretary, Pat Champion - National Treasurer, and Richard Wilde - National Assistant Treasurer.  The outgoing officers will still be involved at the National Committee level.    

We received the Platform Committee report, then deliberated extensively on the proposed Preamble to the Platform.  We also deliberated to a lesser degree on proposed minor changes to other sections of the Platform.  We finally adopted the new Preamble and most of the minor changes to the other sections of the Platform.

We had hoped to consider several proposed Resolutions and discuss other matters, but we were unable to for lack of time.  However, we did present about 16 suggestions for a change to our national symbol and logo.  We took a straw vote, and delegates overwhelmingly voted to retain our current symbol and logo, which is the Betsy Ross 13-star flag.

Following closing ceremonies and adjournment of our business meeting, it was proposed that we allow a half-hour of free discussion (before the next event) where many of the delegates participated on various matters of interest.

Freedom Forum

At Saturday mid-afternoon we held our Freedom Forum also in the Salt Lake County Commission Chambers.  Michael Holcombe (Florida), our Florida State Chair, spoke on "I Love My Country, But Fear My Government."  Bruce Bangerter (Utah), our National Chair, spoke on "America's Legacy."  The forum went very well and ran for 2-1/2 hours.  We then adjourned our National Conference for six months.