Utah Presidential Primaries: Mavericks Vs. Establishment

Utah-based Independent American Party hopes to enhance its national presence

By Paul Rolly
The Salt Lake Tribune
Copyright March 5, 2000

The inaugural Utah presidential primary Friday pits Bill Bradley Democrats still angry over President Clinton's giveaway of presidential appointment powers to Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, against those Democrats who believe they can salvage some influence in Washington if they stick with the more likely winning candidacy of Al Gore.

It pits the state's Republican establishment backing George W. Bush against the maverick Republicans who think John McCain can deliver the GOP a victory in November.

But what about the race between Howard Phillips and Earl Dodge?

Yes, there is a third-party presidential primary this week in Utah.  And the party in question actually has its national presence based in the Beehive State.

The Independent-American Party held what it called a national conference and a forum of its presidential candidates Saturday at the Salt Lake County Government Building.  It may have been one of the few national political
conferences in the country this year that attracted fewer than a dozen people.

But the fact that it so far has been able to escape notice, according to Phillips, who is seeking the party's presidential nomination, has not discouraged the few stalwarts who believe God's destiny calls for the return of a political party that adheres to the original intent of the founders of the U.S. Constitution.

Phillips, who says he had his children listen to the tapes of Freemen and Center for Constitutional Studies founder Cleon Skousen when they would go on cross-country family trips in the car, already is the presidential nominee of the Constitution Party.  Dodge, his rival for the Independent- American Party nomination, has been selected as the presidential nominee for the Prohibition Party.

Whoever wins the Independent-American Party nomination will attempt to merge the three parties into one conservative bloc for the November election.  Each of those three parties has become qualified to appear on the ballot in several states.  The Independent-American presidential candidate will be on the Utah ballot.

"We are 100 percent for pro-life, 100 percent for the Second Amendment, 100 percent for withdrawal from institutions supporting the New World Order," Phillips said.  "We want to eliminate the federal income tax and go back to the system the founders of the Constitution intended: to fund the federal government with tariffs and excise taxes."

While the tri-party's platform sounds like a legislative agenda put forth by the Utah County delegation, the Independent-American Party admittedly has not caught the imagination of the American public, even in Utah.

"It will happen overnight," said Phillips.  "I just don't know how long it will take before overnight comes."

The national chairman of the Independent-American Party is Bruce Bangerter, who actually became a well-known perennial candidate in Utah before Merrill Cook ran his first race for Salt Lake City major in 1985.

Bangerter ran several times for Congress and the Utah Legislature under various political banners all related to, or offshoots of, the current Independent-American Party.

His greatest political impact came in 1974 when he ran for the Senate against Republican Jake Garn and Democrat Wayne Owens.  While Bangerter's percentage of the vote was minuscule, he was allowed to participate in several televised debates with the major party candidates.

The Independent-American Party itself has a long tradition in Utah, once bringing to the state presidential candidate Lester Maddox, who in the 1960's won election as governor of Georgia after gaining national notoriety for chasing two African-American ministers out of his restaurant with an ax handle.

But while it sticks to original-intent doctrines and pre-Federal Reserve Board economic policies, the Independent-American Party seems to have evolved from the Lester Maddox days.  Phillips said one of his goals is to persuade African-American Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes to join the Independent-American Party, calling Keyes a "good friend and a great man."

While admitting his tri-party coalition has little chance of winning, Phillips claimed he and Dodge are still stumping in the presidential campaign while conservatives Hatch, Gary Bauer and Steve Forbes have all dropped out
after attempting a conservative comeback for the Republican Party.

Dodge, whose Prohibition Part is pretty much self-explanatory, could not make it is to the national conference in Salt lake City on Saturday.  But Phillips said he and Dodge stand for the same things.

Utah Independent-American Party chairman Will Christensen says there are about 100 openings for state and local candidacies still to be filled.  The party, besides releasing materials about its platform and a petition to "Save Our Panama Canal" on Saturday, also distributed a book and video list which defines the beliefs of its members.  The books include "The Legacy of Norman Rockwell," "Wives of the Signers: The Women Behind the Declaration of Independence," and "Wrongful Impeachment," which is former Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham's account of how he was victimized by "corrupt, political interests" of that state.