“Count My Vote” (CMV) is a movement that advertises that your vote is somehow “not counted” in Utah’s Caucus and Convention system that favors neighborhood elections and grassroots politics over “open to anyone primaries”. It’s smoke and mirrors. If anything, your vote counts MORE in a neighborhood election than at the Primary Ballot. Additionally, with open primaries, once your ballot has been cast, that’s it. Your vote is over and done, and your input into the political process is muted until the run-up to the next election – in 2 years, 4 years, or even 6 years!
With Utah’s Caucus & Convention System you still have a vote at the ballot box, but you also have a vote in your neighborhood elections! You have MORE votes under the Caucus & Convention System than under “Count My Vote” (how’s that for irony). Additionally, once your vote has been counted, in the Caucus & Convention System you still have an elected neighborhood Delegate to ensure that your voice is still heard loud and clear throughout the entire term of your elected official.
Once you know what you’re giving up with “Count My Vote” (and 2015’s SB54), it’s easy to see why the “political elite” would want to do away with your voice after the ballots have been cast. But just in case it’s not so clear, let’s take a look at who’s behind “Count My Vote”.
“Count My Vote” is a DBA
“Count My Vote” is a business entity called “Alliance for Good Government” (AGG) that has another name (it’s “doing business as “Count My Vote”).
The directors of AGG are Maura Carabello, Rich McKeown, and Lavarr Webb. Do those names sound familiar?
- Rich McKeown was a staffer for former Governor Leavitt.
- Lavarr Webb was the campaign manager for former Governor Leavitt.
- Maura Carabello and Lavarr Webb are partners in the Exoro Group and Maura is also one of the partners at the “Gun Violence Prevention Center”, a radical organization that isn’t about “preventing gun violence”, it’s about removing your Right of self-defense.
“Alliance for Good Government”
AGG is a Political Issues Committee registered with the State of Utah and run by the same three people. In 2014 AGG spent over $1.1 million on the “Count My Vote” initiative. But where did all that money come from?
Putting together data from various government websites, here are some approximate numbers.
Political Establishment
- Hatch Election Committee: $50K
- Senator Hatch watched his good friend and “establishment Republican” Bob Bennett get “fired” by the Delegates at convention for casting what Bennett himself called a series of “toxic votes”
- The Leavitt’s:
- Michael Leavitt: $25K
- Leavitt Group Enterprises: $25K
- The Romney’s:
- Friends of Count My Vote: $99.9K
- Received from R2P, Inc. (the Romney Readiness Project)
- The 2012 Romney transition was the first transition supported by federal funds from the time of the nominating conventions, as provided by the Pre-Election Transition Act of 2010.
- Former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt started Romney’s transition efforts beginning with preliminary planning in May 2012.
Rich People
- Huntsman Corp.: $100K
- John Huntsman, Sr. recently called Utah’s Senator Mike Lee an “embarrassment”
- The Miller’s:
- Mark Miller: $25K
- Gail Miller: $25K
- SF Eccles: $30K
- Dell Loy Hansen: $35K
- Rich McKeown: $25K
- Kem C. and Carolyn Barnes Gardner: $25K
- H. Roger Boyer: $25K
- John Price: $25K
- Bruce Bastian: $10K
Big Business
- Sandy Chamber of Commerce (collection of business in Sandy, Utah): $49K
- Merit Medical (medical research): $25K
- Garff Enterprises, Inc. (automotive sales): $25K
- Prime Holding Insurance (insurance company): $25K
- Thackery Garn Corp. (real-estate management): $25K
- Loabore et Honore, LLC (shell corporation?): $25K
- Maccall Management, LLC (hotel management): $25K
- ThomasArts Holding, Inc. (ad agency): $10K
Special Interest Groups
- Restore Our Future (DC Based): $25K
- Management & Training Corp.: $10K
Put another way, over two-thirds of all the money to strip your neighborhood of its voice after your ballot has been counted came from (1) the government “elite”, (2) a few super-rich families, (3) a handful of big-businesses, and (4) special interest groups.
Those are the people and organizations that want to take away your voice.
Is it starting to become clear?
If you supported “Count My Vote” you’ve been duped by big-government, big-business, and big-wallets.
Source: Morgan Philpot