Paul Rolly’s column

By paul rolly

The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Oct 29 2011 01:01AM
Updated Oct 29, 2011 01:01AM

A star-chamber-type hearing before the Utah County Republican Party’s executive committee Thursday seems like a mundane disciplinary matter to get rid of the party’s elected secretary for not doing his job.

But there is a deeper thread to this issue that demonstrates how the GOP, with all its success in Utah, is becoming dysfunctional, with a battleground forming between the so-called establishment Republicans and an increasingly rabid group of dissenters hitched to a single issue and determined to take control of the party reins.

The hearing is to determine whether Utah County party secretary Jeremy Roberts, who was elected by the delegates in an organizing convention last spring, should be removed from office.

The complainant, Republican Party precinct chair Julie Blaney, alleges that Roberts is guilty of “malfeasance, misfeasance and/or nonfeasanceâ€