Education First PAC Targeting Caucus Attendees 2012

A new business-led political action committee, Education First, has been hitting campuses this week, training students how to engage with Utah’s peculiar political process. The PAC’s campaign manager James Seaman and his associates are running sessions Thursday on four of Salt Lake Community College’s campuses.

Utah and Connecticut are the only states that require delegate support for candidates to get on the ballot.

If students want lawmakers to value education, they need to get involved at the caucuses, Seaman urged students at one of two standing-room only sessions Tuesday at the U.’s Hinckley Institute of Politic.

To make an impact in Utah politics, it’s not enough to just vote.

You need to speak up at the local caucus meetings where convention delegates are chosen every other year. This week, hundreds of Utah students are learning the ins and outs of caucus politics at training sessions around the state.

The political caucuses occur this year over the U. and Utah State University’s spring break, while SLCC’s break doesn’t start until March 19.

Brian Maffly Salt Lake Tribune


"The sad truth is our caucus system has become something much different. This, every-other-year, highly- concentrated moment of political power, offering no second chance, no early participation, no absentee ballot, has lost its neighborliness. I've used the term highjackable on my radio program to describe how vulnerable this event has become; vulnerable with power way out of proportion and no second chances." Doug Wright KSL