Saturday, September 21, 2024 will be a memorable day to many St. George residents for a long time.  Not only because an organization throwing an event to honor America’s founding tried to infringe on basic Constitutional rights, but because this was done with the approval of the local sheriff.  This seems to be a turning point, of sorts, among many patriots who believe our government agencies have grown too big with seemingly no oversight from the public.  

“Constitution Day” was on Sept 17 and celebrated by a local group last Saturday, presumably, as a way to honor the Constitution, increase community patriotism, and promote Republican candidates, as the event was hosted by the Washington County Republican Party and Republican Women.  Here is the ad for the event…

Since the State Republican Nominating Convention last April, most of the winners from Convention lost in the primary election in June to candidates with backing from big business and big money.  One candidate, Phil Lyman, won his race to be the Republican candidate for Governor with almost 70% of approximately 4,000 elected State Delegates who drove to Salt Lake City to attend the 17 hour event.  It was at this event that the opposing candidate and current Governor, Spencer Cox, put the delegates down, whom he had previously called “extremists”, and let them know that he would win no matter what they did.  Insulting delegates was an interesting strategy.  Cox, with the backing of Larry H. Miller, pharmaceutical companies, Dominion Energy, Utah Association of Realtors, Pacific Corp, insurance companies, AT&T, Select Health, America First Credit Union, Gail Miller, Comcast, 1-800-contacts, Boeing, among many others, kept his promise to win, no matter what, in the primary election.  His Lt Governor, Deidre Henderson, who is in charge of Utah elections,  has yet to verify the signatures that Cox paid to have gathered at this point, but this is who the Utah Republican Party is officially supporting.  The Utah Republican party did not have much success getting their nominees from convention to the general election, which actually goes against their own bylaw that states, “A candidate for an office that receives 60% or more of the votes cast at any point in the balloting process at the state nominating conventions SHALL proceed to the general election.” (Article XII, section 2). 

Fast forward to preparing for Constitution Day.  The rumblings being shared amongst those active in the party were that folks were going to be trespassed from the public Vernon Worthen Park if they wore a Lyman shirt.  Phil Lyman is running a write-in campaign, mainly because the signatures to put Cox on the ballot have still not been verified.  He is currently suing to get answers on this.  Also, his ads are heavily focused on corruption in the state and is clearly another reason he is running.  The chair of the Washington County Republican Party, Lesa Sandberg, declared in party meetings that everyone needed to spread the message that no one could campaign at their event for any candidate that was not currently sponsored or endorsed by the party, and that included, but was mainly aimed at Phil Lyman. She is recorded as stating, “I talked to St. George Police today to ensure that we can choose who comes to our event because, bottom line, we’re not having candidates that are not our candidates there.  And, so, we will trespass them and call the police if we have to.”  She also expressed not allowing any candidates who are not endorsed by them to even be at the event.  Word got around that anyone coming to the event at the park simply wearing Phil Lyman attire (campaigning), would be asked to leave under threat of trespass and that the police would be enforcing this.  This is where it gets interesting.  

Because infringing on basic, fundamental rights at a public event is something most wouldn’t expect from law enforcement, the following text that came from the sheriff of Washington County, Nate Brooksby, is alarming.  

This text was in response to the sheriff’s office being put on notice by a group of patriots in Washington County who were prepared to exercise their first amendment rights on Saturday, peacefully.  The letter began, “Dear Sheriff Nate Brooksby: This letter serves as formal notice of our intent to file a claim should any civil rights violations occur at Vernon Worthen Park on September 21, 2024.” The letter continues, “Such actions [removing people from the park for campaigning] would be contrary to the spirit of a “Constitution Day” event and undermine the fundamental freedoms the event purports to celebrate. The individuals have no intention of being disruptive or controversial, they just want to attend and show support for their candidate.”  The notice cited the first amendment, 14th amendment, Supreme Court cases, and informed officers that their immunity would not be upheld if they chose to violate these basic rights.  Mr. Brooksby’s response of predetermined mindset is interestingly ironic to the sheriff’s predetermined mindset to commit a crime of rights violations.  He infers in his text that the patriots who put his office on notice would end up in jail if they came to the park campaigning.  

The group ended up attending the event.  They and other patriots attended, wearing Phil Lyman shirts.  There was one sign at the event brought by a patriot, David Johnson, that read, “If you have to cheat to win, you’re still a loser“, suggesting Cox did not win the race.   It is so important that we, as patriots, stand up to this kind of tyranny and not shy away from doing what’s right when it counts, even if it means that others might see you as not being “nice”.  This may have been uncomfortable for these folks–to think they may be arrested or trespassed–but they showed up anyway.  The event was not well-attended, but about half of those who came and were not working in one of the booths, were wearing Phil Lyman attire.  It was a victory for American patriots, the Constitution, and everyone in the community.  They stood up for basic first amendment rights and exposed the tyrants that tout the Constitution in order to get elected.  

Phil Lyman did, indeed, end up at the event after all.  He and Natalie Clawson, his running mate, came for a few minutes to meet with and talk to residents of Southern Utah. And, they did wear their Lyman shirts.  Spencer Cox had a booth, but never came to the event, even though he was slated to attend and was presumably in town as he had events later in the day.  

Overall, this was a victory, but also a lesson for Utahns.  Liberty was asserted and a lesson of tyrannical leadership was displayed.  The chair of the party told many attendees to leave if they were wearing a Phil Lyman shirt or face the consequences of police involvement. One attendee, wearing a Lyman shirt, recorded her saying, “I can’t have you out here campaigning at our event, that’s our rule.  We rented and paid for this and this is our event...Do you want me to have the police come and talk to you?”  Gratefully, the police chose to not infringe on the rights of the people and to uphold their oath of office.  The patriots were very grateful to the St. George Police Department who did not carry out the threat to trespass people.  That should be commended and many patriots were seen thanking the police.  What could have been a joyful event where everyone was invited to attend peacefully, wearing any clothing they like, to celebrate the Constitution, it was sad that these tactics were used instead, dividing the community.  Hopefully, in the future, a Constitution Day event can be more in line with the Constitution.  We can do better. When exposing elected officials who do not represent their constituents or who are not honoring their oath of office and upholding their duties, what do we do?  It’s hard to say exactly, but it’s clear something needs to shift to clean out corruption and restore liberty.  May the people of Utah find ways to do so and continue to spread liberty awareness by standing up for American values. 

Liberty Defender

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