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Matheson backs labor chief for party leader
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| Contributor | User 215 |
| Last Edited | User 215 Apr 01, 2005 03:08am |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Friday, April 1, 2005 09:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | As Utah's only Democrat to hold a federal office and nominal leader of the state's Democratic Party, Rep. Jim Matheson believes he should have a pretty big say in who the next state party chairman will be: He's picking longtime labor leader Wayne Holland Jr.
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Jim Matheson
This spring's state Democratic Party convention, where new party officers will be picked for two-year terms, could be an interesting fight as one-term chairman Donald Dunn steps down.
Matheson told the Deseret Morning News' editorial board Thursday that as the leading Democratic officeholder in the state, he should have some sway and say in who the next party chairman is.
And, ironically enough, this convention battle will see a switch in positions for the well-respected Matheson family from its 1989 party involvement.
This year a well-known Matheson backs steelworker union leader Holland.
In 1989, the late Gov. Scott M. Matheson, Rep. Matheson's father, and other family members played a key role in the party-chairmanship standoff between former state Rep. Kelly Atkinson — who was backed by the labor wing of the party — and Peter Billings Jr. — backed by the Mathesons and a more well-heeled, upper-crust part of the party.
Billings won, but bad feelings remained in the party for several years.
State AFL-CIO president Ed Mayne, now a Democratic state senator, back then gave the Billings/Matheson wing of the party the moniker "the white wine and Mercedes set." |
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