The Elections Office in Utah never ceases to amaze me. Not the staff that works in the office but, rather, the policies that come forth from that office.
Yesterday I was informed by utahpolicy.com, a really great daily newsletter of the day’s utah politics news, that from now on I could not use “Nationally Affiliated Green Party of Utah” when submitting calendar items. I then noticed that they changed reference to NAGPUT in the calendar listings they had already on their calendar to “Desert Greens”.
Now, I’m not saying that the DG name shouldn’t be used and, in fact, it should – along with the NAGPUT name. For one thing, the NAGPUT Desert Greens has legal rights to the name under Utah Commerce Law. For another, we are affilaited with the Green Party of the United States. And for another, Desert Greens is the registered political party – for election purposes only. All other activities are organized under NAGPUT. Period.
It was made obvious to me that someone complained to utahpolicy.com about them printing our name. I then was told by the person who does their calendar that the elections office recommended that they only print us under “Desert Greens”.
Wait a minute. The Utah Elections Office specifcally told us, in writing, that they would “remain silent” on the name issue. And now they are advising entities and individuals what they should print? That’s hypocrisy!
But it doesn’t surprise me.
In our outreach, we make sure to tell folks that there are two parties using the name Green Party of Utah and that our registered political party is “Desert Greens”. That’s all we say about the two groups. We decided a long time ago that we would advocate who to vote for – not who to vote against.
We will continue to use Desert Greens Nationally Affiliated Green Party of Utah. It’s legal. And it’s the fact. Almost all other organizations publish what we ask them to and choose not to be lured into the middle of this situation, even despite complaints they receive.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 