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SALT LAKE CITY — The Davis County Republican Party has imposed sanctions on two previous party office holders, Daniela Harding, the previous party chair, and Patrick Russo, the previous party secretary, for alleged ethical violations. Both have retained attorneys as they fight the allegations and sanctions.
An anonymous ethics complaint, filed during an election year in which Harding was a candidate for the Utah Legislature, apparently deals with a potential mistake being made during delegate allocation in 2022, a process that occurs every four years in Utah.
It's hard to know, however, because, as Russo said, "They haven't even given me a copy of the 'anonymous' complaint. It's supposedly something from 2022. How am I supposed to defend myself against a complaint they won't even show me?" Harding also confirmed that she has never received the full complaint.
As Harding and Russo understand it, the ethics complaints allege that Russo and Harding misallocated the number of delegates for each precinct more than two years ago. However, according to the attorney representing Harding, besides the complaint being speculative, no claim has been made that any such error altered an election result. Additionally, the delegates attending the 2022 county convention voted to ratify the allocation. No concerns were raised at the time, and the 2022 election is long past.
On July 2, the Davis County GOP Ethics Committee met without either Harding or Russo present. Harding was out of town at a dance competition for one of her children and Russo had also been out of town. They both said they were not invited to the meeting. The committee would not move the meeting to accommodate Harding. At the closed meeting, attendees substantiated the alleged ethical violations, imposed sanctions, then notified both Russo and Harding of their findings via email on July 3.
Both Harding and Russo have retained attorneys who have responded to the Davis County Republican Party chair and the Ethics Committee chair. The Deseret News has obtained a copy of both responses. The response from David Irvine, representing Harding, and Karra Porter, representing Russo, are substantively the same. Their arguments are that:
- The meeting held and action taken were not in accordance to Davis County Republican Party bylaws, or Robert's Rules of Order, without proper notification or due process accorded to the accused, and therefore the decisions and reported sanctions are void.
- The full complaint has never been provided to either party.
- The bylaws only address current party officers, and neither Harding nor Russo hold party office positions.
- Anonymous complaints are not expressly permitted under the Davis County Republican Party bylaws.
- A complaint that there may have been an error in delegate allocation cannot be raised more than two years after the fact, is speculative, and no harm is claimed.
- The complaint would have had to be made before the the reading and adoption of the credentials report at the 2022 convention.
- The imposed sanctions are unfairly disproportionate to the claimed violation.
Both attorneys are asking that the anonymous ethics complaint be dismissed, and that the purported findings and the imposed sanctions be overturned. If not, the Davis County Republican Party can anticipate additional legal action, the response said.
The Deseret News reached out to Yemi Arunsi, the Davis County Party Chair, who said "Unfortunately, I cannot make a comment at this time. Any individual that disagrees with a substantiated ethics complaint will have every opportunity to present their case to the County Central Committee."
An emergency meeting of the Davis County Republican Party Central Committee has been called for Monday at 6:30 p.m.
Holly Richardson is the editor of Utah Policy and a former Republican member of the Utah House of Representatives.
