Caucus Night is Thursday March 20 at 7:00 PM

If you haven’t already, please be sure to mark Thursday, March 20 at 7:00pm on your calendar and plan to attend your neighborhood caucus. Caucus night is less than a month away, and this year there are exciting changes that make it even easier to participate. Click the image below to watch our commercial and share it with your family and friends. (Please contribute $10, $25, $100 or more to help us spread this message). Did you know this year you can: Preregister online before attending your caucus night. Vote by absentee ballot if you're not able to attend your caucus night. And if you're out of state on military or religious service you can also cast a ballot. In addition to the new, easy ways for you to participate, we’ll be actively promoting caucus night across the state. You’ll see signs and door hangers, receive phone calls and emails, and see familiar faces on television inviting you to attend your neighborhood caucus. We NEED your help to let your friends and family know about caucus night. Ensuring that this years caucus night is a success is critical! Please help us spread the word by contributing $10, $25, $100, or whatever you can to help share this video with others. Your money will go to spread the message about this important part of our election system. We cannot do all of this without your donation so please contribute $10, $25, or $100 today! Thanks for your support! James Evans Utah Republican Party Chairman P.S. It’s up to all of us to make sure that caucus night is a success. You can help by contributing $10, $25, $100 and by sharing this with your family and friends on Facebook, Twitter, and email.

Utah Republican Party Headquarters 117 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84111 Email: info@utgop.org | Phone: 801.533.9777 © Copyright 2013. Utah Republican Party. All Rights Reserved.

Youth Leadership School

The URepublicans are bringing the Leadership Institute to Utah to host a Youth Leadership School! This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone interested in getting more involved in politics while meeting fellow conservatives, enhancing your resume, and learning how to better lead! Youth Leadership School . Friday, Mar. 21 - Saturday, Mar. 22, 2014 2 days and nights, $30 (meals included) *Only $15 for Early Registration by 2/21/14! REGISTER HERE The Leadership Institute's flagship school, nicknamed "the boot camp of politics," provides you with effective techniques to organize and lead mass-based youth efforts for and causes. Any student, candidate, or youth leader who wants to be active in the political process should attend this school. You will learn to: Organize large numbers of volunteers and voters Increase the size and effectiveness of your group Motivate volunteers with exciting projects Host successful speaker events Develop eye-catching signs and literature Gain media coverage Organize 12 proven activism projects Click Here for Flyer Contact Sam Larson with any questions at SLarson@LeadershipInstitute.org or (703) 647-3311. Register at the URepublicans Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/206778666184582/ Or directly at the Leadership Institute's website: http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/Training/school.cfm?ID=24932

Progress Report by Our Salt Lake County Assessor Kevin Jacobs

Dear Fellow Republicans,
First of all, I want to thank all of you for the opportunity I have to serve as your County Assessor! I knew what I was getting into, and would like to report on the progress I've made since taking office last September. As promised, utilizing my experience and management background, I hit the ground running and have made significant changes to the office structure and how the office operates. The most significant changes I've made are:

Reorganized the office

• I split the Real Property Division into two smaller divisions, the Residential Division and the Commercial Division.
  
• At the same time, I dissolved the Statistical and Modeling Division, as well as the Appeals Section, and assigned those individuals to the respective Residential or Commercial Division.
  
• This realignment means the two divisions have all the responsibilities and resources for their area. All phases of property valuation are now "self-contained" within each division.

Appraisers and statisticians now work together as a team, which enhances their communication and makes them more accountable for the final product.

Completely revised how appraisers are assigned their work

• Previously, appraisers would work in one area of the county and then move to another area the following year. Now, appraisers are assigned to one area and will not rotate. They will be responsible for new construction, reappraisal, and the appeals that come from their area.
  
• The appraisers will focus on gaining a very detailed knowledge of their area and the changes that are happening within it.

Made recommendations on streamlining appeals to the Board of Equalization

• If our records show you have a finished basement, when in fact you don't, you shouldn't have to go through a lengthy appeals process to have the error corrected. I recommend appeals dealing with physical characteristics be immediately sent to the Assessor's Office so we can verify the data, correct the error, and get a revised value on the property.
  
• Currently, a large number of the appeals filed with the County are not sent to the Assessor's Office, but instead go directly to a hearing officer. Many of these appeals end up going to the state, which then involves my office. I want the opportunity to correct errors, whether they relate to physical data or value, at the earliest possible level. Taxpayers shouldn't have to appeal to the state when the issue could have been resolved at the County level! I have recommended that all appeals, regardless of the issue, be reviewed by my office. While this will add to our workload, I feel strongly it is our responsibility to address taxpayer concerns and get them resolved as quickly as possible.
  
  While these are not all of the changes I've made, I feel they are the most significant and will have a long lasting effect on the office. I am committed to making the office more accountable, while serving you in the most efficient and effective manner possible!
  

Once again, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve you as the Salt Lake County Assessor and I appreciate your support!

If I may be of help to you, please contact me at:

Kjacobs@slco.org
385-468-7971 (work)
801-502-4729 (cell)

Thank you,

Kevin Jacobs
Salt Lake County Assessor

www.assessor.slco.org

News from Representative Earl Tanner and Senator Wayne Harper

The Utah Legislature is in session. Both our Senator Wayne Harper and our Representative Earl Tanner are welcoming feedback and input from their electors.

• To take a survey for Representative Earl Tanner go to www.telltanner.com
• I could not get the link for Senator Wayne Harper's survey to work. So maybe it is too late to take advantage of the survey for this legistlative session. Contact him via email.
• Representative Tanner's email address is earltanner@le.utah.gov
• Senator Harper's email address is wharper@le.utah.gov

February News from Senator Mike Lee

Friend, The first two months of 2014 have been busy in Washington and in Utah. We just held my February tele-townhall and it was helpful to hear from citizens from around our great state on a wide-range of issues. If you haven't done so already, you can sign up to participate in my monthly tele-townhalls here: http://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/tele-townhall-meetings. I also wanted to share with you a few of the areas I have been focused on in the Senate. Here some highlights from the last few weeks: Learn about my proposal that seeks to affirm religious liberty in the military Listen to my interview with Doug Wright where we discussed my response to the State of the Union Address Read my op-ed: The Farm Bill vs. America Read the text of my speech: Reforming higher education for those who need it most Read my op-ed: To Create Jobs, Promote Access to Opportunity via Human Networks Watch the Judiciary Committee hearing where I asked Eric Holder to provide legal rationale for Executive Orders Watch my full response to the State of the Union Address Read the resolution I signed denouncing the President's coercion of states into adopting Common Core standards Today, Americans know in their hearts that something is wrong. Much of what is wrong relates to the sense that the “American Dream” is falling out of reach for far too many of us. We are facing an inequality crisis — that the President has paid lip-service to, but seems uninterested in truly confronting or correcting. This inequality crisis presents itself in three principal forms: immobility among the poor, who are being trapped in poverty by big-government programs; insecurity in the middle class, where families are struggling just to get by and can’t seem to get ahead; and cronyist privilege at the top, where political and economic insiders twist the immense power of the federal government to profit at the expense of everyone else. Where does this new inequality come from? From government — every time it takes rights and opportunities away from the American people and gives them instead to politicians, bureaucrats, and special interests. In 1861, Abraham Lincoln told Congress that the “leading object” of American government was: “to elevate the condition of men - to lift artificial weights from all shoulders, to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all, to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance, in the race of life.” I am continuing to put forward legislation with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address the inequality crisis we face as a country and deliver to you the type of government Lincoln described. You can follow my legislation in areas including eliminating the double tax on hardworking parents, reforming higher education to make it more accessible and more affordable, along with prison, patent and regulatory reform that are part of my conservative reform agenda on my website at www.lee.senate.gov