Election Success!!

What a night! I won both positions I was campaigning for at last night's Utah County Republican Party Central Committee Meeting/Legislative District Caucus. I am now on the Constitution & Bylaws Committee and the Leg. 56 Education Officer. I am really excited to see how these two positions are going to dovetail together and help both my district and our county.

One highlight for me was that my family was there. Michael came from work and met me & the kids in the parking lot so I could run in & get my credentials. They ate a picnic dinner and played frisbee & games on the grass outside during the first part of the meeting. But when I went up on the stage with all the other 13 candidates, there was my family smiling away! I loved hearing Isaac say "Mom, Mom!". I could've given the worst speech ever, but they still gave me smiles and hugs afterwards. It meant a lot to me that my children wanted to see me speak and see their Mommy up there and involved and trying to be an influence for good.

For the C&B Committee Election, I only had 30 seconds to speak in front of the whole Central Committee. Speaking briefly & concisely is pretty tough for me to do, especially under a lot of stress. Thankfully, an idea came to me while I was praying early in the morning, and after writing out several drafts and sitting down with a timer in hand, I was finally able to get a brief, coherent, and accurate message together that lasted 29 seconds - if I talked fairly fast.

I know I didn't give my talk exactly the way I had planned it. I added a few words here & there & forgot to mention that I had served for the past two years on the committee (which mistake I corrected by adding at the end, "Please re-elect me for another two years ..."), but it was mostly done when my time was up. Whew!

Here's what I basically said: (my original speech)

"Two men looked out of prison bars; one saw the mud, one saw the stars. My name is Wendi Baggaley and I am an optimist. Yes, there are things that need to be fixed in our bylaws, but there are also so many wise Republican principles in there that must be protected and guarded. If you elect me for another two years, I will work towards greater communication and transparency in both the bylaw amendment and delegate allocation process. I will encourage healthy debate on these issues and then trust that YOU, the Central Committee, will make the best policy decisions for our party. Please vote for me, Wendi Baggaley, for the Constitution & Bylaws Committee."

Well, they did! Yeah!

My speech for the Education Officer in our Leg. 56 Caucus was not at all as rehearsed or even planned well; I will definitely do better next time around. But I hope I communicated my enthusiasm and desires to increase education in our district, not only in training the officers about their duties and about the issues to be discussed at the Central Committee Meetings, but also about Republican issues and principles in general among the whole community. Thankfully no one else was nominated to run against me so Heather Jackson moved that our district elect me by acclamation. (Thanks Heather!!!)

I have so many ideas of things to do for both positions. I'm so excited to see how actions I take for one position will dovetail and augment the duties for the other position. I look forward to working with people I already know, trust, and admire, but I'm also looking forward to getting to know and learn and serve with new people like Becky Pirente, Jill Jasperson, John Updike, Connor Boyack, and others. Yippee!!!! I'm off to a new adventure!!!!