Weber County Primary Wrap-Up

Amid big spending and questionable last-minute litigation, voters decide the future of the county commission

NEWS

All six Commission A candidates participate in a forum held by the League of Women Voters of Weber County at the Weber County Library on June 1. From Left to Right: Republicans James Ebert, Katrina Gibson, Richard Hyer and Duane Kearsley. Forward candidate Gary New and Democrat Alvin Thurgood. Cathy McKitrick

WEBER COUNTY — The dust has all but settled on a primary election fraught with infighting as Republican voters selected their candidates of choice for two Weber County commission races. 

Four GOP candidates made it on to the ballot for Commission seat A currently held by Gage Froerer who did not seek re-election. Two of those candidates — Rich Hyer and Duane Kearsley — emerged as delegate favorites during the county party’s April convention, while two — James Ebert and Katrina Gibson — gathered signatures to secure their spots on the ballot.

Kearsley — a first-time candidate — came away with the prize. And he also spent the least amount of cash to nab the right to advance to November where he’ll face Forward party candidate Gary New and Democrat Alvin Thurgood. 

Commission seat B incumbent Sharon Bolos lost to fellow Republican Jon Beesley, who faces no challenger in November. Beesley was the delegates’ pick in April and Bolos gathered signatures to get on the primary ballot. 

These races carry significant weight because they effectively replace a majority of the three-member body that makes both legislative and executive decisions for Weber County, which spans 659 square miles and has a population of about 280,131 people.

Unofficial Tallies:

COMMISSION SEAT A

Duane Kearsley 7,277 votes 31.22%

James Ebert 6,027 votes 25.85%

Katrina Gibson 5,878 votes 25.22%

Richard Hyer 4,129 votes 17.71%

COMMISSION SEAT B

Jon Beesley 13,004 votes 55.57%

Sharon Bolos 10,398 votes 44.43%

Costly Campaigning

Campaign finance reports indicate big spending on the part of the candidates who gathered signatures:

‍COMMISSION A

Katrina Gibson spent $87,159, of which $28,900 paid for signature gathering

James Ebert spent $83,377, of which $50,000 paid for signature gathering

Richard Hyer spent $40,064

Duane Kearsley spent $17,551

COMMISSION B

Sharon Bolos spent $43,163, of which $11,932 paid for signature gathering

Jon Beesley spent $16,917

Last-minute Litigation

Just a few days before Weber County primary ballots would hit voters’ mailboxes, three candidates – Beesley (seat B), Gibson and Hyer (both seat A)  – filed a complaint against Ebert in hopes of getting him disqualified from the Commission A race. 

This action sent 2nd District Court Judge Craig Hall scrambling to fast-track hearings without circumventing justice or wreaking havoc for voters in the electoral process. 

The complaint centered on conflict of interest allegations and potential vote tampering because Ebert’s wife Steffani works as chief deputy in the Weber County Clerk/Auditor’s office but not on the elections side of it. Weber County and Clerk/Auditor Ricky Hatch were also named as defendants in the case.

Hatch — Weber County’s clerk/auditor since 2011 — rose to national prominence as a founding member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council. In that capacity, he helped draft election infrastructure protocols and the nation’s Cyber Incident Response Plan. 

On June 4, Beesley, Gibson and Hyer withdrew their request that Ebert be disqualified, but asked that the case continue for further examination of the facts. 

But on June 8, Judge Hall denied their petition and ended the case, saying defendants had substantially complied with election requirements. 

“In the context of elections, litigation is uniquely time-sensitive, and parties seeking to alter a ballot must act with extreme diligence,” Hall wrote, pointing out that petitioners in the case were aware of the facts underlying their claims by April 24, but waited more than a month to file their complaint. 

Hall noted that “bringing a lawsuit to remove a candidate just days before ballots are mailed borders on bad faith.” 

Primary takeaways

Kearsley, who currently manages Weber County’s Golden Spike Events Center, recently reflected on his primary victory in the Commission A race. Although this is his first run for elected office, he said he’s been politically active throughout his life. 

“The shocking side of it is being on the inside … and hearing the internal conversations back and forth,” Kearsley said. “I didn't realize how many of these politicians are interconnected with each other, and there's a game being played all the time.”

Kearsley acknowledged that he’d been approached to join the lawsuit against Ebert: “I just told them I didn't want anything to do with it. And I told them, ‘if you guys send me the information, I'll just send it to the news media. Let them figure it out.’"

Kearsley said he valued the insight he gained on the campaign trail: “The number one thing that probably hit me the hardest is how many veterans or elderly people that I talked to that are literally on a fixed income … they're so worried about their taxes going up. They can't afford certain things … like food or whatever.”

Ebert currently oversees the Weber-Davis Boys & Girls Club, but served on the Weber County Commission from January 2015 to January 2019, much of that alongside Kerry Gibson who served from January 2011 to January 2018. 

Kerry Gibson had been the target of a months-long criminal investigation that ended in May 2018 without charges. Also a former state lawmaker, he currently works as a lobbyist on Utah’s Capitol Hill. He is married to Katrina, one of the candidates who sought to have Ebert disqualified. 

Ebert described the last-minute litigation as “political strategy to create confusion or doubt.” 

“Unfortunately, that's the part of politics that I was working to try to get rid of, but it worked very effectively,” Ebert said.

Katrina Gibson did not respond to requests for comment by phone, but emailed a short  response: “This was a tremendous experience and I am so grateful for the trust that so many people put in me. I will continue to serve my community wherever I can. I offer my heartfelt congratulations to Duane Kearsley for his primary victory. I believe that he is strong enough to deliver the reform that is so desperately needed in the Weber County culture.”