Show 6 - The Herald Journal Logan Utah Wednesday November 5 1980 t CACHE COUNTY Scott RutherfordHerald Journal Scott RutherfordHerald Journal Latecomer J Owen Yeates (left) watches victorious returns Democrat Robert Chambers bows out Reagan coattails blanket commission ’§ By Jerry Ford staff writer Cache County Commission seats went like this: Four-yeseat: Shelton 11503 (461 percent): 9561 (383 percent): Charles Johnson Carol W Clay 3839 (154 percent) Two-yeseat: Yeates 13206 ( 532 percent) Robert Chambers 11611 (467 percent) Yeates and Shelton surprised even Republican County Chairman Justin Anderson who had commissioned polls which showed both Yeates and Shelton trailing in the races with a large undecided block of voters But as the night wore on and early results showed Yeates and Shelton consistently winning districts it became obvious to observers that both were picking up the large undecided vote It also became evident as the election results were made available on a basis that county residents were punching the straight-part- y ticket With 70 percent of the eligible voters ar The Republican Party solidified its power position in Cache County by turning loose a Democratic incumbent from the Cache County Commission as two Republicans joined the national trend and swept into office Two-terDemocratic Commissioner Robert Chambers lost his position on the commission after y six years of service as county voters selected of North Owen Yeates Logan Republican J for a two-yeterm In the four-yecommission race Charles Shelton of Paradise registered a comfortable Republican win over the strong challenge of Democrat Charles Johnson of Nibley who mounted a massive yet unsuccessful media campaign and Independent candidate Carol W Clay of Logan The final tally of Cache County voters for the two long-standi- m late-entr- ar ar ar district-by-distri- ct going to the polls Tuesday the Republican majority consistently voted a good share of votes straight party “I’d rather people not vote straight party” said Chambers “I’d rather they vote the person and the issues I have to feel Yeates was a strong candidate and voters preferred him over me “But I think it will be a challenge to maintain the y system There’s not a system now I think a large share voted the party line” said Chambers two-par- ty Straight-part- y two-part- discounted Yeates who entered the race late as a September replacement to Verl Buxton of Cornish discounted the impact of straight-part- y voting on his race with Chambers but Johnson said it had a direct effect on the outcome Tuesday night Each carried the unmistaken expression of a win two-ye- ar ner and credited part of his success on the strong showing nationally by Republicans “We got the momentum at the top and it carried right on through" said Shelton who ran unsuccessfully for the commission in 1978 “I feel good about it I can't help but feel good about it — I’m glad it’s over” “I’m very pleased coming into the race as I did” said Yeates coming out a winner in his first bid for a county position “I only had a month to campaign Coming into the race as late as I did I felt I had a lot to overcome I ran 10 points behind (in polls) after announcing" Yeates said there was a lot of scratch voting which means voters registered preference for individuals in certain races such as the two-yerace which overshadowed the straight-part- y vote But the strong Republican showing had an impact ar he said (Continued on page 7) Republican dozer uproots Chambers Janelle Brown staff writer By biggest local surprise in Tuesday's Republican bulldoze was the defeat of Cache County Commissioner Robert Chambers according to the chairmen of both the county Republican and Democrat parties “I really believed we’d win both county commission seats” said Ross Peterson county Democrat chairman “We didn't do nearly as well as we thought we would” Justin Anderson chairman of the county Republican party said the defeat of Chambers a Democrat was his biggest surprise in an evening of massive Republican victories Chambers who has served on the commission for the past six years lost his seat to Republican candidate Owen Yeates Republicans were also the vicr commission race with Charles tors in the Shelton winning over Democrat Charles “Ed” The four-yea- Johnson and Independent Carol Clay “We’re elated with the election results” said Anderson “The trend was for Reagan and he had a big effect all the way down the line I think people are saying that they are sick and tired of the pre- sent vacilating administration” “Chambers is a good man and is well respected He has my utmost respect” Anderson continued “Yeates came in late in the race but the initial polls indicated he was quite strong and he went up from there" The discouraging part Peterson said the most discouraging part of the Democrats’ poor showing in Cache County was the effect it will have on future local elections “It’s a little hard on the candidates They're good positive men and they gave it their best shot It makes it very difficult to get good candidates to run on the Democrat ticket” Peterson said “People know we had the best candidates You talk to people who listened to the debates who studied the candidates and did their homework and you'll find they voted with us” he affded Peterson said the Democratic defeats in the county commission races fueled the argument that county politics should be “About 25 percent of the voters cast straight party tickets" he said “That’s a tremendous thing to non-partis- an overcome” Anderson disagreed with the county government concept saying that the political process was set up so that county officials could interact with state officials on party platforms Nonpartisan races would destroy that process he said non-partis- an Organization helped were also called and told to call 10 people each Anderson said Those 10 people were then told to call 10 more people and so on so the campaign had a mushrooming effect Money also probably made a difference in election outcomes noted Peterson “We couldn’t even afford a campaign headquarters I just split the money up between the candidates" the county Democrat chairman said Neither chairman had come to any conclusion about what effect Independent Carol Clay had on the commission race Clay did unexpectedly well garnering 15 percent of the vote to Shelton’s 46 percent and Johnson’s 38 percent “I think it shows that people were concerned about some of the issues Carol raised” Anderson said “I think it shows we need to look at proposals to change the form of the county government" Anderson said he felt good about local elections because they were “cleanly run” “I feel Ross and I have tried to work together to have a clean election'’ Anderson said “That's what we both wanted” Shelton-Johnson-Cl- Both Anderson and Peterson agreed that the Republicans’ impressive organization in Cache County probably affected the election “We had a 95 percent attendance at the Republican county convention and 97 percent at the state convention” Anderson said “Party vice chairwoman Joyce Tarbet did a tremendous job" Anderson also noted that Republicans expended an extra effort Monday Party workers called 1500 local voters who earlier surveys had indicated were supportive of Republicans and urged them to get out and vote The 57 Republican district chairmen ay y |