Utah Sen. Ann Millner targeted in mailer; challenger denounces effort
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- The Republican hopefuls for the District 5 Utah Senate seat are incumbent Ann Millner, left, and Douglas Durbano. The winner in primary voting, which culminates Tuesday, June 28, 2022, faces Democrat Michael Blodgett in the fall.
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- One side of a campaign mailer critical of Utah Sen. Ann Millner, who’s seeking reelection. A group called Make Liberty Win sent it, and the GOP hopeful it’s meant to aid, Douglas Durbano, denounced it. Primary voting culminates Tuesday, June 28, 2022.
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- One side of a campaign mailer critical of Utah Sen. Ann Millner, who’s seeking reelection. A group called Make Liberty Win sent it, and the GOP hopeful it’s meant to aid, Douglas Durbano, denounced it. Primary voting culminates Tuesday, June 28, 2022.
OGDEN — A negative campaign mailer sent by a group that espouses limited government is generating backlash from the Utah Senate candidate it was meant to aid, Doug Durbano.
“We do not engage in mudslinging,” said Durbano, vying for the District 5 seat in the Utah Senate. Such efforts, he said, “don’t help our campaign.”
The official targeted, Sen. Ann Millner — who Durbano is hoping to unseat in the GOP primary — shied from direct comment on the mailer, which comes as primary balloting, ending Tuesday, winds down. District 5 covers all or parts of Riverdale, South Ogden, Ogden, Washington Terrace and Uintah in Weber County, extending into parts of Morgan and Davis counties as well.
“I don’t do negative campaigning. I try to tell people what I have done and what I will do,” said Millner, the majority whip in the Utah Senate. The negative mailer, which hit District 5 mailboxes on Saturday, is “very atypical in Utah politics.”
The mission of Make Liberty Win, based in Alexandria, Virginia, is to back candidates who support “the cause of Liberty” and the U.S. Constitution. Reps from the group didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on Monday, but the mailer cast Millner in an unflattering light.
“Vote out swamp creature Ann Millner on June 28th,” reads the mailer, which accuses her of voting to raise taxes on several occasions and laments that she has a “failing grade” with the American Conservative Union, a conservative organization. The flip side shows a photo collage depicting Millner with a green tint, the Utah Capitol building and President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
Make Liberty Win is endorsing Durbano, but Durbano said he had no idea the mailer was coming out, nor that the group was backing his candidacy. In Utah, the group is also endorsing the reelection bid of Rep. Kera Birkeland, who sponsored the controversial measure approved by lawmakers this year that bans transgender athletes from taking part in girls high school sports. It’s also backing Alena Ericksen, running for the District 18 seat in the Utah House, and many other state legislative hopefuls across the country.
Birkeland works part time for Durbano’s Layton-based law firm and both she and Durbano live in Morgan County. Durbano, though, doesn’t know of any connection between that relationship and the Make Liberty Win endorsement. “If there is, I don’t know what it is,” he said.
Durbano suspects early on in his campaign he may have filled out a form the group sent seeking his position on the issues, the sort of thing many organizations send to political hopefuls. But he’s not sure. Either way, he quickly moved to distance himself from the mailer after receiving one at his own home.
“The negative piece that I received in the mail today had absolutely no connection with my campaign — we do not tolerate these kinds of tactics at all,” he said in a post on his campaign Facebook page. “I would ask all voters who may receive this mailer to simply ignore it. I would much rather have the voters focus on legitimate voting record comparisons and how the candidates might represent their constituencies.
Millner was also the target of a critical mailer sent by Corinne Johnson of Utah Parents United, a conservative group that has pushed to augment the voice of parents in education matters. Millner, former president of Weber State University and an Ogden resident, has touted education as a priority issue over the years and in this year’s campaign has emphasized calls to give parents more of a voice in education matters.
The winner of the District 5 Republican primary will face Democrat Michael Blodgett on the November ballot.
According to a financial statement filed with the state of Utah, Make Liberty Win has spent $69,466.18 in Utah this election cycle. It spent $5,824.15 on the mailer targeting Millner and spent $5,990.60 in phone-calling efforts to support Durbano. The group also spend more than $11,000 on Ericksen’s campaign and more than $46,500 supporting Birkeland.