Ladd Kennington has joined the now crowded field of candidates seeking to replace County Executive Craig Buttars in a upcoming GOP special election.
CACHE COUNTY – Local business executive Ladd Kennington has joined the now-crowded special election race to replace Craig Buttars as Cache County executive.
“I have never met anyone I agree with 100 percent of the time,” Kennington admitted in a prepared statement to fellow Republicans. “I am sure there are things I have done and will do that others would do differently. However, do not doubt, you will always know I take positions based on my principles of honesty, integrity and character.”
The upcoming special election will allow the Republican Party’s local leaders and precinct officials to select a replacement for Buttars, who has been nominated by Gov. Spencer Cox to serve as commissioner of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.
A native of Wyoming, Kennington is a resident of Providence and a graduate of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. He is employed as a safety manager at LW Miller Transportation in Logan and has previous experience in logistics and insurance management.
Kennington’s prior political experience includes participation in successful campaigns to elect U.S. Senator Mitt Romney and Utah Rep. Casey Snider. He has also been a central committee member of both the state Republican Party for the past 18 months and the Cache County GOP for more than five years.
The upcoming special election will take place during a GOP County Central Committee meeting Jan. 30 at the Cache County Event Center, with usual coronavirus precautions in effect.
During that event, local Republican leaders will select a replacement for Buttars from a field of candidates including Kennington, Nibley City Manager David Zook, County Council member David Erickson and local businessman Marc Ensign.
Central committee members — including precinct chairs, vice-chairs, secretaries and treasurers, plus county delegates – are asked to register for the event from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., with the meeting to begin immediately thereafter.
“This is a public meeting,” says Cache County GOP chair Chris Booth. “However, as a COVID precaution, we are encouraging only members of the central committee and county delegates to attend in person. We will be streaming the meeting live on our Facebook page for the general public.”
Under state law, local GOP leaders will select a nominee to serve out the remainder of Buttars’ unexpired term as county executive and forward that name to the Cache County Council for approval.
Booth said that the party organization began accepting filing affidavits from perspective candidates to replace Buttars on Jan. 5 and the filing period will close Friday.
Under state law, a candidate for a county elected position must be a registered voter and a local resident for one year.
In the case of the upcoming GOP special election for the county executive position, all would-be candidates must be registered Republicans.