The power broker: Can conservative icon Gayle Ruzicka stay relevant in today's Republican party?

Spenser Heaps, Deseret News - Gayle Ruzicka, president of the Utah Eagle Forum, poses for photographs at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019.

From the Deseret News

One of the most recognizable power brokers on the Hill, she and her team commandeer a row of tables in the cafeteria each morning, setting up mission control to protect the two things they say matter most: the Constitution and the family.

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By Sara Israelsen-Hartley   |  March 6, 2019 at 10:00 pm MST

One of the most recognizable power brokers on the Hill, she and her team commandeer a row of tables in the cafeteria each morning, setting up mission control to protect the two things they say matter most: the Constitution and the family.

She is Gayle Ruzicka, president of Utah Eagle Forum, one of the most powerful people in Utah politics to never hold elected office.

She’s been called the puppet master, a behind-the-scenes mobilizer of hundreds of activists who can sink legislation overnight and a deal breaker feared by Utah lawmakers.

Yet many politicians brush aside such claims, dismissing her power and influence as a media creation; others admit Ruzicka had influence, but in the '90s, not today.
Yet even their protestations paint a picture of power.

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