Dave Bateman, CEO of the Entrata software company, earlier this year was ballyhooed as a savior of the Utah Republican Party for extinguishing a $410,000 legal debt that threatened to bankrupt it.
It turns out that he is less of a pure big donor than a lender who he says “acquired the debt” from party lawyers — for about 40 cents on the dollar — with some strings attached that may surprise party moderates.
Bateman makes it clear that he may force the party to pay him the debt if it ever halts an ongoing lawsuit that he and ultraconservatives support challenging Utah’s law allowing candidates to collect signatures to get on the primary ballot.