New Google Earth political maps at utahcountydems.com
Written by Utah County Democrats
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Do you know which voting precinct you live in? Do you know its boundaries? How about your Utah house, senate, and judicial districts, and your U.S. congressional district? Have you wondered what geographic explanations there might be for the districts' funny squiggly borders?
If you find these questions interesting, you'll love the new Google Earth political maps available on the Utah County Democrats website (http://www.utahcountydems.com). The maps are based on public GIS databases provided by Utah County and by the State of Utah.
With the new year arriving, many of us take stock of the past and plan for the future. Let me do the same in regard to the county party.
Obviously, the big event for us was the election. At the national level, Barack Obama brings a breath of fresh air to the Oval Office. Democratic gains in both the U.S. House and Senate showed Americans generally are fed up with the Republican party and are ready for change. We’re anxious to see significant changes to foreign and domestic policy that will ameliorate U.S. relations with other nations, end the war in Iraq, wage the real war on terror, boost support for education, institute real energy solutions, save the environment, and a host of other needed improvements.
Utah County may seem like a world apart. Elections in Utah County were disappointing in the sense that none of our wonderful legislative candidates won a majority of the vote. However, we did not expect we could accomplish change over night. Change takes time. This is particularly true in Utah County where Democrats have received low vote totals, not to mention a lack of electoral victories, since the mid-1990s.
The county party created a ten year plan in 2007 that was intended to move the party forward to electoral parity with Republicans within ten years, not within two years.
Such plans can work. In Montana, the state party created a ten-year plan towards electoral victory. Now, the state has a Democratic governor (who was re-elected handily), as well as two senators. The Montana House of Representatives is controlled by Democrats. But Montana did not have that electoral status at the beginning of its ten year plan.
The county party will hold a candidate appreciation dinner for the state legislative candidates who ran in 2008. The dinner will be held on February 26, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. at Somewhere Inn Time, 175 N. State St., Lindon. Tickets are $40 per person ($25 for students). Tickets can be obtained by contacting Don Jarvis at
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or 801-377-6133.
Please come and express your appreciation to the candidates who made significant progress in making the Democratic Party viable again in Utah County.
County Party Executive Director Appointed
Written by Utah County Democratic Party
Sunday, 04 January 2009
Don Jarvis
Don Jarvis, 2008 state legislative candidate and former chair of the county party Research Committee, has been appointed executive director of the county party by the county executive committee. As executive director, Don will help the county party leadership with party organization building, administration, and public relations.
"I'm glad Don has agreed to serve in this role," Richard Davis, county party chair, said. "Don has great organizational skills as former head of the BYU Faculty Center and an LDS mission president in Russia. We're all looking forward to working with him to build the party as we prepare for the next election cycle."
Don is an emeritus professor at BYU and a consultant at UVU. He founded and directed the Faculty Center at BYU and served as chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages. In the 1990s, he was called to be a mission president for the LDS Church in Russia. He and his wife, Janelle, are the parents of six children.
Kathy Cook resigns; Deon Turley appointed new Secretary
Written by Utah County Democratic Party
Sunday, 04 January 2009
Deon Turley
Deon Turley, 2008 candidate for state House in District 61, has been appointed county party secretary by the county executive committee after the resignation of Kathy Cook for family reasons. According to Richard Davis, county party chair: "Kathy did a wonderful job working with volunteers, helping with events, and keeping all of us organized. We will miss her. But we're glad Deon has agreed to succeed Kathy and carry on the essential secretarial role."
Deon currently serves as secretary of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. Previously, she was the president of the Provo Council PTA and prior to that was secretary for the PTA council.
She is married to Steve Turley and they have seven children. She earned a BS degree in Mathematics from BYU and has lived in Provo since 1995.
Many Thanks
Written by Party Leadership
Thursday, 06 November 2008
Dear Fellow Utah County Democrat:
We want to thank all of you who worked diligently on the campaign that has just passed. Many people contributed in so many different ways to help bring about a positive result in this election. Thank you very much for volunteering. You made a difference.
A very special thanks goes to the candidates who sacrificed so much of their time and energy to run their respective races. Please thank them personally for doing that.
Even though we did not get any of our candidates elected this cycle, we can point to some important accomplishments:
1. We made significant inroads in winning over voters. In 2006, slightly more than 1 out of 5 voters (22%) in Utah County voted for the Democratic House candidates. In 2008, our candidates received 1 out of every 3 votes cast, a huge increase in just one election cycle. If we make that kind of gain again in 2010, some of our candidates will be on the upper end of that average and get elected. Our candidates cut into the previous Republican vote from north to south county and in between.
2. Three of the candidates got in the 40 percent range. Debbie Swenson got the closest with 45 percent of the vote. Other candidates got in the high 30s. That performance was the best of any group of candidates in anyone's memory. Moreover, our gains were across the county. Debbie is in south county, Claralyn (who got 42 percent) in Provo, and Steve (40 percent) in Orem.
3. We energized volunteers all over the county. They got to participate in real campaigns where candidates were actively competing. Many people got campaign experience they hadn't had before. Plus they got to interact with their neighbors and shape their thinking. We made quite a few friends to our cause.
4. The candidates learned many valuable lessons about campaigning. This is important for the future. The candidates can use what they've learned for their own future campaigns or impart information to others.
5. We created a party infrastructure handling functions such as research, fundraising, technology, candidate recruitment, etc. This is critical to future elections.
We can be proud of what we have accomplished and the foundation we have built for future success. Despite the odds, we made significant inroads into the Republican vote and have set the stage to make another run at them in two years. The work starts now. We hope you'll join us.
Thanks again for all your help,
Richard Davis, Chair Larry Brown, Vice Chair Kathy Cook, Secretary Vaughn Cook, Treasurer
Do you know which voting precinct you live in? Do you know its boundaries? How about your Utah house, senate, and judicial districts, and your U.S. congressional district? Have you wondered what geographic explanations there might be for the districts' funny squiggly borders?
