Recently, something happened that reminded me of my parents.
My father, a Salt Lake businessman who was a devout Mormon, was a Democrat. My mother, also a devout Mormon and daughter of a bishop, was also a Democrat. They were people of integrity. I remember my father voting in favor of pro-tenant legislation that would remove rights he had as a landlord, simply because he believed it was the right thing to do. I remember my mother fussing over the fact that taxpayers were partially funding the oxygen she used when her cancer took her breath away. She did not think this was fiscally responsible when she had the means to pay for it herself.
My parents and their many Utah friends were proud of their Democratic affiliation. I remember visiting my parents on Election Day where, on repeated occasions, I observed them faithfully staffing the voting booths and enjoying association with other faithful Democrats. I also enjoyed observing healthy sparring between my parents and their Republican friends. In those days, no stigma attached to being a Democrat, even in Utah. Growing up in our family, we had animated discussions about politics, ethics and morality. We were taught that we should take our rights as citizens seriously. We were taught to vote our conscience.
I was reminded of this aspect of my life by a recent event in which I was deprived of my right to vote. My state representative was chosen behind closed Republican doors, absent the healthy discussion, pro and con that took place in my childhood home and that should take place in a democracy, as part of the electoral process. I realized that this could only happen because here in Utah County, for all practical purposes, we have been reduced to only one functioning party.
The good old boy network is alive and thriving in Utah politics. We're talking about the cozy web of entrenched Republican lawmakers, lobbyists and others who have become comfortable with being in power, are loyal to each other, and may have engaged in unethical and possibly illegal acts to protect each other.
Case in point: The recent rehiring of Robert Brems as president of the Utah College of Applied Technology. It was just two years ago that Brems was forced to resign from that same position under a cloud. A state auditor's investigation revealed that Brems had knowingly presided over an illegal use of state funds and the falsification of employee time cards to build a parade float for the Utah County Republican Party at the Mountainland Applied Technical College, a UCAT campus. Who asked the school administration to use public resources to build the float in the first place? Republican Sen. Curt Bramble.
Of course, that is unethical. A state-funded school shouldn't be bearing the cost in labor and materials for a political party's float. A state senator shouldn't even ask for such a thing to be done, particularly when that legislator was the Senate majority leader with power over that school's funding.
Someone had to take the heat, however, at least temporarily. The Utah State Board of Regents, which had oversight over the UCAT president, conducted an investigation and Brems was forced to resign. Bramble, who instigated the float request, emerged unscathed. Nor did the Senate Ethics Committee even investigate the matter. Who was co-chair of the Senate Ethics Committee? Curt Bramble.
Recently a female student in one of my classes came into my office and stared at me intently as she asked a profound question: "Can one person really make a difference?"
That is a question many people wonder about. Can I really make a difference?
I thought about her question and pondered people who had made a difference. We often point to famous individuals like Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill as examples of one person changing the course of history.
But I thought of others who made a difference, people who really aren't far away or in the past. I thought of Debbie Swenson, who nearly beat Representative Mike Morley and surely has him worried about what she will do in 2010. Mike Morley has a lot to worry about. Debbie can beat him and provide her district with an honest and capable legislator.
And Claralyn Hill, who suffered the full force of Curt Bramble's efforts to prevent her from taking out one of Bramble's close associates in the legislature, Chris Herrod. (Herrod's solution to the health care crisis is to raise insurance premiums so people won't visit the doctor so much!) Claralyn scared Herrod. As a first time candidate in a heavily Republican district bucking the force of the Senate majority leader, Claralyn got 41 percent of the vote in a district. Everyone knows now Republicans are not invulnerable, even in strong Republican districts.
Recently Elder Oaks delivered a forum address at BYU-Idaho expressing his concern about the erosion of religious freedom. He was referring to the effort on the part of some same-sex marriage advocates to force the LDS Church out of the same-sex marriage debate.
This is not an idle concern. Elder Oaks quoted one of the spokespersons for the same-sex marriage advocates as saying "My single goal is to get them out of the same-sex marriage business and back to helping hurricane victims." On one of his recent programs, Keith Olbermann gave Elder Oaks his "worst person in the world" award and commented that the Church should shut up on this issue.
It would be a tragedy if gay rights advocates, in seeking to obtain gay rights, became party to an effort to rob others of another set of rights - the right to participate in public debate about public policy issues in accordance with personal religious views. Those rights should be sacrosanct in a democratic society.
When I was growing up in Utah, Calvin Rampton and Scott Matheson were our Governors, Frank Moss was one of our Senators, and Gunn McKay was our Congressman. All were Mormon Democrats. My father was a steelworker who believed that the Democrats were the party that ended the Depression, won the War, and fought for the rights of working people.
Evidently many Utah Mormons agreed with him. It was not until the mid- to late-1970s that the Democratic party fell out of favor among Utah Mormon voters. That shift resulted, I believe, because the public debate about morality became more narrowly focused on sexual issues like abortion. But the Mormon retreat from the Democratic party has been detrimental to both the party and the LDS Church. Furthermore, there are moral issues that, I believe, are better represented by the Democrats than by Republicans.
At election time each year, a Church statement of political neutrality is read in LDS congregations throughout the nation, which "affirms [the Church's] neutrality regarding political parties, platforms, and candidates." Importantly, it also stresses that, "principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties." Implicit in this statement is the notion that gospel truth may be found in the Democratic party's platform.
In an interview in 1998, Elder Marlin Jensen, a Mormon Democrat, spoke of the need for political diversity in the Church. Jensen outlined three main concerns Church leaders have with the misconception that the Republican party is the Church party: First, the Church's reputation suffers with the waxing and waning tides of national political fortunes. "There is a feeling that even nationally as a church, it's not in our best interest to be known as a one-party church," stated Jensen.
The late Elder James E. Faust, also a Mormon Democrat and a counselor in the First Presidency, reiterated this point: "It is in the interest of the Church to have a two-party system . . . . Both locally and nationally, the interest of the Church and its members are served when we have two good men or women running on each ticket, and then no matter who is elected, we win."[1]
On September 26, the state Democratic Party Central Committee met at the Provo Library. Party Chair Wayne Holland asked me to welcome the participants and give a report on what we had been doing in Utah County. It was a pleasure to tell the other party chairs and vice chairs what we had accomplished over the past couple of years. It reminded me of how far we have gone in such a short time.
I told them we were building an organization across the county with the election of legislative district chairs and vice chairs, as well as precinct chair recruitment.
I mentioned that we were holding precinct chair training to help each precinct chair better understand how important they are to the party organization and the election of candidates.
They heard about how much we had gained electorally in 2008 -- recruiting 13 candidates, getting over 40,000 votes collectively, winning 16 precincts and getting 40 percent or more in 57 precincts, and having three of our candidates get in the 40 percent range. This was a success record that hadn't been accomplished since Bill Orton served in Congress.
I wanted to thank all of the hundreds of people who have been active in making those accomplishments possible. We have achieved a lot together.
We're already gearing up for the 2010 campaign. We need to build on the foundation we established in 2008.
How can you help right now?
Offer to help your precinct chair with your own precinct organization.
Attend the party events. Show your support.
If you're a precinct chair, attend the training.
Sign and circulate one of the petitions for ethics and fair boundaries.
Working together, we can bring change in Utah County.
Recently, something happened that reminded me of my parents.
Recently a female student in one of my classes came into my office and stared at me intently as she asked a profound question: "Can one person really make a difference?"
When I was growing up in Utah, Calvin Rampton and Scott Matheson were our Governors, Frank Moss was one of our Senators, and Gunn McKay was our Congressman. All were Mormon Democrats. My father was a steelworker who believed that the Democrats were the party that ended the Depression, won the War, and fought for the rights of working people.
