Deseret News, March 8, 2010
Marc Haddock

Deon Turley

Running against Keith Grover two years ago, Turley received 35 percent of the vote as the Democratic candidate.

"We knew it would be uphill, but when I came away, I just felt like I wasn't finished," she said.

A strong supporter of the legislative ethics initiative by Utahns for Ethical Government, Turley has promoted the petition drive to get the initiative on the November ballot and has pledged to conduct her campaign as if the initiative already were law.

She also supports adequate funding for education, corrections and state institutions — especially after the current economic crisis is over.

"I know we are going to have to make sacrifices, but we need confidence that we will able to rebuild when things get better," she said.

Turley currently serves as Family Life Commissioner for the Utah PTA.

Deseret News, March 8, 2010
Marc Haddock

OREM — Linnea S. Barney, a former member of the Utah State Board of Education, is running as a Democratic candidate for the Utah State Senate in District 15 in hopes of restoring balance to the Legislature.

Barney said when she tried to work within the Republican Party as a moderate member, she was frustrated by the control exerted by conservative party members.

"It wasn't long before I realized that the moderate, mainstream residents of Utah County didn't have a voice in the state Legislature," she said. So when approached by Utah County Democrats to run, she decided to enter the race.

"In order to have a bipartisan system, it's better if you have two parties," Barney said. "What we have now is an oligarchy or something very much like it."

Since Barney served three four-year terms on the Utah State Board of Education and three years on the Utah Board of Regents and is a former PTA state officer, it's no surprise that education is at the top of her list of concerns.

"Legislators from Utah County have been doing their best in the last 15 years to systematically destroy public education in favor of parental control in home schools or neighborhood schools, but not in pubic schools," she said. It's an approach that discriminates against families that can't afford private education.

Barney faces an uphill battle. In 2006, the current office holder, Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, was elected to a third term with 68 percent of the vote.

Candidate says Legislature's lost touch with Utah's "moderate mainstream."

Salt Lake Tribune, March 8, 2010
Donald W. Meyers

Linnea Barney

"When you have a bipartisan system, it works best when you have two parties," Barney said while announcing her run as a Democrat for the Utah State Senate. "When you have all the ideas coming from one party, it becomes an oligarchy."

Barney, an Orem resident and former member of the Utah State Board of Education and the Utah State Board of Regents, announced her run against Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, at Cherry Hill Elementary School on Monday.

Dayton, Barney said, has gone unchallenged for far too long. Dayton was first appointed to the Utah House of Representatives in 1996 and was elected to the Senate in 2006.

She said she tried to reform the system by participating in the GOP, but realized the process excluded moderates.

Barney said she realized the Legislature was out of touch with Utah County's moderate mainstream while she was on the state school board. She said the Legislature has been systematically attacking public education for the past 20 years, demonizing public education as "government schools" that wield too much power.

Deseret News, March 7, 2010
Marc Haddock

Steve Baugh

In 2008, Baugh received 40 percent of the vote in a campaign against incumbent Republican Rep. Stephen Sandstrom.

Baugh, a Democrat, said he was prompted to make a second run after becoming frustrated with the current legislative session.

"I continue to believe that the issues that are really important to our citizens are education, the economy and legislative ethics and I grow increasingly frustrated to read about legislators for a huge portion of the session talking about changing holidays and suing the federal government over this and that while real issues go largely unaddressed," he said "I'm going to put my name forward to give people a choice of someone that will work for the real issues that our citizens are concerned about."

In announcing his candidacy, Baugh, and an Orem native, said he is in favor of the initiative petition for ethics reform for Utah legislators, and that he would work hard to support education.

An associate professor of educational leadership and directs a school-university partnership center in the school of education at BYU, Baugh started as a math teacher at Orem High School, was principal of Pleasant Grove Jr. High, American Fork Jr. High and American Fork High schools before being named superintendent of the Alpine School district.

Deon Turley says she will not accept any corporate donations to her campaign.

Salt Lake Tribune, March 5, 2010
Donald W. Meyers

PROVO--Deon Turley believes in the Utahns for Ethical Government's initiative enough that she will abide by it before it even goes to voters.

Turley, who is challenging Rep. Keith Grover, R-Provo, said she will not accept any corporate donations for her campaign. The Democrat unsuccessfully challenged Grover two years ago.

"I have decided if I am going to talk the talk, I had better be willing to walk the walk," Turley said.

Turley announced her candidacy at the Provo School District's Grandview Technology Center Thursday.

UEG's initiative, which Turley supports, would bar legislators and candidates from accepting donations from corporations, labor unions and nonprofit groups.

So far, Turley has not accepted Internet provider Xmission's offer to host her Web site for free, considering that a corporate donation. Instead, she's paying for her Web hosting and is seeking donations from her prospective constituents.

She doesn't anticipate her stand putting her at too much of a disadvantage in the race. She sought donations from constituents in the last election, while Grover, she said, accepted money mostly from businesses, political action committees or fellow legislators.

Deseret News, March 5, 2010
Sara Lenz

PROVO — Former American Fork mayor Ted Barratt announced on Friday he is running for the Democratic Party nomination for a Utah County commission seat.

Barratt has served two terms as American Fork mayor and prior to that served one term on the city council.

He said he is running so voters will have a choice on the ballot. But he also said he feels he can unite the cities and the county better and help them to work more as a whole.

He said his biggest platform position is that of protecting the family. Barratt, 62, has five children and four grandchildren and said it is the government's responsibility to protect families and invest in education.

Barratt's profession is realty, but he earlier ran a hardware and business supply store in American Fork. He has lived in Utah most of his life.

He said a number of his associates encouraged him to run. Although it may be tough to win in Republican-dominated Utah County as a Democrat, he said people should look at the man, not the party.

He will be running for Commission Seat B, a position currently held by Steve White, who announced earlier this week he is running for a third term. Leon Frazier of Provo said he also is vying for the spot.

Salt Lake Tribune, February 25, 2010

OREM -- Former Alpine School Superintendent Steven Baugh hopes second time is the charm.

Baugh announced Tuesday that he will make a second run as a Democrat against Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem. Baugh spoke before a group of 30 supporters and family members at Foothill Elementary School, a building designed by Sandstrom's architectural firm.

In the 2008 election, Baugh received nearly 40 percent of the vote, a showing Democratic Party chairman Richard Davis earlier said was a sign that the Republican hold on the county was weakening.

"I think I can get him this time," Baugh said of Sandstrom. But he said speaking out on the issues of education, the economy and legislative ethics was most important.

Sandstrom was not available for comment at press time, and did not return messages left at the Legislature.

Baugh, who now teaches educational leadership at Brigham Young University, said his parents, who were at his announcement, instilled in him fiscal and social conservatism.

"On the key hot-button issues of abortion and same-sex marriage, let me be clear: I have the same values as you do," Baugh said. "Every abortion is a tragedy, and I believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman."

Baugh said the Legislature has wasted time feuding with the federal government and debating whether to create another state holiday while ignoring overcrowded and underfunded schools, as well as cutting back on Utah Valley University's funding. He said UVU is vital not only to the economy but to helping people get the education and skills they need to work.

Deseret News, February 15, 2010
Emily James

Don Jarvis

Jarvis discussed the correlation between the economy and the environment, sharing that the brown haze that settles in during the winter often causes business people investigating Utah to change their minds. Jarvis also noted the negative effect on people's health that poor air quality can have.

"A very simple, immediate thing would be to make more compressed natural gas filling stations available up and down the Wasatch front," Jarvis said. "It's a very simple, doable, cost-effective plan."

Jarvis said these stations would benefit many different aspects of life in Utah, like providing jobs to build the stations. Additionally, compressed natural gas costs less than half of what gasoline costs.