Salt Lake Tribune, October 26, 2008
Tribune Editorial

Utah's 3rd Congressional District hasn't been represented by a Democrat since the early 1990s and is the most Republican of the state's three districts. Right up there with the most conservative in the country, in fact.

The question that 3rd District voters will answer on Nov. 4 is whether they want to be represented in Congress by the radical right-wing idealogue Jason Chaffetz, who is at odds with much of his own party, or Bennion Spencer, a right-of-center Democrat and erstwhile Republican.

But setting aside any consideration of party labels,The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board believes Bennion Spencer would better represent Utah County and the rest of the district than would Chaffetz, who cites party reform, not the drafting and shaping of legislation, as his top priority.

Spencer sees the urgency for national reform of the nation's broken economic, financial, immigration and foreign policies. But for him, solving the energy crisis is paramount. He recognizes the threat to the planet from the burning of fossil fuels that is warming the planet. (Chaffetz calls global warming a farce.)

Spencer wants the federal government to expedite the development of an array of alternative sources of energy while continuing to drill for domestic oil and gas. He rightly believes nuclear power is too expensive and requires too much water, but we disagree with him that mining oil shale should be part of that carbon bridge to clean energy.

Daily Herald, October 17, 2008
Joe Pyrah

On Columbus Day, Bryan Thompson was in the county building with a dozen temporary workers processing new voter registrations.

Walking through the lobby, the county clerk spotted someone at the door -- locked for the holiday -- and opened it up out of pity. It was a woman coming to register to vote.
 
An hour (and a dozen new registrations later) he got the door locked again as the crowds finally thinned.

"No good deed goes unpunished," says Thompson.

If you haven't registered to vote, you're about out of time.

Monday at 5 p.m. is the deadline to do it in person at the county building. The mail-in deadline has long since passed.

The number of new voters is in the tens of thousands, Thompson said, including 4,600 registrations that came in from voter drives at Utah Valley University and Brigham Young University.

Most of UVU's 3,488 registrations came during the three weeks tables were set up around campus with life-size cutouts of the presidential candidates displayed, according to the university. Other tactics included dorm storming, handing out UVOTE T-shirts and bringing a live "Vote Goat" on campus.

The numbers put UVU on top of the state's universities for new voter registrations.

Thompson says that the new voters are roughly equal across the board, though he said he's seeing "quite a few Democrats." Utah County is often considered the most Republican county in the country. Nearly every elected partisan office in the county -- from county to federal positions -- is held by Republicans.

He said a fair number of people have come in wanting to switch parties, though he didn't immediately have numbers showing who was going where.

Salt Lake Tribune, September 30, 2008
Robert Gehrke

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. criticized a proposal by Republican 3rd Congressional District candidate Jason Chaffetz to build tent cities to house undocumented immigrants, saying that "on its face it's an extreme idea."

As part of his immigration proposal, Chaffetz, who is Huntsman's former chief of staff, has advocated building prison camps to house those who are here illegally and commit crimes. He has said that his policy is based on a consensus stand by the Western Governors Association.

But Huntsman, who co-chaired the panel that crafted that policy, said it is "a fundamentally different approach." The WGA policy called for a regional detention facility for criminals who are here illegally.

"Nobody talked about a tent city with barbed wire fences around it," Huntsman said. Chaffetz said Monday that he added the part about the tent city.

"I think we agree on the need and the function for detention facilities if not the form," Chaffetz said.

The tent cities are only part of his plan, he said, which hinges on fixing legal immigration.

Those here illegally would be put on a guest worker status, but would have to return home and apply for visas to return to the United States. Those who do not return voluntarily could be detained in the prison camps and deported.

Huntsman said that, what many in the immigration debate lose sight of, is that "it is a human issue first and foremost," and immigrants are not being treated as human beings.

Deseret News, September 19, 2008
Lee Davidson

A grade of D-minus usually is not cause for celebration. But when Utah received that Wednesday in an annual report card on state campaign finance disclosure systems, it was the highest grade the state has ever achieved.

"A D-minus is poor, obviously. But I think we're at least moving in the right direction," said Joe Demma, chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, whose office collects and distributes data from disclosure forms. He says a new, more user-friendly system for searching that data online should be ready early next year.

The grade is for more than just the performance by Herbert's office. It is also evaluates how much information Utah disclosure laws require. And all of that was blasted in the annual report card by the Campaign Disclosure Project, which is run by a coalition of good-government groups.

"Utah earned its first overall passing grade and ranked 40th (out of 50 states) in 2008," the report said. It was ahead of 10 states that received Fs, but 24 states managed to receive As or Bs — showing Utah that it can be done.

The report gave a sub-grade of D-minus to Utah's disclosure laws. That was up slightly from an F last year because of a law passed in 2007 that requires office holders to file disclosure reports annually instead of only in election years. They now must also itemize contributions of $50 or more.

But the report complains that "donor occupation and employer data are not reported," so it is difficult to see if employees of a given company or industry are banding together to help a particular candidate or cause.

www.utdemocrats.org, July 7, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY – Although Rep. Mark Walker, R-Sandy, resigned his seat in the Utah House of Representatives Sunday, just before an investigation into a bribery allegation that was to begin today, the chair of the Utah Democratic Party said the party remains fully committed to a more open and accountable government.
 
“I sense heavy-handed backroom political deals here,” said Wayne Holland. “We can only hope Walker’s resignation will not derail the attempt of a few courageous lawmakers to force our GOP-dominated Legislature to work for us instead of lobbyists and their cronies. This is exactly the reason we need an independent ethics commission.”
 
Legislation for just such a panel was introduced by Democrats in January, but it was not even given a committee hearing.
 
Holland says he is hopeful the five lawmakers – two Republicans and three Democrats - who filed the ethics complaint will not become targets of retaliation, and he challenged Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to lead his party in creating the kind of state government every Utahn can be proud of.
 
Walker, who lost his bid last month to run for state treasurer, remains under criminal investigation by the attorney general in connection with allegations he offered deputy treasurer Richard Ellis a pay raise if he would not run against him.

Deseret News, July 5, 2008
G. Don Gale

July is the month we celebrate citizenship and patriotism and pioneers and other soul-stirring recollections of our great heritage.

But Utah held an election not long ago, and fewer citizens showed up to vote than show up at college football games on a typical Saturday afternoon in September. It's another indication of how badly broken the political system is in Utah...and in other states, as well.

First, the dominant political party moved primary elections to late June, a time when voters have their minds on everything but elections. To add insult to that injury, the dominant political party made primary elections closed elections. Voters must declare party affiliation before they are allowed to vote. Utah voters don't like being forced into party affiliation; they don't trust political parties to protect confidentiality; and they don't understand why party loyalty is a prerequisite for voting. Utahns may favor one political party, but many think of themselves as independent, and they resent being forced into a political pledge of allegiance.

Second, both political parties indulge in name-calling, especially those party leaders most likely to be quoted. Their rhetoric categorizes political opponents as not simply mistaken but evil. If politicians call opponents evil, then debate and compromise become weaknesses, not strengths. Gone are the days of rational discourse and personal respect.

Third, the dominant political party put in place a system of school board elections that allowed as many as 15 candidates to be on the ballot for a single office. Party leaders had neither the courage nor the good sense to give voters a reasonably limited list of candidates. The purpose was clearly to spread votes so that candidates selected by party leadership had a better chance of winning.

Fourth, leaders of the dominant political party are so vindictive toward a popular governor (of their own party) that they advanced a candidate for treasurer who was clearly not qualified but would favor legislative leadership over public interest. The pre-election squabbling confused some voters and angered others. (Fortunately, the political maneuvering did not work in this case.)

Fifth, the so-called "grass-roots nominating process" of neighborhood caucus meetings has been compromised by power brokers of the dominant political party. Caring citizens who attend neighborhood caucuses but question the predetermined outcome are ignored, ridiculed and marginalized.

Deseret News, June 19, 2008
Tad Walch

Pssst, buddy. Over here. Yeah, right here. Got a tip for you. Can't miss.

Next time you wanna sound smart talking to important people in Utah Valley, bring up the Democrats.

Whahhh?

Shhh! I know, I know, but keep your voice down. Seriously. Listen, what they've done this year is staggering.

So, say you find yourself talking to some Very Important Know-It-All and you're just dying to be the one who knows more just this once. You tell this story.

Two years ago, Utah County Democrats fielded a measly six candidates for 13 seats in the state Legislature.

That handful of hopelessness, er, hopefuls, raised a meager $26,000 when you subtract the personal loans made by one candidate.

The Republicans, in those six contested races alone, raised nearly 10 times more, $243,000.

Oh, and the Republicans won every seat from Utah Valley.

As usual.

But your buddy already knows that.

So far this year, things are dramatically different, and the Know-It-All you want to impress doesn't know how much.

He may have read that the Democrats have 13 candidates for 13 seats.

But there's no way he knows those Democrats have raised a stunning $125,245.

You read it here first.

And by the way, the Republicans have raised $131,059.