Daily Herald, June 11, 2008
Deon Turley

My youngest daughter graduated from sixth grade last week. As we drove away from the school for the last time, I found myself thinking about the challenges of the education community.

A recent letter to this newspaper commented on the large numbers of opposition candidates vying for a seat in the Utah Legislature. Noting that many were from the teaching profession, it warned against the election of "educrats" who want to take over the Legislature.

Certainly there is a strong showing of the education community in the field of candidates this year. I see it as a natural response to the Legislature's arrogant disregard of constituents' support of public education.

I was, however, fascinated by the term "educrat." It isn't found in the dictionary and the word itself sounds like something spat on the ground. Who would want a title like that?

If having a commitment to public education makes me an educrat, it is a label I'll gladly accept. If recognizing the need for excellence in institutions of higher education in the state and wanting to fund them sufficiently makes me an educrat, I admit to it. If efforts to provide everyone literacy training and educational opportunity would make me an educrat, sign me up.

Statistically, Utah is the youngest state in the nation. Families are large, and school-age children make up a large percentage of our population. Young people left to popular media, television and advertising, won't find training for informed citizenship. Preparation for their emergence into responsible adulthood requires a large investment.

BYU NewsNet, May 20, 2008
Natali Wyson

Democrats have had a rough time getting elected in Utah in the past, but this year they see an opportunity to balance out the Republicans in the Utah Legislature.

"With the national political scene the way it is, I think we are going to see more democratic candidates," said Kena Jo Matthews, Democratic Women's public relations specialist. "I think we really have the momentum this year to get a couple elected."

The Democratic Women of Utah County is an organization focused on serving and raising political awareness in the community. This group met Tuesday to hear from the local candidates running on the Democratic ticket.

The Democratic candidates this year are focusing most of their attention on education, environment and health-care issues.

"We care about the individuals," said Boyd Peterson, a state legislature candidate for House seat 64. "We don't want our schools to be like factories where kids are treated like widgets on an assembly line."

Claralyn Hill, a state legislature candidate for House seat 62, said contrary to popular belief, Utah does have the resources to improve education if it gets its priorities straight.

"I think in Utah we hear a lot of 'oh, we have so many kids and not enough money for education, poor us,'" Hill said. "But what about the soccer stadiums we can afford?"

Deseret News, May 13, 2008
Doug Robinson

It would be easy to dismiss as political posturing that spiel that Jim Matheson gave to the Utah County Democratic Convention earlier this month.

Utah's lone Democratic congressman said that Republicans — the ones who dominate the Utah Legislature — are not listening to their constituents, and therefore, it was time for a change.

There's just one problem with what he said: He was right.

Republicans aren't listening.

Why should they?

They can do anything they want in office because they know they'll always get re-elected.

Democrats not named after a father who was once a popular governor have little chance. The score is Republicans 76, Democrats 28 for both houses of the state Legislature (and only five of those 28 Democrats are outside of metro Salt Lake City).

All you have to do is slap "Republican" next to someone's name on the ballot, and they're in. Democrats have about as much chance as the Clippers in Boston.

John Kerry could win if he put an "R" after his name. All Utahns do at the ballot box is look for the magic letter. This is one R rating they support.

Just win the Republic nomination and a politician is home free.

All of which means there is no accountability for Republicans since their re-election is virtually assured.

Daily Herald, 4 May 2008
Caleb Warnock

Local Democrats positioned themselves on Saturday as the only party listening to the public, saying Utah's voucher repeal proved Republicans have lost their mandate.

Strategizing to make historic gains during November's elections, Democrats gathered for the annual Utah County party convention said they would take advantage of growing discontent among long-time Republicans.

With new infusions of money and hope, Democrats said they will work to swing Republican voters, campaigning on the platform that the Republican Party has grown corrupt, opaque, emboldened and disrespectful to their constituents after years of insular de facto rule of the state.

"We have shown that one-party rule is on the way out," said Utah County party chair Richard Davis. "We will end one-party rule and the Republicans will no longer be able to do what they want in this state."

Change and optimism were manifest everywhere at Saturday's convention. With 200 people attending, party leaders remarked repeatedly that interest in the party has never been so high in modern times. In addition, more than half of local Democratic candidates have out-fundraised their opponents so far, party leaders said.

While Republicans have done much good in Utah, years of ruling without significant opposition have allowed the party to sink into "arrogance, entitlement and corruption" said Wayne Holland, State Democratic Party chair. If Utahns would only spend one day at the Legislature to see the Republican Party in action, the state would turn Democratic overnight.

"This is a day when you saw the beginning of something big," Holland said. "This opportunity was given to us in part because of the behavior of the Legislature, and its leadership based in Utah County."

Deseret News, April 30, 2008
Tad Walch

OREM — The large slate of Democrats challenging the Republican chokehold on Utah County seats in the state Legislature this year is doing better on the fundraising trail.
Six of the 11 Democrats who will be on the November ballot have out-raised the Republican incumbents they are challenging, according to financial disclosures released by the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office.

Not only do the Democrats have more money than the Republicans, they have more donors.

Three times more donors have given to Democrats than Republicans so far.

"Democratic candidates are appealing to average people who want change," Utah County Democratic Party chairman Richard Davis said. "They know our candidates will bring better schools, ethics reform and managed growth that preserves neighborhoods."

The Republicans have noticed. At Saturday's Utah County Republican Convention, the county GOP chairwoman, Marian Monnahan, urged party members to stick together.

"We do have some Democratic challengers who are fairly credible and well-known in the community," Monnahan said, "and we must maintain our Republican status."

U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, also called Utah Valley Republicans to action.

"We always know that whatever difficulty we have in other counties that Utah County will come through with (huge) margins for Republicans," Bennett said. "It's your responsibility to do it again."

Daily Herald, April 30, 2008
Joe Pyrah

There's no doubt that the Democrats in Utah County have shown their teeth this year.

They've lined up what even the Republicans are calling "fairly credible" candidates, and on Tuesday the Dems started throwing financial numbers around.
In six of 11 county-based races, Democrats out-raised their GOP counterparts, though not all are sitting atop a larger pile of cash.

"This is a sign of major disenchantment with the status quo," said Richard Davis, Utah County Democratic Party chairman. "Putting up money to support these challengers really shows people are willing to support who they believe in."

But throwing rocks at that beehive is tricky. The Republicans haven't yet distributed money from their annual Lincoln Day dinner, which pulled in more than $50,000. The party had to wait to distribute that money until it knew whether there would be any primary races. At the convention Saturday, one incumbent and all other challengers were eliminated.

"Now that we have no primaries in those races, why, we can start disbursing," said party chairwoman Marian Monnahan.

There's also the Utah County Legislative PAC, which was founded by Republican leaders and can put together fistfuls of dollars in a hurry.

"Raising money is not going to be a problem for any Republican candidate this cycle," said Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo. Bramble's own financial dominance likely won't be challenged. He has nearly $70,000 in his war chest after already spending $32,500, much of it on mailers during the legislative session. There are now two Democrats vying to challenge Bramble in the general election.

But not everyone is the Senate Majority Leader with deep roots and a well-oiled fundraising machine in place. Rep. Stephen Sandstrom in District 58 has about $9,000 in the bank, but $5,000 of that came from his own architecture firm. His Democratic opponent, Steven Baugh, has about $12,000 in the bank.

"I've done what any novice candidate would do, and sent envelopes to relatives, neighbors and friends," Baugh said.

Baugh suspects he's going to have to raise $25,000 to $45,000 to compete with Sandstrom, who has been busy with the legislative session.

"I think Steve will raise a lot of money," Baugh said. "He really hasn't had the time to really devote to this."

Deseret News, April 18, 2006
Bob Bernick Jr.

Utah voters: Welcome to the political world of Stan Lockhart, Curt Bramble and, for those living in Happy Valley, the Utah County Republican Party.

When GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., after briefly trying to find someone on his own to be the new chairman of the Utah Republican Party last year, decided to "wash his hands" of picking the new party leader, I'm told he was warned that letting GOP legislators pick the man (or woman) could prove troublesome.

But Huntsman decided to stay out of it.

And so Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem; Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo; House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy; and other legislative luminaries decided on local lobbyist Stan Lockhart, whose wife is state Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo. (State GOP delegates pick party leaders, but they usually follow the advice of their top elected officials.)

Known as part of the GOP Utah County clique, Stan Lockhart is well known to many legislators. For years as the Micron lobbyist, he had provided more Jazz tickets to lawmakers than any other lobbyist. A Deseret News calculation by investigative reporter Lee Davidson found that Stan Lockhart has given legislators nearly $60,000 in Jazz tickets over the years.

Stan Lockhart is best buddies with Bramble — their families go on trips together, including a jaunt to Italy last summer. (Bramble, in an as-yet-unpublished lobbyist-giving study by Davidson, leads all legislators in taking $1,447 in lobbyist gifts during the first quarter of this year, which includes the 2008 Legislature. Bramble says he paid his own way to Italy, taking no gifts from Lockhart or another well-known lobbyist who went on the trip.)

Daily Herald, March 27, 2008
Joe Pyrah 

If the general election looks anything like Tuesday night's caucuses, Democrats may have a fighting chance in November.

OK, at least they won't embarrass themselves.
A quick rundown of attendance shows District 63 in Provo jumping from 19 two years ago to 100 this year, said county Democratic chairman Richard Davis.

"It helped us that we tripled the number of caucus locations," Davis said. "I think it also helped that we had candidates."

Several other districts showed a doubling or tripling of the last caucus meetings in 2006, including 74 this year (versus 17 two years ago) in District 59 in Orem.