Daily Herald, October 6, 2010
Joe Pyrah

The second verse is the same as the first for county Democrats who are pushing for ethics reforms among state lawmakers.
A number of the party's candidates publicly pushed for specific change on Tuesday, similar to a push they made in 2008.

"This has been on the public consciousness for some time," said Don Jarvis, who is running against Republican Dean Sanpei for House District 63.

Jarvis pointed to recent headlines about Gov. Gary Herbert who took donations, then had office meetings with donors who then won state contracts. Herbert has vigorously defended himself, saying there was no wrongdoing.

Wrongdoing or not, Jarvis said Herbert's stand against campaign donation limits creates a bad perception.

"That may not be enough evidence for a jury to convict ... but it's certainly enough evidence for the jury to want to convict," he said.

The party is proposing three reforms to the system:

Deseret News, October 1, 2010
Steve Baugh

A few weeks into the school year and parents are again painfully reminded that Utah spends far less than other states on educating our children. A visit to the typical Utah classroom drives home that point. In Utah, spending on the average child is about $3000 less than what that child would receive in another state. We hear that Utah has the lowest per pupil spending, but what does that really mean for our children's education?

The student-teacher ratio in Utah elementary schools is more than double what it is in many other states. That means each Utah child has to share his or her teacher's attention with over twice as many other students as would be the case for that child in some other state! Many studies have shown that smaller class sizes can be more effective for learning, permit teachers to get to know individual students better, and contribute to fewer discipline problems in schools.

The problem isn't just what happens in the classroom. It affects a child's overall school experience. For example, Utah's guidance counselors are responsible for over four times the number of students as the national average for such counselors. That means each student gets less time with a guidance counselor helping them with their academics and their future plans. Those of us who have been parents of high school students know how harried those school counselors are when they have so many students to assist.

Daily Herald, September 19, 2010
Joe Pyrah

Richard Davis has expended substantial amounts of energy making over the Utah County Democrats.

The party here isn't the same as U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's party, he says, and voters should be made aware of that. But what voters most likely won't be made aware of at first glance is that Davis's candidates are Democrats at all.

On campaign websites, fliers, signs and billboards across the county, Democratic candidates are omitting the fact that they're Democrats at all.

"It's something that they have been urged to do -- to not emphasize party but to talk about themselves as a person," Davis said.

He contends that parties, particularly Republicans, have moved more and more toward ideological extremes. That, in turn, leads to candidates who aren't in step with mainstream voters.

"They think they're getting a garden variety Republican, and instead they're getting an extremist," Davis said.

Salt Lake Tribune, September 9, 2010
Thomas Burr

Linnea Barney was a lifelong Republican and after years on the state school board thought she had retired in 2004 from politics and public service. Then Richard Davis called.

Davis, the head of the Utah Democratic Party, urged Barney to jump into a state Senate race as a Democrat against incumbent Margaret Dayton, whom Barney considers to be on the far right fringe of the Republican Party.

Barney switched her party registration and tossed her hat into the ring. The education activist isn’t overly optimistic she can topple Dayton, but she believes voters should have a choice when they enter the polling booth in November.

“That really is the main reason,” Barney says. “It’s really not right to see candidates run unopposed year after year.”

The Utah County Democratic Party — which may seem an oxymoron in one of the most conservative pockets in America — is doing its best this election cycle to ensure voters have that choice. The party is fielding 16 candidates, including challengers in every legislative race but two.

Daily Herald, August 25, 2010
Ken Stiles

Our state legislators are engaged in political posturing while our schools are in trouble. Exhibit A is Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem. Not known for choosing her words carefully, she has once again uttered a statement that is unreasonable and bizarre. In response to the State Board of Education's decision to endorse the Common Core Standards, she is charging the board members with surrendering to the federal government. Our school boards may as well be "clerks," she is quoted as saying in the Daily Herald.

I'm all in favor of local control as the starting point for good policy -- as in the case of Provo zoning laws -- but to say that all educational goals developed outside of the state of Utah are a threat to our sovereignty is extremist, and distracts us from the real problems of Utah's schools. The Common Core Standards are not a federal program, for starters, nor are they mandatory. They are not even tied to any funding. They are merely the aspirations of several state governors. It was one thing to oppose No Child Left Behind -- an unfunded federal mandate, which deserved to be challenged in court. Opposing the "Race to the Top" was a bit odder since it's mostly just another funding opportunity made available by Washington -- much like the various specialized study grants offered by the Department of Education that BYU's Kennedy Center recently won. But to oppose the Common Core Standards means to me that Dayton has left logic behind.

It is this type of emphasis on ideology above all that has paralyzed and disserved education policy in Utah. Consider the Alpine School District board that has wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars debating whether we live in a democracy or a republic while student dropout rates and bullying continue to climb. Consider Dayton's odd fixation on cutting funding to the international baccalaureate (a program endorsed by George W. Bush himself) while helping to make sure that Utah remains in a distant last place in the country in per pupil funding and, sadly, solidly in first place in the number of students per teacher. Teacher salaries start at roughly $27,000 -- 45th in the country -- thanks to the budgets approved by Dayton.

While Dayton may not want our local school boards to become clerks, her actions and those of the state legislature have reduced them to beggars. Were it not for the impressive resourcefulness and activity of parents and teachers, the situation would be catastrophic.

I believe it is time to set aside unthinking ideology and begin to tackle the real problems in our state's schools. They are in a crisis. This is not a time for political posturing.

Ken Stiles is a resident of Orem.

Daily Herald, May 22, 2010
Joe Pyrah

The temperature of Utah's political climate has climbed into the boiling range, what with Sen. Bob Bennett being ousted on the right and Rep. Jim Matheson facing a stiff challenge on the left.

In the middle are Utah County Democrats.

The party is recognizing former Republican Gov. Olene Walker tonight with its Distinguished Service Award. County Democrats came up with Walker's name during a brainstorming session.

"The first reaction was 'She probably wouldn't come and accept it,' " said Chairman Richard Davis.

But Walker did accept, he said, giving them a chance to award "someone who we felt had not gotten enough recognition."

Walker became Utah's 15th governor after Mike Leavitt was nominated to head the EPA under President George W. Bush. But she failed to even make the primary ballot after losing in the 2004 GOP convention to Nolan Karras and Jon Huntsman Jr.

The Democrats' website announcing the award is to the point.

"During her tenure as governor, Olene Walker tried to do what was right for the state of Utah even if it didn't please the extremist Republican activists," it reads.

Walker isn't the only Republican woman to be embraced by the left. Gubernatorial candidate Peter Corroon has chosen Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, as his running mate against Gov. Gary Herbert and Lt. Gov. Greg Bell.

Olene Walker "appealed to the mainstream," those honoring her say.

Salt Lake Tribune, May 20, 2010
Donald W. Meyers

Utah County Democrats are honoring a former Republican governor Saturday.

The Democrats will present former Gov. Olene S. Walker with their first distinguished service award during the party's annual dinner at the Covey Center for the Arts, 425 W. Center St., Provo.

"She has not been honored by her own party, so we are going to do it," said Richard Davis, Utah County Democratic chairman.

Walker, a former state legislator, served as Gov. Mike Leavitt's lieutenant governor until 2003, when Leavitt resigned to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Walker lost her bid for the party's nomination at the 2004 state GOP convention.

Davis said Walker is the antithesis of extreme partisans who dominate the Legislature today and had a hand in driving her out of office.