Deseret News, March 31, 2010
Marc Haddock

OREM — Democratic candidates lauded family values and the sanctity of life at a Families First gathering at Orem Junior High School Wednesday.

"Family is the most important relationship we have," Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, who is running for governor, told a group of about 70.

"My parents taught me the importance of living within our means, and that the abundant life is measured by our spiritual life and our family life, and not by our material life," he said. "My parents taught me about the sacredness of life, for the living and the unborn."

Corroon and other speakers — including U.S. Senate candidate Sam Granato, U.S. House candidate Karen Hyer, Utah House candidate Steve Baugh and two candidates for the Utah County Commission, Ted Barratt and Lane Henderson — focused on painting Democratic candidates from Utah as being supportive of families and public education, and opposed to abortion except in rare cases.

Deseret News, March 22, 2010
Marc Haddock

Linnea Barney, a two-term member of the State Board of Education and lifelong Republican, is running for the Utah Senate as a Democrat this year.

Barney said she turned to the Democrats when she attempted to get involved in local politics and found her moderate views weren't welcome in the conservative climate of the Utah County Republican Party.

"It wasn't long before I realized that the moderate, mainstream resident of Utah County didn't have a voice in the state Legislature," she said. "When the Democrats called me they convinced me that if they could field high-quality candidates, then they could make a difference in this county."

"Just because I call myself a Democrat, I haven't changed any of my family values," she said.

And Barney isn't the only one. After years of moribundity, the Utah County Democrats have fielded a respectable slate of respectable candidates for the second election in a row — many from the ranks of the GOP. And many are challenging some of the most powerful individuals in the Utah Legislature.

Karen Hyer

PROVO — Lifelong Republican Karen E. Claus Hyer plans to run as a Democrat to challenge Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, for Utah's 3rd Congressional District.

Hyer, who has taught ethics, business and constitutional law over a long academic career, said she will announce her intentions to run for office at 10:30 a.m. Thursday on the steps of the Provo City Library at Academy Square, 550 N. University Ave.

Hyer has a doctorate in education and a law degree. In addition to teaching at Oregon Health Sciences University and BYU, where she works as an adjunct professor, Hyer has been involved in numerous overseas teaching assignments, including teaching business and U.S. constitutional law in China.

Hal Miller

PROVO — Hal Miller, who has taught psychology at BYU for the past 35 years, is running for the Utah House of Representatives in District 64.

Miller said he recognized that running as a Democrat against Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, the majority assistant whip, would be an uphill battle. However, Miller said he believes his legislative district, which encompasses much of southwest Provo, would benefit from a fresh perspective.

"The longer one person is in office, the more entangled one becomes with special interests," he said. "What I represent is a chance for more of a grass-roots feel. I am hoping there will be rapport with my neighbors in a way that is not the case at the present time."

Deseret News, March 10, 2010
Marc Haddock

OREM — Jim Greer is running for the Utah House of Representatives in District 59 because he wants to restore balance to Utah County's legislative delegation.

"Even before I became a Democrat a few years ago, I recognized the problems we have with a supermajority running the state," said Greer, an Orem resident and sales director for a Salt Lake technology firm. "I think the whole idea is I'm trying to support the rest of the people in Utah County who are trying to level the playing field. I want to have parity within the Legislature."

He is running for the seat currently held by Lorie Fowlke, who is serving her third term.

Greer said he favors ethics reform and supports the ethics initiative petition currently being circulated in the state. He also favors establishing a way to secure funding for education that doesn't rely on annual legislative wrangling.

"I believe that there should be a long-term funding mechanism for regular education and higher education," Greer said. "I think it's ludicrous to have to wrangle out funding for schools every year."

Greer and his wife, Mary Ruth, have lived in Orem for 20 years. He has worked in the technology sector as a sales and marketing director and project manager. He was a member of former Gov. Michael Leavitt's Coalition for Year 2000 preparedness and serves as a president's ambassador with the Salt Lake Chamber.

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.