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BYU NewsNet, 25 March 2008
Erica Teichert While the rest of the United States continues to debate about Barack and Hillary, Utah County will take the first step toward choosing their local leaders in Tuesday's caucuses.
"There is nothing more important in the political process in the state of Utah than attending your caucus meeting and selecting good men and women to be delegates," said Stan Lockhard, State Republican Party chair. "We're one of just a handful of states left in this country that has a caucus system."
After years of complete Republican domination in the county, including many elections where Republicans have run unopposed, Utah County Democrats want diversity in their local politics.
"Anytime one party has a stranglehold on state politics it's a recipe for disaster," said Don Jarvis, the democratic candidate for State House District 63, which encompasses most of BYU housing. "That's what they had in Massachusetts before Mitt, and that's what we have in Utah now."
Jarvis, a former BYU professor who taught Russian from 1970 to 2004, wants to provide another choice of representation for his neighbors and BYU students who comprise almost half of his constituency.
"I have a lot of faith in BYU students," Jarvis said. "Students have been pretty much ignored here in the past. I'd like them to be involved."
Claralyn Hill, wife of Ned Hill, current dean of the Marriott School of Management, is District 62's Democrat candidate.
"Utah voters don't just deserve a choice in November, they deserve a better choice," said Richard Davis, Utah County Democrats chair on the party's Web site. "They deserve legislators who will listen to them and do the will of the people. They deserve legislators who wouldn't cater to those who have a lot of money or those who hold extremist views and use telephone trees to intimidate public officials."
Currently, Republican Christopher N. Herrod represents District 62 and Republican Stephen D. Clark represents District 63 in the Utah House of Representatives. Clark has run unopposed in all elections since he won his seat in 2001.
Herrod was appointed in 2007 after Jeff Alexander resigned his seat to work in the private sector as well as for the Governor's Office of Economic Development. Herrod won his seat in a bizarre election that required Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to choose District 62's representative after neither of the two finalists, Herrod and John Curtis, received 60 percent of the vote.
Bishops in local wards read a letter Sunday from the First Presidency of the LDS Church encouraging members to become active in the political process. The church does not support or endorse candidates from either party in any elections.
Though Utah County has a long-standing tradition of political activity, student neighborhoods usually have dismal attendance at caucuses.
Many Utah County precincts will have around 75 to 150 participants, while areas with high student populations could have as few as 10 attendees.
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