Daily Herald, January 14, 2010
Joe Pyrah A day after announcing his run for governor, Peter Corroon came into the heart of his opponent's base to repeat his message. Corroon, the Democratic Salt Lake County mayor, made his pitch in the crisp morning air to three dozen supporters in front of the Provo City Library. It was a tenth of the turnout he got Tuesday, albeit in the county that hasn't elected a Democrat in more than a decade and is the home of Gov. Gary Herbert. He downplayed his party both in his speech and in a separate interview afterward with the Daily Herald. "I'm running as Peter Corroon," said the 45-year-old. "I'll stand up for what I think is right." It's a similar tone that U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, strikes in his speeches -- fiscal responsibility combined with environmental protection, green energy and nary a word about political affiliation. Matheson has endorsed Corroon in his bid to unseat Herbert. Corroon says that Utah can be completely energy independent in 10 years by tapping solar, wind, geothermal and biomass sources as well as traditional energy solutions like coal, petroleum and natural gas.
Green energy can also help clean up the air pollution along the Wasatch Front in the long term, Corroon says. In the short term, people have to drive less and use mass transit more. "There's no silver bullet," he said. "They're not going to be the end-all be-all." In additional to local weather, Corroon said man is also responsible for global climate change -- a stance contrary to much of the Republican leadership in the state, including Herbert, who says that more study is needed. Utah's kids could use some more study time, with Corroon saying the high school graduation rate is "plummeting." That's up for debate, as different formulas are used at nearly every level of government as well as by private research groups. The state Department of Education shows a 1.5 percent drop in graduation from 2007 to 2008. Corroon is sure that the system is underfunded. He says that Republicans have stripped millions of dollars from education by passing a flat income tax option that has benefitted mostly the rich at the expense of students. He stopped short of saying he would try and repeal the law if elected. "What's done is done," he said. Things that aren't done include the much-maligned Snake River water deal with Nevada that Herbert is now trying to put back in the bottle and the effort to get depleted uranium from South Carolina stored in Utah. Corroon says he would have pushed harder to stop both deals. He also disagrees with Herbert on ethics and campaign finance reform. Corroon has signed on to support the ethics initiative currently gathering signatures to get on the ballot in November, and he thinks there should be hard caps on campaign donations. Herbert favors transparency and opposes the ethics initiative, calling it overreaching and possibly unconstitutional. Corroon is two-term mayor of Salt Lake County, which is the state's second largest government with an $850 million budget and 7,000 employees. He's also the owner of Red Gate Properties, which manages multi-family dwellings and commercial property in Utah. He has a law degree as well as a master's degree in real estate and finance.
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