Daily Herald, October 25, 2010
Richard Davis

LOCAL OPINION

When I called for change in Utah County politics on this page a couple of weeks ago, I urged voters to look at the candidates, the individuals, who are running on the Utah County Democratic ticket this year. I suggested that, as individuals, these candidates possess the following:

1. Responsiveness to all voters. These candidates have listened to tens of thousands of voters over the past few months. They've actually met average voters. Republican incumbents, on the other hand, are responsive primarily to Republican convention delegates.

2. Utah County values. The local Democratic candidates are fiscally and socially conservative, but they are not extremists. They believe in real legislative ethics reform, not a watered down version passed by the legislators themselves. They don't want to just deport illegal immigrants and their families; they want to find a more comprehensive and compassionate solution to immigration as suggested by LDS Church leaders. They support public education in deed not just in word. Unlike most Utah County legislators, they know that with class sizes ballooning, Utah legislators are doing much less than they should to fund our children's education.

3. Experience. They have the experience to do the job. The two Democratic County Commission candidates, Ted Barratt and Lane Henderson, are both former mayors. One state Senate candidate is a former state legislator while the other served on the state school board for three terms. State House candidates include business people, educators, a former PTA leader, and the current president of the Utah National Parks BSA Council.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Taylor Oldroyd, the Utah County Republican Party chairman, responded recently with yet another partisan attack. He attempts to direct voters' attention to national politics. That's fine if we're talking about presidential or Congressional races. But the vast majority of candidates voters choose from are at the local level -- state Senate and state House, county commission, and school board.

The issues for a state legislator or a county commissioner are not national; they're local.

For Utah County voters, that means better public schools, a transportation system that gets us to work and back in a timely manner, safe neighborhoods, and high ethical standards for state and local government officials.

That's what our candidates are emphasizing. By talking about the Obama administration or Nancy Pelosi, Mr. Oldroyd and Utah County Republicans want to divert attention away from the fact that our local schools aren't being properly funded, Utah County Republican legislators have dragged their feet on solving our traffic problems, they override local zoning laws designed to protect neighborhoods, and they resist ethics reform.

Again along those same lines, Mr. Oldroyd accuses local Utah County Democrats of being foot soldiers for national Democrats. He's diverting again. The truth is Utah County Democratic candidates think for themselves.

That may be a difficult concept for local Republican legislators and leaders to grasp. That's because they call themselves foot soldiers. For example, Becky Lockhart proudly writes on her blog that she is a foot soldier for the national Republican Party.

Frankly, voters don't want foot soldiers for anybody. They want representatives with the capacity for independent, creative thought who can use that ability to find solutions to constituents' problems. Foot soldier legislators can't do that. Thoughtful, responsive, independent legislators can.

Mr. Oldroyd also accuses these Democratic candidates of either being Democrats who are trying to deceive voters or closet Republicans who didn't want to run in the Republican party caucus and convention.

I can answer that, as can many of these candidates. Many were Republicans who became disgusted by cronyism, arrogance, and manipulation within the local Republican Party, not to mention ideological extremism.

Finally, he says I advised candidates not to identify themselves. Of course, the candidates have to identify themselves as Democrats. And they do so when they talk to voters. But they don't hide behind a party label. I urged them to say who they are first and as Utah County Democrats second. Voters want to know who the individual is, not just their party. With the exception of Gary Herbert (who doesn't put his party label on his signs or billboards), Utah County Republican candidates, unfortunately, have it the other way around.

• Richard Davis is chair of the Utah County Democratic Party.