Deon Turley Watching the Utah State Legislature

Shared photos

2011-03-11T09:07:00.005-07:00

I tapped on the shoulder of a stranger with a camera last evening and asked if he would send me photos of the protests. He did. So I have some photos of the events I described in the post below.

People Will Stand Up --- Even in Utah

2011-03-10T19:52:00.004-07:00

A revolution at Tahrir Square in Egypt sparked similar protests against Gadafi in Libya, and now in Saudi Arabia, and even in Kuwait. Perhaps these people gave courage to the hundreds of people who converged on the Capitol Building this evening, the last day of the Utah State Legislative Session.

Carrying signs calling on the Governor to veto HB477, to recall the bill's sponsor, and some other actions less to the point, the people eventually poured into the Capitol Building itself. Some had drums, most had flashlights, all were singing or chanting. The chants went from "Ve-to!" to "Our House!" and ever back to "This little light of mine." The rotunda was filled with the sound of their protestations and it was stirring. A few of the legislators moved with confidence before the crowds, smiling and waving. Most others were tucked away in their closed Caucus Room.

The crowds worked their way up the stairs. They were not allowed into the House or Senate Chambers but chanted out side the doors before moving upstairs to the fourth floor.

At the time, I was awaiting the end of the dinner recess in the House Gallery babysitting the bags and computers of the other PTA Legislative Advocacy Committee members. I turned to the visitors on my left and leaving the supplies in their care, I went out in the hall to see the action.

I tried to take a few pictures with my mobile phone but it isn't a very good camera. Heading back to the south Gallery door, I noticed that the crowds had arrived at the north Gallery door and the security personnel were holding them back. Then I found that the door I had come from was now locked. A few others were in my same situation when we noticed that the north doors were open and people were beginning to file in. We slipped into the group and a few who were anxious to be disruptive were quickly removed.

Rules in the Gallery are that visitors must be seated, no signs and no outbursts. No one however stopped them when they began to sing softly. Sometimes in harmony. I believe that the Republicans who were caucusing across the hall were waiting for them to leave before they began to appear. A couple of the Democrats on the floor made their own sign that said, "We voted NO!" and that brought a cheer from the gallery.

Finally the rest of the legislators wandered in and Speaker Lockhart brought down the gavel to call the meeting to order. When a couple of people called out to disrupt the meeting, The Speaker called them to order but suffered a slip of the tongue, "I will kill --- clear the gallery if necessary." It served to ease the tension; the disruptions stopped and the work of the House went forward --but very circumspectly.

The protests went on in the rotunda for a little while but from the gallery, we couldn't hear much of it after that. My hopes are that the sounds of their voices will not fade away over the next few months. I heard an indication that they won't; a group of people have already filed a referendum on HB 477 with the Lt. Governor's office.

Tahrir Square -- Utah style.

The Governor who Wouldn't Govern

2011-03-10T09:11:00.005-07:00

The GRAMA bill of 2011 is HB 477. It exempts electronic communication of legislators from being open to the public and increases the fees for obtaining copies of records that are open to the public.

The Legislature passed HB 477 like a rushing wind and created a series of tornados in its wake. The response came not only from the news media but protesters arrived at the Capitol to express outrage, both at the content of the bill and the method it was carried out.

The people turned to their best line of defense against this breach of government transparency. The tool that gives the Executive Branch of government balance with the Legislative Branch is the Governor's veto power.

When Governor Herbert hesitated to answer the demands for a veto of HB 477, the legislators who signed on as co-sponsors of the bill called upon the Governor to keep his promise to support this legislation. Governor Herbert was in a quandary. If he vetoed the bill, that would anger the legislators who thought he had signed on. If he didn't veto it, he risked anger from voters.

Amid the tumult, the bill sponsors called it back in for an amendment. The amendment changed the date that it would take effect to mid-summer and required that the topic be studied in interim study sessions.

This gave the Governor an out. It wouldn't become the law for four months and maybe people would forget about it by then. He signed the bill. In doing so, he took himself out of the issue. Whatever happens or doesn't happen by the effective date in July, he has no veto power. He has taken himself out of the balancing act.

Unfortunately for him. the outcry didn't subside so he felt he had to explain himself. He claimed that the legislature would override his veto, resulting in a "bad law". How is that different from what we now have? He has signed what he called a bad law. It is just as possible to change any part of state law as it is to change this bill. It is, with his signature, the law.

If the Governor is cowed by the strength of the legislative leadership from vetoing what he admits is a bad law, there is no balance of power in state government.

The Governor should govern. If he is not willing to do so, we need someone who is.

Planning for Migrant Workers

2011-03-05T23:15:00.000-07:00

The bubble up process for legislation is unpredictable because some bills seem to have the skids greased for them. I think I understand the feeling of having a bill that is still number two on the agenda while bill after bill is placed in front of it. I remember the feeling watching older kids cut in the lunch line.

I have some concerns about one bill that went from a boxcar to legislation awaiting the Governor's signature all in four days. The sponsor is Representative Sandstrom; it is HB 466, Migrant Workers and Related Commission Amendments.

On March 1st, its text was made public. It was introduced in the House and send to be heard in the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Standing Committee. That is the only place that the public is able to testify in favor of or opposed to the bill and on March 3rd, it received its hearing. On March 4th, it was read on the House floor and passed unanimously without many questions. It was then rushed to the Senate for a vote and passed with only one nay vote.

In a nutshell, the bill sets up a relationship with the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, such that migrant workers could apply in Nuevo Leon, have a background check and be granted an H2 visa to work in the United States. They would be chosen based on the needs of businesses who apply for migrant workers to fill jobs here. The bill also calls for a commission to evaluate this arrangement.

There are many good things about this bill and I hope it is as good as its sponsors say. At the same time, I have a few concerns.

I remember hearing about a program similar to this in a state in the Southeast. I don't remember details but I think the jobs that were being filled were in the logging industry. The workers were brought into the states and sent to remote logging camps and kept in squalid conditions. They had no means of personal transportation or communication. Their wages were held by the company but exorbitant fees for their participation in the program were deducted till there was little if anything to be held for them. Information about this situation came out when one worker escaped and traveled north to New York City and found a relative who was working and living comfortably without documents. The reporter pointed out the irony of the worker who tried to come the "legal way" and found himself a virtual slave as opposed to the illegal immigrant who could provide well for his family illegally. I fear this program could easily turn into indentured servitude, especially if the Mexican partners can skim fees from the wages that workers receive from their US employers.

The program might also be abused if businesses here advertise for unskilled laborers and are instead sent skilled workers. The business then finds that they have valuable human resources and move the skilled laborers into positions, displacing US citizens who cost more to employ. This brings wages down for all the other laborers and keeps our unemployment high.

Finally, I hope that there are safeguards in place that this cannot become a form of state-sanctioned human trafficking. I would like to be certain that the work of the Commission that evaluates this program includes watching for how women are involved as migrant workers.

GRAMA Got Run Over By a Ramrod

2011-03-05T16:46:00.003-07:00

I have been posting a lot about education but I have been interested in other bills as well. While the media is focusing on the torrent of immigration bills, a few have slipped in, perhaps in the hopes they will pass under the radar. The news media didn't let it happen in the case of HB477 Government Records Amendments. This one will be called the GRAMA bill of the year.

GRAMA stands for Government Records Access and Management Act, which was passed in 1992 and clarifies what records are protected as private information and which records are available to the public. According to the Constitution, many records must be open to the public. A GRAMA request is used to force government agencies to make records available. It is often through government records accessed through GRAMA that investigative journalists expose corruption or track down improprieties. It is a good safeguard for citizens.

The difficulties arise when individuals or organizations make unreasonable GRAMA requests that bog down government office employees. Government officials tell of news media on "fishing expeditions" looking for anything that might make a story but causing a lot of work for record keepers, many times at great expense to taxpayers.

Legislators also are told that they must keep records of communications, including those that are written or audio recordings, on paper or digital. They say that they are uncomfortable placing their email messages and phone messages open to the public. They feel that their constituents assume that their messages are private. The sheer number of emails that a politician receives is mind-boggling. It is bothersome to collect and still more bothersome to store them all, on the chance that someone will ask to search the records. On the other hand, would we have known that Governor Blagojevich was auctioning off the Illinois Senate seat, had his phone calls been protected communication?

HB477 would protect messages to legislators and would require those who request records to pay for the cost of the items and the time of the staff who searches for them. This is meant to make folks think twice before making voluminous requests for records.

Whether the bill should pass is no longer debatable; it passed three days after it was introduced. Whether the bill should have passed is debatable. The bill passed way too fast. There is a reason why a three day period is necessary for a bill to be passed on the Consent Calendar. There should be time for the bill to be studied, not only by the legislators but by the public and the media. To wait until the last days so that it passes from one house to the next and is signed, sealed, and delivered in less than a week is not good public policy.

Which Tax is the "Best" Tax?

2011-03-04T13:21:00.002-07:00

An important pair of bills that I am still trying to get my head around have to do with public school funding. One, HB 301, changes how district schools can levy property tax increases. The other, HB 313, requires school districts to share with charter schools the funds that they get from property tax. This is what I know so far about these bills and the history behind them:

Currently, charter schools cannot claim property tax money. The state makes up the difference from income taxes. When charter schools were first approved in Utah, the claim was that they would be so much more efficiently-run that they could provide education for less and didn’t need the property tax funds. They do receive the WPU from the state and the state has a special line item in the general education budget that helps them with capital and start up expenses.

If these two bills are passed, the extra expenses to the state income tax for charter schools will go away and local property taxes will have to pick up the slack. The bill sponsor claims that having school districts responsible for the cost of funding charter schools in their boundaries is a matter of local control but all of the public school entities (except the charter school administrators) are protesting. The districts have no control over the charter schools in their districts. It would be like telling you as a household that you were responsible for the cost of maintaining your neighbor’s house and grocery bill without giving you a say in how they furnish their home or what food they purchase. This is not local control; it is an unfunded mandate. It also guarantees that your property taxes will go up. This will affect you whether you own your home or rent, since landlords will pass on the expense. Seniors who own their homes but are surviving on a fixed income will be hit hardest. If these bills were combined, they would probably not pass. They look likely to pass one gulp at a time.

Some are seeing a connection between these bills and vouchers. For that perspective, see this.

Tying Citizens' Hands

2011-03-02T09:47:00.002-07:00

If you were involved or interested in the historic referendum on education vouchers a few years ago or involved or interested in the petition drive for the Fair Boundaries or Legislative Ethics reform initiatives last year, you might be interested in a bill by Senator Bramble which is opening up this part of state law again.

As you may remember, after the success of the voucher referendum, the Legislature passed several laws that would make it increasingly difficult to qualify another citizen-led petition for the ballot. In this way they managed to hold off legislative ethics reform and the creation of an independent redistricting commission in 2010.

As the deadline for the Fair Boundaries and ethics reform petition drives neared, both groups were having difficulty gathering the increased number of signatures in the shortened span of time. They began using electronic signature gathering in order to speed up the process.

There was no law prohibiting this method. Electronic signatures can be verified and, in fact, are used for online voter registration. In spite of that, the Lt. Governor was unwilling to accept these signatures for the petition drive and this spurred quite a bit of debate.

Senator Bramble’s bill is designed to close the debate by prohibiting electronic signatures from petition drives. It also tightens once more the time allotted to collect signatures. Ironically, the same bill validates electronic signatures for voter registration up to 15 days prior to an election.

This bill appeared harmless in the original form (see http://le.utah.gov/~2011/bills/sbillint/sb0165.htm). The second substitute claimed to hold only a minor amendment but there were many more provisions included (see http://le.utah.gov/~2011/bills/sbillint/sb0165s01.htm). It will be interesting to see what other obstacles lay in store to a citizen’s right to petition government.

It was obvious what initiatives were targeted by earlier restrictions to the process. It makes me wonder what Senator Bramble fears now.

Attitude Shift

2011-03-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

As I sat in the House Education Committee meeting, I overheard an individual state to his neighbor, “Education money should follow the student where ever they go to school.”

This is an assumption that the State will fund, at least in part, each student’s education. If this assumption is universally accepted, it will have long-range impacts on public schools. It represents a subtle shift in the concept of public education.

The establishment of public education in the 1890’s put a school system in place that would service children in their neighborhoods. It was clearly understood that we have a stronger community and a brighter future when our children are educated. We can take pride that we offer education to all comers. Over time, programs have been created to address the many different abilities and challenges of an increasingly diverse population.

At the same time, there has never been a requirement that families must choose the public schools for their children’s education. Just as you are free to choose a private doctor for medical care, you are free to choose a private school for education. The County Health Department remains an option funded by tax dollars.

In more populous areas, more options for education do spring up. But often in the very rural regions of the state, public education is the only option and it is a much more expensive program to offer. They do not enjoy economy of scale, or as you may have heard: things are “cheaper by the dozen.”

When attempts to properly and equitably fund education resulted in creating the WPU, or “weighted pupil unit”, it also created the idea that each child in the state was entitled to education money in the amount of this WPU. It was not a stretch to decide that each child should receive the amount of money the state would spend toward educating him/her in public schools.

I am very committed to public schools and I appreciate that they provide quality teachers, innovative programs, and diverse opportunities for my children. I want my children to mix with others in their neighborhood. I want them to understand their communities by seeing themselves and their neighbors as one unit. Because of this, I am anxious to step up and help all I can to improve the education that public schools provide. It doesn’t mean I think all families must or should choose public education for their children nor that I think public funds should go to the alternative schools they may choose.

The issue boils down to whether we are financing public education or funding the education of each child. These two attitudes are subtly different but are colliding in the Legislature.

Don't Trust Rumors

2011-02-28T11:43:00.002-07:00

I said in a recent post that partisan elections of State School Board members would not be brought up. I was wrong. SB224 is called Partisan School Board Elections. It is scheduled for a committee hearing this afternoon. Judging from the reception to the bill calling for non-partisan election of State School Board members, it is probably headed to easy passage -- unless enough voters contact their senators and representatives and talk them out of voting for it. A poll conducted last fall showed that the majority of Utahns believed that education is best served when partisan politics are kept away.

Get an answering machine

2011-02-24T23:13:00.000-07:00

I wrote about SB142 in an earlier post. It requires all elected officials to have their direct contact information available to the public. It affects public schools particularly because members of School Community Councils are elected officials. It has now passed the Senate and the House and is on its way to the Governor's office for his signature.

It was amended along the way to say that email addresses and phone numbers must be posted online “if available”. That means that members of Community Councils who don’t have a computer and therefore no direct email availability, aren’t required to get a computer with internet access in order to serve – same with a phone.

The other thing I think of with regard to this bill is the amendment that added the word "directly". This means that if you want to contact the Governor, you should be able to call a phone number that goes to him directly. Will his secretary or intern answer the phone? Will this be considered direct? If it is allowed, it will definitely be a disadvantage to School Community Council members that they do not have personal secretaries or interns.

I would feel better if the posted contact information were only available to their constituents, for example through password-protected PowerSchool, but I am not certain that this would satisfy the new law.

Holding the Reins of Education

2011-02-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

The Senate debated SJR9, the resolution that would amend the State Constitution so that education, K-12 and higher education (UVU, MATC, U of U, etc.), would become a department in the Governor’s administration, subject to the rules made by the legislature, instead of being controlled by the elected State Board of Education. The resolution passed the Senate with a two-thirds majority and will now be sent to the House. If it passes the House with a two-thirds majority, it will be on the November ballot in 2012, when voters can decide whether to amend the State Constitution this way. As rigorous as this may seem, remember that last November every Constitution amendment question on the ballot was approved by the voters.

There is another resolution removing control from the State Board of Education, as is currently a provision in the State Constitution. SJR1 would have put the control of education strictly in the hands of the legislature. While SJR9 is moving forward, the sponsor of SJR1 is dropping his resolution in favor of SJR9.

Those who are guarding the interest of the School Trust Lands have a concern about this resolution. The management of the School Trust (SITLA) is a department under the office of the Governor. Public education is the beneficiary of the Trust. It is bad fiduciary policy for the manager of a trust to be the same person as the beneficiary.

In regard to the election of members to the State Board of Education, the excitement to make the elections partisan seems to be cooling and I believe it is because it could be found unconstitutional. The State Constitution prohibits partisan qualifications for employment by the public schools. Since the Board members are paid to serve, they are considered employees. There is still a bill calling for partisan elections but I have heard rumors that it may be abandoned.

Spring Ahead, Fall Behind

2011-02-24T10:46:00.001-07:00

If you are bugged by the changes on and off of Daylight Savings time each year, Representative Wilcox has drafted a bill you will like. It calls for Utah to discontinue the time changes for Daylight Savings Time and just stay with Mountain Standard Time all year long.

Daylight Savings Time has never made sense to me. I won't miss it if it goes away. It will still be a problem to keep track of the other states who use it but at least it won't disturb my sleep patterns.

I can’t predict how this bill will be received; it doesn't look like it is moving right now. I’ll be sure to let you know before the next time change!

Update on OEK

2011-02-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

The Provo School District has been offering Optional Extended-day Kindergarten (OEK) at some schools for children who need help getting prepared for mainstream first grade. The results of this program has been very positive; however, funding for this program has run out so if it would be continued, the legislature would have to include it as a new item in the budget.

Currently, the proposal we are hearing is to allow districts to apply for Early Intervention Block Grants, which could be used for OEK, if that is how the district wants to use it. That may be a good way to fund it. The size of the grants will determine whether it is adequate.

Budget Forecast

2011-02-22T11:39:00.001-07:00

A long-awaited report came to the Legislature this morning. As legislators were asked to make appropriations in this first half of the session, they made them with no information about how much money would be available. Meanwhile, state financial officers have been gathering data from all kinds of indicators in order to make their best guesses, called “revenue projections”. Everyone was watching for the revenue projections to give a better idea about how much tax money could be appropriated to government services. Those numbers came out today.

There are two sets of numbers. One set is one-time money. I am no expert but I believe that this is from Federal or other sources that can only be counted on one year at a time. The other is on-going funds based on income taxes or fees that will stay in place. Both sets of numbers show that the economy is recovering slowly but surely. There are more people employed and more taxes are being paid to cover the costs of government.

This is good news for public education and Medicaid. The Medicaid dollars go a long way to address medical needs of the most vulnerable people of the state. Each dollar spent by the state is matched two or three times in federal funding but the budget cuts have made even that commitment difficult.

Public Education won’t be asked to take cuts as deep as what we may otherwise seen. Still, it was pointed out, we have been falling behind for the past couple of years so it will take more than a small increase to get us to where we would like to be. And a small increase is what we have.

Student population growth has not been funded in the past two years and catching up will be very difficult. The Public Education appropriations committee claimed to have funded growth in the base budget but they were playing something of a shell game, moving funds from one education basket to another and calling it money for new student growth. Representative Mel Brown announced today that paying for growth would cost $60-million more than even the added revenue projections can cover. We are hearing that in order to pay for new student growth with new dollars, legislators would have to short some other areas of government, areas that are also feeling squeezed.

At least now, the legislators can now begin to divide the expected revenue more realistically.

Immigration legislation in the mill

2011-02-18T11:44:00.003-07:00

If you think you know what is going on with the proposed legislation on illegal immigration, listening to the current debate on the House floor may be an interesting excursion.
I am currently sitting in the gallery and listening as the members of the Republican Caucus are anything but united. The discussions may go on for quite some time.
An "unfriendly" amendment has passed that does not allow law enforcement officers to act in opposition to their superior officers. It also removes the ability of citizens of the state to sue state agencies for alleged noncompliance.

Whether you like HB70 or not, you cannot claim that Representative Sandstrom has worked to create a racist bill. He has been very transparent in discussing the issues with voters and has been willing to tweak his bill to address concerns.
I find my own feelings about the immigration bill have changed from strong aversion to ambivalence. I admire the efforts that have gone into the struggle of addressing the problems of immigration. I also admire the efforts that have been marshaled to amend or refine it. Even the opposition, I believe, has been healthy.

I am not surprised that immigration reform is bogged down on the Federal level. If a generally homogeneous populous in Utah cannot come to agreement, how likely is it that the larger population of the country can find consensus?

Anchors Aweigh! for the Partisan-Ship

2011-02-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

There should be some places where politics do not interfere. The church is one. School is another. I would like to think that children can be taught to read, write, and think in an apolitical way. We may have just taken a step away from that ideal.

A few years ago, the method for choosing candidates for the State School Board was changed so that a Governor-appointed committee chose the nominees, and the slate was narrowed by the Governor to two candidates, and the voters then elected one of the two. Many people objected to this system and this year Representative Moss drafted a bill to return to direct non-partisan election of State School Board members.

Direct election would allow greater participation as candidates. Keeping it non-partisan would keep control of education out of the hands of political party bosses. There were rumors from the beginning of the session that it would be amended to become partisan elections.

The bill was presented on the House floor yesterday and before any other amendment could be made, Representative Nielsen substituted the bill identical except that elections for State School Board members would be held on odd numbered years, so that they would coincide with the non-partisan municipal elections. Unfortunately, both the bill and the substitute bill were voted down, not because of opposition to direct elections but because the majority of the House of Representatives expressed a desire that the elections be partisan.

I think we can expect to see a bill later in this session that calls for partisan election of State School Board members.

Call Waiting!

2011-02-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

SB142, by Senator Howard Stephenson, passed the Senate on Monday. This bill requires that all publicly elected officials have their telephone and email addresses available to the public. This bill also makes a point that Community Council members are included as publicly elected officials. Moreover, the contact information of Community Council members must be made available on the school’s website and in a mailing to every household with a student at the school.

The arguments in favor of this bill are straight forward: we should have access to those who represent our interests. One of the concerns of those in opposition to this bill is that having personal contact information on a website, open to anyone in the world, would discourage volunteers from becoming candidates for their schools’ community councils. Individuals who want to lobby community council members for political purpose would be able to reach any and all members. The sponsor was adamant that the contact information be for each member directly and not be routed through the school or another person or organization.

I would not oppose having the contact information of elected members of Community Councils being made available to their constituents. Perhaps this could be done by posting email addresses on protected websites. I can get information about my child's grades on a website that I must log into. Only parents of students registered for school can get to this site. That might be a good place to post contact information of volunteer Community Council members.

Report Cards

2011-02-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

When my child comes home from school with a grade in a class, particularly a low grade, I want to know what that grade represents – whether it is missing homework or not understanding the subject matter or talking to a classmate out of turn. If the only grade information I had was a grade point average for all classes, I would not find it very helpful.

Imagine getting a report card that averaged all the grades of all the students in all the classes in the school. This would not really tell me anything about my child’s education but this is exactly what one legislator wants to do and is claiming that HB59 will provide more transparency about the school performance. In addition, the assignment of public school grades would be distributed in a bell curve. That means that they would assign a certain number of A’s and F’s, a greater number of B’s and D’s, and most schools would receive a grade of C.

We currently have information about the performance of students in individual schools based on the UPASS data. This is comprehensive information and it is available to the public. With this much information, I wonder why another grade that gives less information is necessary.

The sponsor predicts that parents with children in a school that receives a low grade will be motivated to pitch in, to help improve their child’s school. Interestingly, there are similar provisions in the very unpopular “No Child Left Behind”. When test scores are below an acceptable level, NCLB required that the parents of that school’s students be allowed to choice out of the school. It recognizes that the reaction of many adults would be to remove their children from a school that is labeled as underperforming.

Maintaining a bell curve may be tricky if the most-involved parents move their children to the highest graded schools. Raw test scores that provide the data for assigning grades would eventually be distributed on an inverted bell curve – high numbers of schools at the low and high ends with the middle dropping out. Proposals to tie teacher pay to student performance on tests would make it even more divided. I feel uncomfortable about creating an education system made up of elite and substandard schools.

Every study I have seen on student performance has concluded that the greatest influencing factor is parental involvement and home environment. Schools can overcome disadvantages that come from the socio-economic backgrounds of their students but it requires a big effort and increased financial resources.

If the Legislature wants to assign grades to schools, and wants to keep the costs of doing so down, they might just as well assign the grades based on the students’ families’ average socio-economic background. This bill would have the same effect. Overcoming the effects of poverty and social status on education requires greater funding of education than what the Legislature seems willing to grant.

The adage that “you get what you pay for” is often true. In this case, I think it would be fitting to rename HB59 to be “Grading the Legislature’s Commitment to Public Education”.

A Optional Kindergarten Day

2011-02-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

One of the innovations that Provo District has piloted in the past couple of years is Optional Extended-day Kindergarten (OEK). Currently, children who are identified as needing assistance to be ready for Kindergarten can be placed in a longer program of Kindergarten, if the parents request it. These children are considered “at risk” because it has been shown that if a child enters regular Kindergarten behind most other students, they fall increasingly behind in subsequent years. Data from the pilot program show that if they receive the extra help during their Kindergarten year, they catch up rapidly and stay up with their peers.

There is a cost to this specialized program but it is much less than remediation and frustration for the children in subsequent years. Still, the Legislature must approve the funding for OEK and one legislator is proposing an alternative to the program. HB111 would prohibit schools from offering OEK but instead would allow Kindergarten students to apply to attend both the morning and the afternoon sessions of regular half-day Kindergarten. These students would get a repeat of the lesson material, a repeat of the activities, but with a different set of classmates and perhaps with a different teacher. OEK offers a comprehensive curriculum that brings children up to speed from their level. If you find yourself in a situation where the conversations that surround you and expectations other have of you are all over your head, does it help to repeat the instructions twice? I believe that rather than helping, this will lead to even more frustration for these at-risk children.

If you have experience with the OEK program in the past few years, your legislators should hear from you. It is important to point out that OEK is not just a matter of time in a Kindergarten classroom but a different way of teaching children who need specialized help. HB111 has not yet been heard in committee.

Dipping into School Trust Lands Funds

2011-01-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

The School Trust Lands of Utah in the past decade have become a growing source of education revenue. The lands themselves bring annual payments in the form of dividends that by the State Constitution must go directly to the school districts. The Trust is similar to a savings account; the earnings can be compared to the interest from that account and are what is sent to the school districts. Members of your School Community Council decide how your share of the Trust Lands money is spent for your school. The Legislature cannot control how the earnings are spent nor can they spend down the Trust. It is essential that we preserve the Trust and maintain the local control of the Trust Lands’ earnings.

HB269 creates a commission on Civic and Character Education to lead out on a focus on civic and character education in public schools. Civics is already part of the core curriculum in public schools and there are already many programs of character education in our local schools. However, HB269 requires that this commission and the program they create are paid for with 1% of the Trust Lands dividend funds annually. There may be a constitutional challenge to this bill but regardless of any challenge, I stand opposed to the legislature taking even 1% of the Trust Lands funds that go directly to the schools. In addition, a mandate for a statewide curriculum change should come from the State Office of Education and not be written into state law.

The New Session is Underway

2011-01-25T20:18:00.001-07:00

Another legislative session for the Utah State Legislature has begun.

I keep hearing the buzzwords “Structural Deficit Repair”. Of course, we know there have been big budget problems lately. The amount of money coming in has been less than the cost of running the State and since we are required to have a balanced budget, for the last two years some of the shortages have been covered with “one-time money”. That is like paying your grocery bill from your savings account. You can do that for a little while but unless you can get a steady stream of money coming in from somewhere else soon, eventually you run out of savings and you better plan to stop eating!

Legislators have committed to bring the cost of government down to the amount of money that current taxes are bringing in. They don’t want to raise any taxes so hold onto your hats! -- we can expect another round of budget cuts this year.

If we knew how long the effects of the recession would last, we could ration the rainy day fund and other resources. But that is something no one knows.

The cuts that are being proposed may also prolong the recession. Cuts in services leave more and more people relying on public aid. One department meets their budget by cutting positions and that increases the number of people looking for jobs elsewhere. The private sector contractors for the state have fewer orders to fill and so they, like the rest of the private sector, are impacted. They aren't hiring either.

When there is high unemployment, it is a great time to retool with additional skills to make yourself more employable. Enrollment in institutions of higher education are growing all over the state. The problem is, public institutions of high education are facing budget cuts too. To meet their budgets, either the educators and administrators or the students will suffer -- or, as is most likely, both. Fewer workers, more demand for public services, and fewer options for additional job training will undoubtedly extend the recession and its attendant unemployment.

I don't envy the legislators their decisions but I have a bias toward preparing for the future. I am convinced that maintaining opportunities for training, to make workers more self-reliant, is among the most important things we can do.

Aftermath

2010-11-05T12:52:00.002-06:00

The numbers came in after the election and in spite of my year-long full-time campaign, the voters went with their incumbent legislator.
Disappointed? Yes. But I can look back on the campaign and be satisfied that I did all that I could have to campaign for a different outcome.

I spent Wednesday, November 3rd, collecting signs. Some were no longer in the yards. A few were defaced. If you have a sign that I didn't retrieve, please contact me and I will pick it up.

The communities in this Legislative District have greater meaning to me after walking so many of the streets and visiting with so many of the people who live here. I have found interesting friends in every neighborhood. I am so glad I had the opportunity to discover these friends.

I am particularly grateful to the many volunteers who offered their helping hands and generous contributions. They gave countless hours of calling and walking, juggling signs, fliers, and voter lists. My face and my words were on the fliers but their work helped put them in the hands of thousands of voters. I offer my thanks to these faithful helpers.

One of the many messages of condolence I have received recently, contained this phrase: No good thing is ever wasted". It sums up how I feel about this campaign. It has been a good thing; the time and effort and expense has therefore not been wasted.

Flying the Banner

2010-10-27T08:28:00.003-06:00

There have been many recent accusations that the democratic candidates in Utah County have eschewed the Democratic Party label. Commentators have complained that candidates are more often touting their religious affiliation over their Democratic affiliation and maintained that the political party should be more relevant than personal religiosity.

I agree that religion should not play a role in political races but I recognize that it often does. The main advantage of activity in the predominant religion, in my opinion, is the network of social connections it gives, rather than dependence on voters' religious preference. For this reason, I have not made much mention of my own religion.

I can, however, be considered one of the candidates guilty of down-playing my political party. My door to door fliers do not mention the Democratic Party. The County Party logo appears inconspicuously on the home page of my website and although one of the questions on my FAQ page is "Why are you running as a democrat?", there is no other mention of party affiliation.

The office I am running for is Representative of District 61 to the State House of Representatives. Voters will choose a person to represent them. With this in mind, I have been knocking on the doors of District 61 voters. I have introduced myself and asked them what they are looking for from the State Legislature. It has helped them to know me as a candidate, a choice on their November ballot, and it has helped me to know them and their concerns.

The Utah County candidates running as republicans are anxious to make the most of their affiliation with the majority party. For many, that is the total of their campaign message: "I am your Republican Party choice."

I do not plan to serve as a representative of my political party. I plan to serve as a representative of people. Real people. People who are struggling with uncertain futures, unemployment or under-employment, higher costs and lower incomes. But people who are resourceful, generous, and in most cases hopeful. I feel extremely confident in my ability to do this. So, to me, the political party is not the most important factor in choosing a representative. It does, however, have a role in the legislature.

There are great benefits of having a legislature that is more balanced in terms of political party. Legislators will turn down the divisive rhetoric to be able to work across the aisle. More opinions are heard and perspectives are examined and people are served. That is one of the reasons I choose to run as a democrat.

In addition, I have confidence in my adopted Democratic Party. I see it as the "big tent" that allows me to formulate solutions to problems from whatever source they come. I see the Utah County Democratic Party as a moderate alternative to an increasingly unbending conservatism in the Republican Party. I am comfortable working with the people in the County Party and I am grateful for the support of the State Democratic Party. Some of them may be skeptical of a moderate in their ranks but are encouraging me just the same.

Job Stimulus by Any Other Name

2010-10-20T15:03:00.002-06:00

Today in the newspaper I saw an article about a proposal to raise the tax rebate incentive the film industry receives from the State of Utah from 20% to as much as 30%. I find this interesting.

What are the reasons for luring film makers to Utah? The jobs they provide are of course temporary and the tax revenue that they generate is a little fuzzy. If we are offering the incentives because we like to see ourselves in the movies, I question the move.

This isn't the only instance of corporate tax relief. The deal that Adobe got for locating in Lehi amounts to $40 million in tax relief over the next 20 years, with $17.5 million for area improvements and infrastructure over the same period. There was general celebration at the State Capitol at the announcement that Adobe was coming.

I hope that the investment of these funds does provide jobs for local workers and that it helps stimulate the economy. I would like to point out, however, that this is equivalent to a "jobs stimulus bill". The difference is the agreement to rebate future tax dollars, instead of appropriating the funds from current taxes and sending it out to existing businesses which are struggling.

I hear that over 80% of the jobs in Utah are in the small business sector. The state budget will be challenged to make ends meet again this year so the individual tax payers and the small businesses will carry the tax burden for the big businesses as they enjoy their rebates.

The Republican Party message often includes bashing the bills coming out of Congress meant to stimulate job growth. They refer to this as "tax and spend" and question the effectiveness of these efforts. However, this is little different from the corporate tax breaks they are applauding.

Will we see campaign contributions from the film industry and new-comer businesses such as Adobe, in gratitude for their financial boost courtesy of the Utah taxpayers? You can bet on it.

A break in the count

2010-10-20T14:50:00.002-06:00

A friend asked me yesterday if I knew how many doors I had knocked on or how many voters I had talked to about my campaign. At first I said I had no idea but then I realized that I had been tracking my canvassing on computer.

I went over the numbers last night and came up with this: I have currently knocked on 895 doors but since this doesn't include those whom I contacted for the ethics petition, the number is probably well over 1000 now. The number of individuals I have spoken to in person about my campaign is about 586. This includes telephone contacts but excludes those whom I contacted for the petition. If I include those for whom I left a telephone message, the number goes up to 605.

The downside to this person to person contacting is that I have picked up a cold virus along the way. Last night I went to bed with a scratchy throat and during the night I developed sinus congestion.

I'll stick to telephone contacting today and hope this cold is short-lived. There is much to do in the next 13 days!

Sabotaging Stimulus

2010-10-18T09:17:00.004-06:00

"It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn't matter who gets the credit." -- Harry S. Truman

The Federal Stimulus funds were offered to states to spur jobs in education and the amount Utah accepted was $101 million. The money came with instructions that the states send it directly to the school districts so that they can keep employees working this school year.

The procedure in Utah, however, was more complicated because the State Constitution requires the legislature to allocate federal funds. This would require a session of the legislature, so there were two options:
1) wait for the legislative session to convene in January or
2) call a special session beforehand.

Waiting until January would mean a delay of as much as six months making it impossible to put this money to work during the 2010-2011 academic year.

The next interim meeting of the legislature is this Wednesday, the 20th of October and it seems that if all the legislators will be at the Capitol anyway, it would be a simple matter to convene a special session for the purpose of allocating the $101 million dollars to the school districts.

Of course, politics can turn anything that seems simple into a complex mess. The Governor now has said he will not convene a special session.

There was mixed response about accepting the money in the first place. Many legislators railed against the federal government's attempts to spur job growth by deficit spending on stimulus bills. Republicans are anxious to prove that it doesn't work.

Legislators also have a habit of micromanaging the operations of the state's school districts by mandating the use of funding. For example, the funds that come from the School Trust Lands have all kinds of restrictions. The legislature regularly weighs in on curriculum changes, specific education technology, teaching credentials, etc. I am concerned that they will bicker and fuss over how every penny should be spent. This could delay this allocation to the districts even more. I am a believer in local control and accountability. I would like to see this stimulus money sent to the districts as soon as possible with the instruction to use the funds as intended -- to foster employment.

There is talk of throwing this into the state education deficit or into the troubled pension fund. While I would love to see relief in both of these areas, this money has not come to us to be used in this manner. It is to protect jobs and even as one-time money, it should be used as intended. Otherwise it will become another case of "too little too late".

My fear is that politics will shortchange us in this case. In order to prove that stimulus bills do not work, legislators can make certain that this one doesn't. The ones who will suffer, however, are the teachers in this state and, ultimately, the school children.

Un-derdog

2010-10-09T05:29:00.005-06:00

At a "Meet the Candidates" event this week, there was a gathering of state and legislative candidates that almost outnumbered the folks who came to hear them. Each candidate was given two and a half minutes to introduce themselves and was asked to carry a name placard with them to the front. Printed after each name on the card was an initial to indicate their party affiliation.

I told the audience that mine was "D" for Deon.

One of the other candidates who spoke was running without party affiliation and his name on the card was followed by "Un". He began his talk saying that he was an "Un", and quipped that perhaps some assumed it meant "unpopular" or "unelectable" and then acknowledged that it certainly meant "unfunded".

The interesting thing, however, was that if "Un" really were a party, and the unaffiliated really got behind their candidates, they would win by quite a margin. The majority of voters in this district are unaffiliated.

Based on my own personal experiences, I have accounted the growing ranks of unaffiliated voters to growing discontent with the Republican Party. I made the move from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party about three years ago and have met many others who have as well.

Based on my conversations with voters, as I walk this district, I have discovered another reason, probably a greater reason, for the expanding unaffiliated populace. Very often the unaffiliated are democrats, who have gone underground. I used to think the tales of persecution were exaggerated, that claims of discrimination were handy excuses, and threats of retribution were more perceived than real. I have now decided that, while some may be unwarranted, many claims are exactly as they say.

I have never heard anyone argue against Lord Acton's assertion that "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." At the same time, it is clear that the Republican Party in Utah, particularly in Utah County, is "in power". Yet the threat of corruption escapes so many people.

I had doubts as to the legitimacy of the recent charges of "pay to play" and corruption in the bidding process for government contracts until I spoke to a small business owner in this district who regularly bids for government contracts. There was no doubt in her mind that politics had come into play and that it does more often than not.

I have been told by business owners that they could not risk offending customers by putting up campaign signs for me. Interestingly, signs for republicans pop up a little while later.

In the last election, I pointed out in my fund raising letters that I was required to disclose the names of donors of $50 or more. I was astounded by the number of $49 donations I received.

When I heard the story of a woman whose husband's professional prospects were impacted by her campaign for public office as a democrat, I asked my husband if he thought his pay or promotions were hindered by my political activities. He responded immediately, "No." And then, with a moment to think about it, he added, "and if they were, it would be so wrong that I would still support you in this."

Other people are not so bold.

I keep hearing from unaffiliated voters, "You are so brave! Yes, I am a democrat and you have my vote." Some will take a sign but with the warning that their neighbors may remove it. Others don't want to cause a confrontation with their neighbors. More than once I found people who claimed to be "the only democrat on the block" living right next door to each other. Staying underground. Staying unaffiliated.

To me, this is the greatest indicator for the need for balanced opposition in government. The image that comes to my mind is that of the teeter-totter -- at one end, one scrawny kid with feet dangling, and at the other end, a gang of burly bullies who find perverse pleasure in their power as they hold their side down.

Perhaps that is why teeter-totters have disappeared from playgrounds. The concept was cooperative but children quickly learned to leverage power and maintain it through fear.

Swing voters have the ability to restore the game to balanced play. I am hoping they will in November.

Ding dong

2010-10-07T13:32:00.002-06:00

This post is dedicated to wonderful people I meet as I walk door to door!
I am out to deliver the messages of my campaign but sometimes I get something in return.
One might expect that finding a supporter would result in the offer to host a sign, and it does. It also, at times, brings in a financial contribution and this is gratefully received!
Then there are the more unexpected gifts.
During the hot, dry summer, when I forgot to pack a water bottle and my mouth got dry and sticky, I was often offered water.
Once I stopped by at the home of a caterer who was busy cooking up a storm. I left with a take-out box for lunch.
Recently, I was given a DVD documentary on health care.
And just yesterday, I was introduced to a cottage business called "Thur-goodies" and left with a delicious cinnamon roll. It served to hold me over for dinner until it got too dark to knock doors.

What a great community this is!

Robotic Nuisance

2010-09-26T22:18:00.001-06:00

My inbox is bulging with offers for robo call service.
Now hear this!
I do not like to receive robo calls -- they are annoying. Therefore, I here proclaim that I will not send out robo calls.
That is a campaign promise.
If you appreciate this promise, please read the direct mail postcards that will be coming your way. I am working on some nice ones now. Watch the mailbox come October.

Another campaign strategy decision: I may be handing out rulers with the Halloween treats this October 30th.
I had 2500 rulers printed with the date of the election and advice to vote for me. They went with the tag line that is found at the bottom of each page of my campaign website: "Measure twice; cut once!" I am hoping that people will look carefully at their options before they vote. Besides, if the rulers are useful around the house, the reminder printed on them will survive longer than the fliers that I leave at each door.
The rulers are not disappearing as fast as I thought they would though. So there may be quite a few left come Halloween.

A To-Do List

2010-09-25T22:01:00.001-06:00

Submitted to the local print media on September 23, 2010:

Deon Turley, Democratic candidate for House District 61, has already begun a to-do list for the legislative session. She has identified loopholes in the election laws regarding campaign finance and has promised, when elected, to sponsor or support legislation to close two of them.

Political action committees dedicated to a single candidate serves the same purpose as the candidate’s own campaign committee but is treated differently under the law. When funds are transferred from the PAC to the candidate’s account, there is no record in that account of where the money originated. Utah campaign finance laws are intended to make campaign finance transparent to the public but, says Deon, "using single candidate political action committees adds a layer of obscurity" and she hopes to change the laws regarding this practice.

Election law also requires each legislative candidate and office holder to report his or her campaign contributions within thirty days of receiving them, and to file a sworn statement at intervals during an election year, that the filed report is correct.

“As voters we should be able to assume that frequent reports of contributions would give us current information about possible conflicts of interest,” said Deon. “However, this is not necessarily so, since lawmakers applied a very specific definition for the word ‘received’ to their own campaign contributions.”
A contribution is not "received" until the check is negotiated, cashed or deposited in the campaign bank account. The legislature did not offer the Governor the same loophole they have or he might have avoided the charge of "pay to play" that has recently given him trouble.

“The IRS does not give you the same loophole either,” observed Deon. “If your employer reports that they gave you a paycheck in 2010, you must include it in your 2010 tax return, whether or not you cashed the check. If you decide to return the check, shred it, give it to someone else, or frame it on the wall, you still must account for the payment.

“We are used to this accountability. We should hold legislators accountable as well.”

Deon said that the contribution loophole became apparent to her when she compared the fundraising reports of her opponent, Keith Grover, for two of his consecutive campaigns. In 2008 contributions to his campaign were reported on a regular basis throughout the year. This year, after a few reports in January and March, no reports of contributions or expenditures were filed until after the August 31st filing deadline.

The day after Deon lodged a complaint about his lack of disclosure, Grover reported a dozen contributions totaling almost $5000. These included checks dated as early as March 30th. Grover said that he had not checked his mailbox in time to list them with the reports he had filed most recently. Since Grover had not deposited the checks until then, no law was broken and the complaint was dropped.

Deon Turley has been a supporter of legislative ethics reform and volunteered last year to carry the Utahns for Ethical Government (UEG) petition. Opponents of that initiative asserted that transparency was all that voters needed to judge for themselves the ethics of their elected officials. Deon has promised to support or sponsor legislation to make campaign finance more transparent.

Getting Stuck in a Race

2010-09-14T12:39:00.003-06:00

There is a tempest brewing in the campaign for the Governor’s seat right now centered on a charge of “pay to play” (see Large donations raise questions of influence in governor's race). Whether or not the Governor consciously steered public funds to his political donor, he has a layer of tar on his shoes and it is sticky!

In this economy, businesses are scrambling for any advantage they can get and unfortunately, politicians, looking for campaign cash, hold the keys to a lot of opportunities to get ahead.

I am holding on to my pledge to finance my campaign without the help of corporate donors. I am as cash-strapped as the next candidate but I do not solicit or accept contributions from businesses. That is one less “tar pit” to get stuck in.

Frequently Asked Questions

2010-09-14T11:51:00.003-06:00

Thanks to the help of a great webmaster, I have recently added a "FAQ" page to my campaign website.

I wondered whether to list the questions in the order of how often I was asked them, or in the order of how often I wished they were asked. In the end, we settled on a combination.

The number one place went to the question that is most often asked of me: "Are you related to Steve Turley?"
I usually answer this with a question: "Which one?" My husband's name is, indeed, Steve Turley and in some circles is well-known. However, there is a Provo City Councilman by the same name and we have discovered no relationship at all -- and my husband has done quite a bit of family history without finding a connection.

The second question came from my list of "things I think that voters should know". If they are going to tell their friends to vote for me, they need to know which of their friends can vote for me and the map of the district boundaries helps with that.

Some other questions that are asked frequently are addressed here in the blog. I think I may add them as questions with links here or rewrite responses on the website.

What do you think? Send in your votes for questions that should be answered on the campaign website!

Sweat Equity for Tax Payers

2010-09-04T21:22:00.002-06:00

I forgot my work gloves this morning but that was alright. Most of my responsibility was behind the wheel of my pick up truck. This morning I joined about 25 people--men, women, and children--at Lions Park. It wasn't for a picnic or a ball game, but a work party.

For some years, neighbors surrounding Lions Park have been interested in seeing improvements at the park. Some improvements have been accomplished through Eagle Scout Projects, including rebuilding the foot bridges over the canal on the south and east sides of the park. Other projects, such as a paved sidewalk around the perimeter of the park, were beyond the ability of the scouts and volunteer labor. The City claimed that they were unable to afford these projects and suggested that they apply for a Block grant. And so they did.

They received a grant that would cover the cost of materials and the skilled labor needed to install the sidewalk but the neighbors were required to donate the unskilled labor necessary to get it done.

The first work party was earlier this summer and I heard about it but was unable to come help. The second was this morning.

When I arrived, a sod cutter had just come through and cut the pathway, and volunteers, large and small, were rolling the damp sod like strips of carpet, and setting the rolls on the side of the path. Some of the men were loosening the stubborn pieces with shovels and I asked if I should run back home for a shovel or two. I said I could toss them in the back of my truck.

"You have a truck here?"

I answered yes. Those pushing wheelbarrows stopped in their tracks.

"Bring it over and we'll load the rolls on and you can haul them to the other side of the park. You won't need a shovel; you'll be driving the truck."

As it turned out, I could have used gloves at least, because I helped with the loading and unloading too. My palms soon had a dried layer of mud -- and so did the truck.

But we both cleaned up just fine afterward. And I enjoyed the time to visit with neighbors, some of whom I hadn't seen in a long time.

It was impressive to see the adults setting an example of stepping up to improve their community instead of waiting for government to provide everything. One of the volunteers told how working at the park had made her children feel connected with the park.

I appreciate that there are programs such as this, that encourage neighbors to organize projects for their mutual benefit. Providing the materials and skilled labor made this a bargain for city government and volunteering as neighbors to work on it made for a satisfying (if muddy) social event.

Virtual Violence

2010-08-28T21:46:00.004-06:00

There has been some controversy surrounding a request to have the Governor sign a letter in support of overturning a law that was passed 5 years ago in California. The law restricted the sale of violent video/computer games to children. A judge ruled it unconstitutional, based on rights of free speech, and now the case is headed to the U S Supreme Court.

Free speech rights end where safety is at stake. Attorney General Shurtleff says there is no evidence of danger with regard to violent video games but I disagree. I can’t point to a study, just my own experience as a mom.

I feel that violence is as damaging as pornography. American standards for sexual content on movies is much more strict than standards for violence. I believe that both have similar effects on our brains.

Speaking on behalf of the Eagle Forum, Andy Schlafly said, "Some children who are not mature enough to handle it may get addicted to the games and then go on a killing rampage." This assertion seems extreme. What is clear to me, however, is that as children (and adults too) become desensitized to the shock of the violence, it affects their respect for human life and attitudes regarding human suffering.

I have watched my children grow up and I realize that their play is usually combative—shoot ‘em up or cops and robbers— but the increasingly realistic graphics in video games is sensational and I am convinced they affect the way we think. Children are particularly susceptible.

Voters should be able to establish community standards of decency, and violence is a matter of decency. I am in favor of upholding the law that California passed.

Partying

2010-08-10T11:53:00.004-06:00

Among the most common questions I am asked on the campaign trail is why I am running as a Democrat. In Utah County, we all acknowledge that it is an up-hill struggle. It requires meeting and reassuring a lot of people who never considered voting for a Democrat before.

One of the strengths of our country is the tradition of checks and balance made possible by a two-party system of politics. However, partisanship across the nation is increasingly bitter. Those who vilify their opposition and stereotype broad swaths of the population damage rather than strengthen our communities. They are seeing the world in two dimensions. All of us are people with varying circumstances and experience and no single political party could define us all. In fact, a single party in power does more to invite corruption and oppression.

When political party leadership calls for purging its membership, it loses its claim of representation. It may march on with militant energy and special interest funding, but it can only serve its narrowly-defined membership.

Admittedly, no two parties could define us either. The concept of “the big tent” is essential for politics to move forward with true representation. I have chosen to run as a candidate in the Utah County Democratic Party because their doors are open to those who want to serve the communities they live in. I may not agree with all members of the party on all subjects, as they may not agree with each other, but there is mutual respect for the people that make up our communities and for the will to better these communities.

I suppose that it is on account of their minority that this is true. I hear that in places where Democrats hold a super majority, there is the same struggle to keep their party members in line. If this is so, no wonder I am always cheering for the underdog! That is where you find the most civility.

Notes from the Field

2010-08-07T22:32:00.002-06:00

This summer is flying past! I am visiting with people in my surrounding neighborhoods to let them know that I am running for the legislature and hoping for their support. It is an adventure knocking on strange doors -- like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.

Last week I went looking for a particular voter and knocked on what turned out to be her landlady's door. After our conversation, the landlady became as enthusiastic about my campaign as any supporter I have. A serendipitous find!

Every once in a while I am met with a "brick wall". Many doors have a notice warning solicitors away but I have allowed myself to conclude that I am not "soliciting" but offering voters information about who will be on their ballot this year. Today I had a young woman assert forcefully that I was trespassing, based on their notice.

I recognize many of the doors I am knocking on from my previous campaign. I stepped back quickly a few days ago, after ringing the bell at the house where, in 2008, a wasp flew out of the wreath on the door and stung my cheek.

Many doors open to fascinating surprises. Like one a couple of weeks ago. The gentleman who answered invited me in and I learned that he was an artist, retired from the faculty of BYU, who had recently had to bring in his collections of pottery from a storage area and they covered almost every surface of his family room and dining room. I purchased a wedding gift from him at the end of our visit.

Yesterday I met a woman who gave me a campaign pep talk and a crash course on the Constitution.

Today, I met a traffic engineer with UDOT, a mortgage loan officer, a web designer who gave me advice on my campaign website, and an inventor/author/barber who taught me about the ethnic origins of my Welsh ancestors.

I love the fascinating people who make up House District 61! I hope to tap into their experience and expertise as their representative to the State Legislature.

What do YOU say?

2010-07-21T08:00:00.002-06:00

I was interested to hear this morning that the single most respected and approved tool of social media is Wikipedia, an on-line collaborative encyclopedia. This finding made me think about the way we get information and what sorts of information we have come to trust.

It is increasingly difficult to judge the objectivity of our news. We are surrounded by advertisements and political messages that are backed by commercial or political interests that profit when we act upon their message or advice.

As I campaign and look forward to the experience of being an elected representative, I see that I as a legislator will have similar information options.

There are lobbyists on Capitol Hill, paid to "educate" the policy makers, hired by corporations or special interest groups to line up support for their clients. They have a role but I do not forget that they are equivalent to commercial advertising.

I am more interested in turning to the people of my legislative district to be my "lobbyists". Among the voters here are experts in many fields of public policy, people who are passionate about the environment, public transportation, law enforcement, public health, energy, education, or many other topics. It may be because of their professions, their leisure interests, or because their families are particularly impacted by the policies of the state.

It is for this reason that I am creating my own "policy team". You are welcome to join this team. On my campaign website is a page where people can enter their names, contact information, and the area of public policy that they wish to be consulted on. It is my version of the Wikipedia.

Technology gives us the ability to broaden democracy and bring more voices to the table. Policy that is crafted by collaboration is more likely to address the needs and concerns of the people. I hope that you will consider joining the policy team and that this use of the internet will enhance my ability to be an effective representative.

Felling the Tree

2010-07-08T13:43:00.003-06:00

We decided to replace the fence around our yard and it required removing a very large juniper tree that was growing on the property line. My ambitious husband decided to put the chain saw to good use and enlisted the help of our strapping son.

They decided that to avoid damage to surrounding trees and structures, the tree should be felled in two or three sections. A rope above the cut helped to guide the top third of the tree and we cheered as it fell down.

The second section was so much wider, it damaged the attic vent on the side of the neighbor's house as it fell and landed square on the top of my little apricot tree, severing the trunk about a foot from the ground. After a moment of sadness, I acknowledged it as unavoidable collateral damage. After all, "good fences make good neighbors." Right?

We will help the neighbors repair what looks like a "black eye" on the side of their house but it will take longer to replace the apricot tree.

I found myself thinking of analogies between the experience with our tree and the recent hoopla about approaches to illegal immigration.

Those who are calling for a heavy-handed crackdown on immigration probably are not concerned about the damage to relations with our nation's neighbors. I believe we must do acknowledge the risks, and be prepared for the damage.

The greater loss will be similar to the loss of my apricot tree. It will be a long time before I enjoy the cheerful spring blossoms and sweet fruit it provided. We as a nation likely lose something cheerful and sweet when families are divided and uprooted. I wonder if there is a way to approach the problem without this collateral damage.

I have always felt that there were a million solutions for any one problem. I am not satisfied that our only options are following the lead of Arizona or settling for the status quo. I hope that those who are "revving the chainsaw" for state legislation regarding immigration, will study the path of its fall, including all its branches, before digging into that tree.

Happy Independence Day!

2010-07-05T20:37:00.008-06:00

Provo goes all out to celebrate the 4th of July. Even when it ends up on the 3rd or the 5th of July, Independence Day is a lot of fun!

We joined the Utah County Democratic Party in a parade entry entitled "Families: America's Beacon of Hope".

My part was to carry a banner with my friend.

I gave "high five"s to a lot of little people in front of the crowd during the parade and I got a chance to speak to a lot of bigger people at the Freedom Days Fair on Center Street.

It was great to celebrate the beginning of this fabulous country!

More Money Matters

2010-06-22T20:27:00.002-06:00

I was recently asked about what I felt would have the best chance of solving the economic crisis we face today. I thought about it a long time because I was thinking of it in terms of what government could do to solve the economic crisis. I am convinced that the steps that were taken at the beginning of this year by Ben Bernanke were needed to avoid a calamity similar to that of 1929. In spite of that, many Americans think that the federal government should do more, and just as many cry that the federal government should be doing less, in order to bring about economic stability.

I finally decided that the key lies in what the American people do on their own-- and not what the President or any particular level of government does. The causes of the economic problems are many and varied but we can't afford to waste time and resources placing blame. What needs to be done involves everyone looking, not toward Washington, DC, but at themselves.

The word “economy” comes from the Greek word for “household management”. This is appropriate because a healthy economy starts at home.

The first step is personal integrity. We must recognize our own responsibilities to live up to our contracts and commitments.

The second step is requiring integrity in elected officials and business leaders. Clear ethical guidelines give voters confidence in their leaders; transparency in business transactions creates trust in the business community. Distrust results in heavy-handed regulations.

The third step is Dedication to our communities. We know the sort of communities we want to live in and it takes work and vigilance to create and maintain them. Everyone has something to offer. I encourage each American to find ways to strengthen the community you live in, including the business that employs you, the schools your children attend, and the services that care for the needy among you.

I remember my father telling me as I was growing up, "Always be worth more than you are paid". By this, he meant go the extra mile. Keep learning on the job. Work longer than the minimum number of hours and make sure that your work is always top quality.

This is different from the attitude I often see now of "What is the minimum requirement?", "How can I beat the system?", and "What's in it for me?"

I believe in the ability of the American people to rise up, take on, and overcome challenges that face us. We have lost ground in the last few years and will need to make sacrifices to regain our position. We must take responsibility for our lives and help others to do the same. Future prosperity requires it.

Money Matters

2010-06-19T08:34:00.003-06:00

Tuesday was the filing deadline for a campaign finance report to the Lt Governor’s office. I was curious about my opponent’s financial situation in comparison with my own so after the deadline I went to the public search page of the Lt Governor's website.

On my report I have page after page of small donations from friends, family, and supporters.
He has a few donations, one from the tobacco industry and one from an entertainment software group and another from a health care PAC. This is not to say he will be running behind me in terms of fundraising. Corporate donations come in the late summer and fall.

Withdrawals from my campaign account have been for sporadic charges for printing and mailing letters and otherwise publicizing my campaign.
His most recent expenditures are fitness center dues and a donation to the NRA.

I welcome public scrutiny of campaign finance. It may help voters decide who will win their votes. It may be as close to campaign finance reform as we can get.

Subversion of Democracy

2010-06-10T10:53:00.003-06:00

"All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy."
–Al Smith

A country that strives for government of the people, for the people, and by the people must maintain the strongest safeguards of democratic process. Unfortunately we are seeing increased erosion of democracy.

The following is a recent example.

The legislature was not satisfied to allow voters to choose reasonable members of the State School Board or to vote to retain or reject seated board members. Instead they called for a Governor-appointed committee to provide three to five candidates from which the Governor chooses two nominees to appear on the ballot.

This year the committee chose not to include the seated member of the board, who would need to be reelected to the board, and named instead three other individuals to present to the Governor. One in particular is clearly unqualified for the position. So, it seems, the committee has either saved the Governor the trouble of choosing nominees, since only two of the three would be reasonable choices, or they have given the Governor the option of choosing the new board member himself. He need only place his choice and the unqualified nominee on the ballot.

There are calls for voiding the decision of the committee, based on the use of secret ballots in the process. I wish them well in their efforts.

When I was growing up, we scoffed at the Soviet habit of holding elections but allowing only candidates chosen by one party to appear on the ballot. They called it "democracy" --and it looks disturbingly similar to many aspects of Utah politics.

Primary Colors

2010-06-09T17:51:00.004-06:00

We in Utah are approaching Primary elections in the next couple of weeks. Early voting runs from Tuesday, June 15th through Friday, the 18th. Voters can cast ballots at the various polling location on Election Day, June 22nd. This information was publicized in a news article yesterday and the readers' comments mostly voiced support for one or another candidate involved in the election.

One comment caused me to shake my head. The commenter announced that he would change his party affiliation in order to vote for the weaker of the two candidates in the other Party's race and encouraged others to do the same. He felt that this would give whatever candidate came out of his own (former) Party primary an edge in the general election.

When I was young I learned a song called "Our Primary Colors". The beginning went something like this: "Our Primary colors are one, two, three: red, yellow, and blue."
Applied to Primary elections, if Republicans are red and Democrats are blue, the third category of voter described above, not voting to support a candidate but to subvert democracy, must claim the yellow.

Our national colors are red, white, and blue; there is no place for yellow.

A Well-deserved Award

2010-05-24T13:03:00.003-06:00

On Saturday evening I attended a dinner and award ceremony where the Utah County Democratic Party presented their Distinguished Service Award to the former Governor of Utah Olene Walker.

It was mentioned several times during the evening that it was interesting that, in these times of harsh partisan politics, the Democratic Party would give this award to a Republican public servant. As Governor Walker spoke, however, it became clear why she is such a worthy recipient.

Her remarks centered on two messages. The first was the need for bipartisanship in legislation and in leadership. She described her experience both campaigning and serving in the legislature and later in the executive offices. She claimed that all people agree on 80% of the issues, but that 20% is driving people apart. She decried those who were more concerned about partisan victory than beneficial public policy. She challenged the candidates and elected officials to work together and to be statesmen, and stateswomen, in the best sense of the word.

Her second message was equally compelling--the need for adequate support for public education, both K-12 and higher education. She cited not only the statistics that show Utah funding education lower than any state in the country (in 51st place!) but the falling commitment from taxpayers, shown as the percentage of their income dedicated to the education of the next generation. She said it was her goal to live to see education funded in 49th place and warned that she didn't intend to live forever!

Her comments and the entertaining talk given by former legislator Scott Howell pointed out just how dedicated, courageous, open, honest, and absolutely charming Governor Walker is. I was inspired that evening. Olene Walker is a new hero of mine.

Straight Party Voters

2010-05-14T23:19:00.003-06:00

Utah has an unusual, if not unique ballot, in that it asks the voter if they want to vote a "straight party" ballot. After the last election, one voter I spoke to thought the ballot asked him to identify his party affiliation. He said he clicked on Republican and bam! the whole ballot was finished. He returned home disappointed that his study of the candidates had been for nothing.

The State Conventions have now been held and the Democratic nominees for Governor and Lt. Governor are a bipartisan pair. Peter Corroon chose as his running mate Cheryl Allen, a Republican. If this has happened in Utah politics since the Governor and Lt Governor became tied together as candidates, I don't remember it. Representative Allen has made it clear that although she is running as the partner to the Democratic candidate, she still considers herself a Republican.

It has, however, got me wondering how the straight party ballot will handle the situation. You cannot vote for more than one person for a specific office but if you decide to vote straight Republican, wouldn't that give Cheryl Allen a vote too? And would a straight Democrat vote go to Peter Corroon, when it would end up giving a vote to a Republican as well?

I have, in the past, voted for candidates all from the same party, but I have never used the straight party option on the ballot. And after running a campaign, I never would. It is such a great sacrifice and service to run for office! I believe that every voter should give candidates the respect of, at the very least, looking at each name on the ballot as they choose their officials. It gives the appearance, if only to oneself, of voting thoughtfully.

I hope that the bipartisan ticket in the Governor's race results in the demise of the straight party option on the Utah election ballot. It is a practice that needs to go.

Heat in Arizona

2010-05-06T05:40:00.006-06:00

The news from Arizona has spread like wildfire across the nation. Their response to the problems they face from illegal immigration has sparked fiery reactions within their state and throughout the country.

The borders around the United States have been porous over this country's history. The attitudes of Americans, especially in the west, have generally been formed by the wide open spaces. The cowboys sang "Don't fence me in" and the school children sang "This land was made for you and me!" Another characteristic of Americans is the expectation that, unlike many other countries, we do not have to justify our presence with identity cards.

Once our nation virtually filled the continent, the east and west borders had oceans for boundaries. By and large, our northern neighbors were satisfied with their lives as Canadians so that borderline was uncontentious. It is the southern border that has become a greater problem of late.

Reports of the lawless conditions in border towns, such as Ciudad Juárez, are frightening. Drug cartels are responsible for kidnappings, extortion, and brutal murders against Mexican law enforcement, competing gangs, and ordinary citizens, in order to keep them in submission. This violence is beginning to spill over the border and has residents on the US side anxious.

One result is a law that allows Arizona law enforcement to require people whom they suspect, to show proof of legal status. It defines presence without appropriate documentation as a crime, in fact, a misdemeanor not to carry the documentation.

The controversy this bill has sparked is interesting. Opposition voices predict that members of the Spanish-speaking community will be unwilling to call the police for help, to speak up as victims or witnesses to crime. There is also fear that this will result in racial profiling by police, since only race and language can give an appearance of a non-citizen. It is seen as a racist bill. The Governor who signed it into law says that we must trust law enforcement more than that.

I have been asked my position on this bill and it is somewhat conflicted. On the one hand, I can understand the frustration of the people of Arizona who created it. The fear of the lawlessness they are seeing spill over the border is provocative.

The question of the same sort of law in other states, including Utah, is a separate matter. I am unconvinced by those who justify the requirement we all carry identification documents by saying that we are burdened by the cost of social services to the undocumented. The undocumented all pay sales taxes and often Social Security and income taxes, but are unwilling to claim benefits or tax refunds for fear of being detected. We do have crime among the people in our state and some can be traced to undocumented immigrants but it is not at the level that the border states must deal with.

This Arizona bill has sparked nation-wide responses, both in favor and in opposition to the law. The best result may be that it motivates the Federal Government to craft immigration reform that addresses the fears of violent or property crime, the needs of labor for agriculture and business, and the values we place on freedom from governmental scrutiny of its law-abiding citizens. If this is what comes of the Arizona law, it will be worth the uproar it has caused.

When I mentioned to a neighbor that I felt the Arizona law was draconian, he asked me how I would answer to the immigrants who had made the decision to come to the United States through legal means. I don't know that I will ever be asked to answer to them. I am convinced, however, that there will come a time when I will be asked to answer for my attitudes toward my neighbors by one who has said, "For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in."

Preparing for Refugees

2010-03-25T07:12:00.006-06:00

Now that the candidates have declared their willingness to run and the caucus meetings have been held, the respective parties are preparing for the process of culling the herd. For the most part, in Utah County the Democratic Party has one candidate for each of the offices in the 2010 election. The Republican Party has numerous intra-party contests.

It is interesting to me to watch the power struggle taking place in the Republican Party that has claimed "freedom", "choice", "liberty", "moral conscience", and "local control" as their watchwords in the legislature.

Republican candidates in Utah County are being asked to submit to a questionnaire and pledge. The pledge requires them to support only Republican party candidates. The questionnaire asks whether or not they oppose any part of the County Party Platform and whether or not they support or oppose the ethics initiative. This information will be made available to the delegates who meet at their County Convention next month.

I have had experience carrying the ethics initiative to my neighbors, many of whom are registered Republicans, and rarely do they oppose the initiative when it is explained to them. There is a lot of misinformation coming from members of the legislature and those who have heard that often resist the petition. If they voice their specific concerns, I can usually show the actual language of the initiative that answers their concerns and they sign the petition. The confusion caused by the misinformation sometimes causes the voters to back away from signing anything, worried that they are being fooled by one person or another. So the misinformation campaign does have an effect. But I don't think it is a big enough effect to carry support for the efforts of the Utah County to identify "ethics-niks" among their candidates for retribution.

The opposition of the Utah County Republican Party to a non-partisan citizens' initiative to promote ethical conduct by legislators and requirements of their candidates to follow lock-step the directions of a platform that is more defined and extreme than other Republican platforms in the state and nation may prove to be more restrictive than the voters want to allow their party -- even in Utah County.

The Democratic Party in Utah County may be seen as too conservative by the National Democratic leadership, and even the more progressives in our own capitol city, but the moderate platform and candidates will welcome the political moderates who are disowned by the radical republicans.

I encourage voters to study all candidates, and candidates to study all issues, and both to vote their conscience.

The Caucus Race

2010-03-17T09:09:00.006-06:00

The caucus race is demonstrated in chapter 3 of Alice in Wonderland. I have, unfortunately, not had the opportunity to see the new movie production of the Lewis Carrol classic so I cannot say whether "caucuses" will get much popular recognition by movie-goers.

I have been trying to decide if Mr. Carrol's portrayal of the caucus race had any relevance to the caucuses that will be held all over Utah later this month. I decided there was a loose connection. It is that everybody wins. And what they win probably comes out of their own pocket!

I think we all understand that we are doing our patriotic duty by electing wise leaders who will represent us well in government. However, if you think you are doing your patriotic duty simply by voting in November, you are only partly right. Your participation in the caucus meetings is where democracy begins and where you have the greatest influence on public policy.

I am not the only one who recognizes this. Rep. Chris Herrod, who has found his latest calling as Field Marshall in the battle for States' Rights, is quoted in the New York Times today (see the last couple of paragraphs). If he is successful at sending his supporters to the caucus meetings, we'll have a full agenda next year of States' Rights message bills!

Caucus meetings are held in March, this year on Tuesday the 23rd of March at 7PM, and at these meetings, delegates are chosen from those that attend. The delegates attend the County Convention and the State Convention and their votes determine which candidates will appear on the Primary election ballots or, if there is no primary election, whose name will appear on the ballot in November. In the past, approximately 2% of the registered voters have attended the caucus meetings. That is a lot of influence by just 2% of the voting population!

You don’t have to be a political expert or an activist to be involved in the caucus meetings or to serve as a delegate. You just need to be interested in good government.

The caucus meetings are organized by precincts. To find out which precinct they live in, Utahns can turn to the internet. It will bring up your precinct number and your party affiliation. If you wish to attend the Republican caucus meeting, you must be registered as a republican. The Democratic party, at least in Utah County, does not make that requirement.

Then find where your precinct’s caucus is meeting on March 23rd. Those who live in House District 61 in West Provo and West-by-Southwest Orem, will meet at Independence High School (elsewhere, contact your County Party for caucus locations).

The winners of the caucus race are those who attend. They exercise greater influence on public policy and ethical government than any 1000 voters can on election day. I hope to see you there!

Debate on the Ethics Initiative

2010-03-13T20:32:00.003-07:00

On Tuesday, 16 March, at 11:30 a.m, Utah Valley University will host a panel discussion on ethics reform featuring proponents and opponents of the initiative sponsored by Utahns for Ethical Government.

Claralyn Hill and initiative co-author David Irvine will speak for the initiative, while Representative Lori Fowlke and Senator Curt Bramble will oppose it.

I look forward to hearing the discussion and also to seeing the venue. I haven't taken the opportunity to visit the the new UVU Library. The panel discussion will be held in room 120, in the basement of the new library building.

Come join me there!

The Foolish Farmer

2010-03-08T09:52:00.003-07:00

At a recent legislative report, our local representative and senator laid out to their constituents the various budget cuts to state institutions and the ways they may be handled. Mr. Grover seemed to make light of the impact of these cuts, saying, "It kind of makes you wonder why we've been funding them at the higher level all this time in the past!"

This statement makes clear that he has spent too much time in the "echo chambers" of closed-door legislative caucus rooms.

It reminded me of a story that my father used to tell. It seems a farmer was concerned about the cost of oats to feed his plow horse. He decided that he could save a lot of money if he could just train the horse to work without feed. He decided to ween the horse gradually. A few months later his neighbor asked him how the experiment was going. "I almost had the horse completely weened," replied the farmer, "but he up and died on me!"

Mr. Grover sounds a lot like this foolish farmer.

He surely hasn't spoken to voters in his district who work at the State Hospital or for the Department of Corrections. A retired corrections official told me that trying to keep personnel cuts to a minimum has resulted in letting the most experienced workers go, so the increased workload is being carried by the least experienced. Will we have problems at the prisons?

Mental health agencies are being asked to do more with less. Will we have to give up hope for their patients? Will we be seeing more of them on the streets?

Another voter in the district told me that she lost her job when the state office that gave oversight to foster care was completely abolished due to budget cuts. Will we have problems with foster care families?

I do not pretend that budget problems can be handled painlessly. Everyone will be asked to make sacrifices. But we had better decide which of the state plow horses will be starving.

The horrible blessings game

2010-03-08T07:32:00.007-07:00

A number of years ago I heard of a Blessings Game that was recommended to families. It starts off with each family member identifying blessings, writing them down on little slips of paper and arranging them on the table. Such things as good health, friendly neighbors, grandparents, and opportunities for school come out immediately. Imagination is helpful as time goes on and indoor plumbing, my new running shoes, a roof that doesn't leak, and chocolate pudding are added. Soon the table is covered with happy little scraps. It seems to be a lesson about gratitude.

Part 2 of the game brings about a change in the atmosphere. Everyone is asked to choose what they would be willing to do without. "Okay, I guess I don't really need the collection of DVD's." Dad is surprised when one of the kids is willing to do without a lawn mower and the kids are perplexed that Dad is willing to toss out the TV. Round after round of sacrifices are made and soon one of the family says, "I don't want to play anymore," but the game must go on and the "Blessings Game" turns into the "Horrible Game". Eventually we are choosing between health and shelter. Clearly the lesson has turned into one about priorities.

The legislature is playing this horrible game now. We know that these times call for sacrifices and no one will be spared some sacrifice. It is critical, however, that the long-range effects of the choices are part of the consideration. I may be willing to do without tools if it came down to tools or skills needed to use them. But if as a community we lose both the tools and the skills to work once again when times are better, we have turned a crisis into a chronic condition.

As a people we are resilient and can give until it hurts. We can deal with "downs", knowing that "ups" will soon come along. We do not, however, want to see ourselves in a nosedive and headed into the ground. We must be assured that when the crisis is past we will have the skills, if not the same tools, to rebuild neglected infrastructure and to put lives back together.

It's Official!

2010-03-06T08:46:00.003-07:00

At 5 PM on March fourth, I stood before a group of smiling faces and announced that I had decided to March forth! I announced my campaign for the Utah State House of Representatives.

Over the next few days I will post excerpts from my announcement speech. Today I want to post the opening acknowledgments (including the people that I only thought to acknowledge after I sat down).

In attendance and at my side was my good husband who supports me in many of my wild adventures. He not only offers his technical expertise with all things digital, he also gives careful consideration to the issues of the day and shares his viewpoints with me. Often we agree, sometimes we do not, but his love and respect for me is constant.

My father drove 100 miles through blizzard conditions to attend this event and that was symbolic of his tremendous support for me. His example and explicit teaching throughout my life of personal integrity and responsibility are part of my living inheritance.

My mother, at home giving hospice care to my aunt, has of course been a great influence in my life. She has provided an example of community service throughout her life, including being elected to the district school board and organizing community activism. She spear-headed the first Tea Party march in Ogden so you know I have had conservative values instilled in me from the beginning.

I also feel the love and support of my parents-in-law, whom I love as my own parents and consider them as such.

My brothers and sisters, including all the in-laws, represent a wide political spectrum and some of us can be very out-spoken. My Staffanson and Turley parents raised us to be courageous independent thinkers. They are amazing role models.

The home where we have raised our seven children seems to be emptying out. My children are landing all across the country and some are starting families of their own. In spite of the distance, they are ever supportive of my political forays. I can count on them for campaign advice and their perspectives on public policy. This is valuable since they represent professions in economics, law, transportation, education, military service, and, in one case, navigating the middle school social scene. Each is a blessing to me.

Lastly, I am indebted to the many volunteers who have cheered my entrance into this campaign. Many have joined me as Republicans or independents because of their faith in me. This is humbling and gratifying. Many are what I call "the keepers of the Democratic Party flame." They have been marginalized for years and haven't succumbed to cynicism and despair. They continue to put heart, soul, shoe leather, and financial backing into hope that their voices will be heard. I am proud to be counted among those who are anxious to see balance return to state government. I am willing to work, and happy to represent my neighbors of District 61 in the Utah House of Representatives!

Balance of power in government

2010-03-03T10:40:00.005-07:00

The three branches of government that should balance each other are well-known to students of government. The power of the Executive Branch is held in check by the Judiciary and the Legislative branch. Similarly, the courts are balanced by the governor's office and lawmakers; and the legislature is balanced by the courts and the governor.

There are also provisions to balance citizens' interest with the power of the legislature.

One is the ballot box. Voters unhappy with their representative certainly can wait for their term of office to expire and vote them out of office.

The other is the initiative process, which gives citizens the ability to create and pass legislation independent of their elected officials. It is created as an initiative and if enough voters sign a petition to place the initiative on the ballot, voters can vote the initiative up or down at the next election. This procedure may signal to their elected officials that they are generally pleased with their representation but that the legislature is reluctant to pass a particular piece of legislation.

The constitutionally guaranteed right to petition government is a pain in the neck for legislators who want to be the sole body able to initiate and pass legislation. The usual method of legislation is very good. It allowed careful consideration, debating, and often amending bills to approve them. This is sufficient -- most of the time.

Issues that relate to their conduct and the extent of their power are especially suited to voter oversight. The initiatives for legislative ethics and for fair boundaries in redistricting are precisely suited to citizen involvement.

All politics

2010-02-04T13:06:00.003-07:00

I have heard many times the statement: "All politics is local." The meaning of that, I suppose, is that the local effect of politics overrides the movements on state or national level. The messages of national politicians are tailored to the moods and opinions of their audiences as they tour the country.

I have found a reverse effect in my own community and I have been trying to understand how a politician responds to this.

Utah County has been identified as one of the most, if not the most, Republican counties in the country. Candidates for office, even non-partisan office, must prove their Republican credentials. When the Women's Legislative Council of Utah County holds events, they are listed as non-partisan but the woman conducting the meetings extols "the great Republican values" of its members and only Republican candidates for office are recognized and introduced. In this city only elected officials are allowed to ride in parades, closing that opportunity to other candidates for office, effectively shutting out all but one political party.

During my experience in running a campaign, the most frequently asked question is: "what party are you?" They are convinced that the party affiliation will tell them all they need to know about the candidate standing before them. And what they "know" about the party platforms is what they hear on national television. They will vote with the majority party even when the politics of the majority party are not in their best interest as families and individuals.

In a homogeneous community such as this, the majority party will tend to the extreme -- in this case, extreme conservatism. The only way to have a viable two party system, is to have an opposition party that maintains a moderate platform.

At this point, the Republican party leadership has fairly successfully convinced their voters that a vote for a local Democrat is a vote for the national platform of the Democratic Party. I was told a number of times that I could say that I was independent of party ideology but once elected, I would be pressured my members of my party. A printed copy of the more moderate platform of the Utah County Democratic Party failed to dissuade many.

The interesting thing is that the most popular Republican candidates are those who call themselves "Mavericks" -- a person who acts independent of any partisan pressures.

Maybe in other places, all politics is local. Around here, all politics is national.

A Supreme Court Speed Bump for Ethics Reform

2010-01-21T11:41:00.002-07:00

I have been a proponent of the legislative ethics initiative by Utahns for Ethical Government, which is in the petition stage this winter. It is a slow process going door to door because each signature usually involves a lengthy explanation. I do not begrudge the time; it shows that the voters want to be informed.

The voice of opposition to this petition has been coming primarily from the incumbent politicians. They fear the changes it would require. Its provisions for campaign finance reform, for example, prohibit individual donors from contributing more than $2500 and prohibits contributions in any amount from businesses.

Now, however, the ruling of the Supreme Court (January 21, 2010) has driven a hole into the initiative in just this area. Political contributions are seen as "free speech" and cannot be prohibited or limited and business entities are seen as having the same rights of free speech as individuals.

The UEG initiative has strong support among the voters in Utah and while the limits on campaign funding will be stripped by the severability clause, the rest of the bill, if passed in the November election, would still stand.

Although campaign contributions will be unlimited, whether from individuals or from special interest groups—including businesses, voters can learn much about the sort of representation they can expect from a political candidate by examining the sources of their campaign funds.

If he is aware of the Supreme Court ruling, my own representative is understandably relieved by this ruling. Every one of his contributions came from businesses, Political Action Committees, or other candidates’ campaign funds. These are the interests he can be expected to represent.

A Survey or a Push Poll

2010-01-13T13:35:00.006-07:00

As the 2010 legislative session gets underway, state senators and representatives are wise to collect information from their constituents. After all, how can they represent people whose opinions they do not know? Town Hall meetings are a great way to do this. Opinion polls and surveys, either by phone or mail, are also good options. Our household recently received the “2010 Legislative Survey” from our elected representative and senator.

Most surveys are meant to collect information. Others are “push polls” meant to look like they are collecting information but, in reality, are meant to disseminate it. A push poll is often used to promote oneself or to “push” negative information about a person or viewpoint.

The first clue that the survey I received might not be a survey to collect real attitudes and opinions was that bad news is introduced with "Due to the economic downturn," and good news with "Due to wise fiscal management".

The second clue was the fact that opinions are interspersed with the questions, such as the following: (Do you support or oppose) steps to opt out of provisions that would raise taxes and harm businesses if a 'Cap and Trade' agreement passes congress?"

The final question put to rest any of my remaining doubts about the nature of this survey. It offers six statements, next to which respondents can place a checkmark to indicate agreement. There is no space for respondents to add explanations or exceptions.

The first statement reads "I prefer having laws made through the legislative process with public hearings rather than by initiative." Of course we all prefer the legislative process over walking petitions around. There is, however, a constitutional right to petition government when the elected representatives ignore the will of the people. Two such cases produced the current initiatives: legislative ethics reform by Utahns for Ethical Government and redistricting reform by Fair Boundaries. In Utah, legislation by initiative is rare but the right to it is essential.

The second statement is "I am aware that the initiative creates and [sic] Ethics Commission that has not [sic] accountability to the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branch [sic] and that its decision cannot be appealed." How do you agree or disagree that you are aware of a falsehood? The proposed commission would be composed of legislative staff chosen by the legislators themselves. The only sense in which this commission would not be “accountable” to elected officials is in the fact that such officials would not completely control commission decisions. These decisions would be whether to forward submitted complaints to the Ethics Committee—formed of legislators themselves—who would then hear and rule on these complaints. Rulings could be appealed. Why would a decision to merely hear a complaint need to be appealed?

The third statement is "I am aware that the Ethics Commission would consist of members who have life time appointments." Again, how can you state you are aware of a falsehood? Commission members would serve five year terms with staggered dates of replacement.

The fourth statement is "I have/would sign [sic] the 21 page Citizens Ethics Initiative without reading it." Is this an attempt to intimidate? It shouldn't be, since the writers of this survey obviously haven't read the initiative.

The fifth statement is "I would prefer laws that create an increased transparency in lobbyist activities." The State of Utah is recognized for promoting transparency and this initiative does nothing to limit that. But the state can dump a pile of data onto a website, calling it transparency, and it would be far more obscure to voters than having the legislators sign a code of conduct.

The last statement is "I think campaign contributions should be capped notwithstanding that such a cap could prevent citizens in lower income brackets from running for office." A cap would prevent a candidate of any economic background from running a campaign financed solely by a few special interest groups. This, unfortunately, is common practice. To finance a campaign through contributions from constituents provides a candidate an opportunity to talk to these constituents and really hear what they think. If the Ethics initiative accomplished just this much, it would be worthwhile.

I have decided not to send in the survey. It will not tell my representatives anything about what I think. But then again, it wasn't meant to.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-12T19:09:00.002-07:00

Holidays are wonderful ways to end a year. It is like having dessert at the end of a meal. It leaves a good taste in your mouth. At least, that is the way it has been for me.

My almost-empty nest was filled (and then some) with children who brought their children. Coming from the East Coast, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest, they converged. The grandchildren played with each other, with only occasional klonks with their toys; the grown children laughed and teased each other; and even the in-laws chatted comfortably. Conversation topics ranged from potty training to college selection to hospice care -- and, of course, memories of Christmases past.

We are blessed with comfortable shelter, sufficient food, caring friends, loving family, and faith that God is watching over all.

What could be better than this?

Has it been a year?

2009-11-17T13:21:00.002-07:00

This past year has been different from the previous year.
I have written more birthday cards. I have painted my living room. I planted and harvested a vegetable garden. I have read books just for fun. I have hiked a mountain and rafted a river. I have experimented with new recipes in the kitchen, new software on the computer, new hardware used with power tools, and new projects with the sewing machine. In short, I have taken on more varied projects during this year than campaigning allowed in 2008.
The similarities lie in the fact that I still enjoy relationships with old friends and new. I still have kept a paddle in the stream of politics. And I continue to find avenues of service to my community.

I watched with interest the birth of two different citizen initiatives during this past summer. Both addressed needs of our state government and I am pleased to be carrying both petitions to my neighbors these days. If you have not investigated the initiatives, called "Fair Boundaries" and "Utahns for Ethical Government", I encourage you to do so. The names above are linked to their respective websites. If you are registered to vote in Utah, I would be pleased to bring a petition to you to sign or arrange for someone else to do this.

The process of bringing a citizens' initiative to the voters' ballot next November is arduous but these issues are worth the trouble. I hope you will join me in supporting these initiatives.

Legislator v. the PTA

2009-02-19T08:01:00.002-07:00

Senate Bill 199 is an example of vendetta legislation that has long range implications. It would make it illegal for schools to work with volunteer parent groups that require members to pay dues.

Many parent organizations charge membership dues but recognize that most of the activities at their individual schools are paid for by other fundraising efforts. PTA would literally be pushed out of the state since its state and national bylaws require membership dues. The dues that come from PTA members are what makes it possible for PTA to be a lobbying organization, advocating for children, families, and schools.

PTA was in the forefront of the push to get School Trustlands to produce an sizable and growing income in the state of Utah and legislators have been anxious to get their hands on funds being generated by the Trustlands ever since. PTA has been vigilant in protecting public schools' interests with Trustlands funds. This has been possible with their lobbying efforts.

Senator Curt Bramble is the bill sponsor and his political opponent in the past election is active in the PTA. He and PTA have been at loggerheads on a number of occasions, most recently in the voucher fight.

Senator Bramble would certainly be pleased to see the lobbying ability of PTA wiped out. This bill has the potential to do it.

Need a job? Be a teacher!

2009-02-19T07:38:00.002-07:00

Senate Bill 48 is said to address a teacher shortage, and would allow people to get jobs as teachers in public schools without the education background currently required.
The “shortage of teachers” may be affected by predictions of high unemployment.
But the real question to ask is whether “real world” experience can take the place of training in pedagogy for teachers. For example: would a banker or bookkeeper who has been laid off be prepared to teach math at the local middle school. Should a retired secretary with no other training be hired to teach English, or second grade? Pedagogy includes what motivates a child to learn, how to discipline individually and in a classroom setting, how to create effective lesson plans, how to write tests and measure learning.
The argument that “substitutes have no other requirement than a high school diploma” is no reason to lower the standards for full time teachers with responsibilities for a class. I will concede that there are many “natural teachers” that could by their personality and dedication effectively teach young people. But brillance in a subject area isn't the same as understanding how to impart the knowledge. A concert pianist may not be a good piano teacher. The skills that motivate love for learning may be natural but I can't see how will it show up on a written application.
Before this door to employment in public schools is opened, I’d like to see provisions of a trial period, mentoring and supervisory structure, and equal requirements for on-going training.

The Long Road to Becoming Law

2009-02-12T23:17:00.006-07:00

While the budgetary woes and sensational debates about gay marriage garner all the attention, there are still issues that pop up occasionally that merit a look.

In order for a bill to become law, it must pass through the Rules Committee of the legislative body of its sponsor. So a bill sponsored by a state representative would go through the House Rules committee. That committee decides if it is reasonable to consider this bill. If they decide it is a great bill that should definitely be debated by the House, they can send it "by consent" directly to be scheduled for debate and a vote by the House. If they definitely don't like it, they can table it and it doesn't come up at all. If they want it studied, as most bills are, they assign it to a committee by topic.

For example, the Senate bill that asked for a rate increase in the tax on tobacco was sent to the Committee on Revenue and Taxation. They studied it and decided that it should not be considered and that ended it.

A similar bill was sponsored by a member of the House of Representatives and is being considered by the House Rules committee. If it is sent to the same committee, it will probably suffer the same fate. Proponents of the bill hope that it will be considered by the Committee of Health and Human Services. This is not an unreasonable assignment since the revenue from tobacco tax goes to fund program to discourage tobacco use and for health services required by smokers.

Another bill that is currently being evaluated by the House Rules Committee is HB189 that would make changes in the instruction of sex education in schools. This bill has a long list of specific instruction on what health teachers are to say. It also removes the directive that health teachers not advocate use of contraceptives. Proponents of the bill point out that STD's are up in the State and that something more should be done. Opponents of the bill hold that while health teacherss can present facts, parents should be the ones to teach their children moral principles. For me a major factor is that the State School Board is qualified and elected to determine curriculum standards and requirements. The legislature should not be micro-managing school curriculum.

If a bill is found worthy of "floor debate" it is sent to the legislative body of the sponsor, House or Senate, and is debated and voted upon. If it passes, it is sent to the rules committee of the other legislative body to begin the process again with a new sponsor. If it passes the rules committee and the committee to which it is assigned, and if it receives a majority vote by the second legislative body, it is on its way to the Governor's desk. The Governor can sign it, veto it, or let it go into law without his direct approval.

Stay tuned for more reports on what may soon become your new laws!

What is that SMELL?

2009-01-28T13:29:00.002-07:00

I didn't think I'd be blogging this early in the week but I can't sit by and watch the news about the registering of Greg Curtis and Mark Walker as lobbyists without having a say.

The news of Mr. Walker becoming a lobbyist for the Legislature was covered pretty well in the Deseret News and the report concerning Greg Curtis is found in the Tribune.

Legislation that sets up ethical guidelines has been started and stopped and started and stopped over the past decade. The bills don't fail because there is no merit. They fail because the legislators themselves look around at each other and decide that they are all so principled that they don't need the guidelines.

Partly because of the scandals brought to light in the past year, there are several ethics bills being introduce again this year and most include a plank that restricts legislators from being employed as lobbyists for a year from the time they leave office. Federal law prohibits officials elected to the US Congress from lobbying for two years after they leave office. Even President Obama has decreed that members of his administration will not be allowed to lobby anytime during his term of office. Their leverage coming out of office is just too great.

Thank you, Doug Wright at KSL Radio, for highlighting the problems of the former Speaker of the House lobbying for big tobacco, just as the governor is proposing to raise tax on cigarettes. Does Mr. Curtis owe them more than he has been able to provide while in office?

The thought of Mr. Walker lobbying members of the legislature is especially troubling. He bargained a plea of guilty with the understanding that he would cooperate with prosecutors in charges against others in the legislature. How comfortable would you be, as a legislator, knowing that he only needs to say your name to the prosecuting attorney, or a news reporter, to end your career? Now there is a lobbyist with power!

Did I say "end your career"? Wait a minute, we don't have "professional polititians", right? All our legislators are laymen. That means they have regular jobs that they interrupt for public service. Legislators who find they cannot make a living in the real world after leaving office, and opt for lobbying the very folks they have been horse trading with, show the addicting power of political perks at the public trough.

Ethics reform is way over due!

Education in the Crosshairs

2009-01-26T08:38:00.002-07:00

There is so much nail biting about budget shortfalls and necessary cuts to funding that everyone seems to be digging in to protect the items of their greatest concern. For me, public education is of very great concern. I will be sending more information about education issues in the legislative session but today I want to specifically address funding and local control.

The benefits of an educated public cross over into just about every area of public policy. Strong public education fosters a versatile and creative workforce, vigilant voters, a social conscience, better health, safety, and economic security. A decision to short change public education would bring about a decline in all these areas.

There are a mountain of education-related bills facing the legislature this year, as in previous years. This year, however, the budget constraints cast a shadow on everything. Drastic cuts have been proposed to both public education and higher education. Superintendent Randy Merrill has reported that any time the legislature talks about one percent of the education budget, it translates to half a million dollars in the Provo School District. The proposal to cut 15% would, says Dr. Merrill, leave us with a school system that you would not recognize. He states that he is trying to avoid increased class-size and maintain adequate employee salaries but calls to operate leaner over the past years have left us with very few areas to cut.

You would think that no one is naive enough to expect increased funding from the legislature at a time such as this but please watch for efforts to fund pet projects and then call it part of an existing budget. For example, last year when computer software for preschool programs was funded, it was called part of the education appropriation. Local school districts had no say as to whether they wanted or needed the preschool computer programs. The allocation was only for this particular product. This year there is a proposal that the legislature mandate implementing the Singapore Math program. There are curriculum offices in the State Office of Education and in each school district, but this legislation would override their authority and the money that comes with it would be earmarked. In essence, the districts are being asked to cut their budgets and then the funding for that budget is coming back with conditions set by the legislators. I do not advocate for or against Singapore Math. I do however feel that if local administrators are asked to cut their own budgets, we should see that they are given control of their funds to address local needs based on their assessments.

Preparing for a new session: Medicaid Funding

2009-01-17T09:09:00.005-07:00

Dear friends,

I expected this site to be dormant and perhaps removed altogether by this time but I decided to use it to post some thoughts on the current state legislature and its work.

The State Legislative session will begin next week but there are many preliminary meetings going on now to address the immediate financial problems that the state faces.

One committee is studying health care and proposals to cut expenditures to Medicaid. Details about the State's commitment to Medicaid can be found at www.healthpolicyproject.org but in a nutshell, you need to know that for every dollar that the state puts in to Medicaid, the federal government sends three more. There isn’t another investment that I know of that brings that kind of return – especially in today’s economy.

In the opposite direction, every dollar that the legislature cuts from Medicaid means four dollars of services must be dropped. And cutting the programs paid for by Medicaid will result in more expensive problems that must be addressed with payments by taxes for some other program or by higher costs to healthcare consumers for doctor and hospital bills. It just doesn’t make sense.

Many families that live and work in Provo and Orem are impacted by access to Medicaid benefits, either because they receive care or are healthcare providers.

If you believe, as I do, that Medicaid is one area that should not be cut, you should send word right away to your legislators, especially those who are right now looking at health care appropriations by the State. Senator Margaret Dayton and Representative Keith Grover, both representing people in Orem and Provo, are on the committee and they want to hear from you. Mr. Grover’s email address is keithgrover@utah.gov and phone number is: 801-319-0170. Mrs. Dayton’s is: mdayton@utahsenate.org and (801) 221-0623, Calling or email is best, since they are in meetings right now!

Please let your voices be heard on this or other issues that are important to you.

The morning after

2008-11-05T08:12:00.004-07:00

My father had a favorite poem that he wanted to commit to memory. He enlisted the help of us children to help him learn it and, as one might expect, the kids learned it faster than my dad. The poem was Kipling’s “If”, and a small part of the poem that I have remembered, after some forty years, goes like this:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;

This being good advice has made waking up on this day a little easier. Meeting triumph and disaster, I have decided to treat those two imposters the same.

On the wall of my campaign headquarters (aka the guest bedroom) there is a poster that my son gave to my daughter for Christmas. It is an inspirational poster and has a quote and a lovely photo of a ski jumper. The large title is "Ineptitude". The quote says: "If you can’t learn to do something well, you should at least learn to enjoy doing it poorly." Perhaps you can imagine what the ski jumper looks like.

I think I have been well served by the sentiments of this poster. Like many of my fellow candidates in Utah County this year, my campaign for the legislature has been a new adventure. If someone had told me 12 months ago that my name would be on the ballot this year, I’d have told him he was crazy. There have been times during this year that I have decided that I was the one who was crazy. But somehow, as I have campaigned poorly in many ways, I have learned to enjoy it too.

I hope I can adequately express thanks to all the volunteers and financial supporters who believed in me. We knew we had a big challenge to overcome. I received this quote from a friend, attributed to Abraham Lincoln:
"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just."
Many people knew our probability and pitched in with hope. I have so appreciated that encouragement.

Thank you, to all my friends!

Comparing Apples to Apples

2008-10-10T11:48:00.003-06:00

I was encouraged early on in the campaign to make a clear distinction between my political opponent and myself. Now, this wouldn't be so hard if I could say that my opponent was a dirty, rotten scoundrel -- but he isn't. He is a friendly family man with good relationships with his friends and family, as far as I know. I assume that he wants to give public service and that is why he got involved in politics. My reason for running for office wasn't because I had personal animosity for him; I just think I have different priorities than he does.

When difficult choices are put before public officials, they need to remember that more is not always better. More laws, more micromanaging, more intervention. Sometimes the best public policy is less legislation. In other areas, intervention is necessary. For example, we need health care reform, so that health insurance is more accessible. That is why these priorities are so important.

Since my decision to run for office, I have had the opportunity to meet and visit with many people of the district by going door to door to introduce myself. It has given me added perspective about the impact of government. The economic hard times in Utah will be felt in many ways. We are better off than those in most other states because of tight spending. I do not, however, agree with many of the priorities that the legislature has acted on. Legislation should reflect how it can strengthen families and communities. It should be based on a vision for the future that includes a strong education system, a safe and healthy environment, and efficient and effect transportation.

While funding for public education was the issue that got me to pay attention to the state legislature, I would say that the thing that really moved me to action was the concern over ethics. The legislature lacks clear, specific, and reasonable ethical guidelines. These have become problematic --- especially lately when some votes have been particularly divisive. There have been proposals and sponsored legislation for stricter ethical rules but they have rarely made it out of committee and never passed. It is as if the legislators, look around at each other, smile and say, “We are all nice people; we don’t need these rules.” The rules are needed not only to stop corruption but to protect those who are acting forthrightly. It gives assurance that public officials are trustworthy. And public trust of government is extremely important. While there is no mention of ethics from my opponent, ethics reform is an item of high priority for me.

Another of the places where my political opponent and I differ is on environmental issues. He rejected a bill at first that gave consumers incentives to drive fuel efficient cars. He also voted against the bill that would prohibit school busses from idling on duty. Both of these bills, which passed, help to conserve gasoline and lessen air pollution.

It is difficult to know what he thought of school vouchers because I have found people who told me that he promised them support of vouchers and others who were promised opposition, depending on whether they supported or opposed vouchers themselves. Eventually he voted in favor of vouchers. I opposed the voucher legislation of 2006. I oppose sending tax dollars to private schools, and this particular plan had the potential to send public schools into a downward spiral. A strong public education system that unifies neighborhoods is a priority to me.

This year all of my opponent’s campaign funds have come from special interests, corporations, or other republican party coffers. Mine have come from family, friends, and neighbors in the legislative district. I have received a $1000 line of credit from the UEA, public school’s “union” because they believe me to be a better support of public education than the incumbent. It is a priority to me that campaign funding for representatives be supplied by the people they will represent.

I notice in the blogosphere that there is talk about his poor attendance record at legislative interim committee meetings. I can understand this. He is a young dad with many family responsibilities. While I don’t judge him for how he prioritizes his time, I will commit the time and energy needed to represent the people of this legislative district, both during the legislative session and throughout the year. I think that the people of the district deserve this commitment.

Finally, independence is a priority to me. My opponent is a reliable follower of Republican Party leadership. I find that the Republican Party leadership has so tied up the political process to protect incumbents, that new-comers cannot get past the county convention. This denies candidates a chance for a popular vote, which is at the heart of a democracy. Although I have been a republican all my life, I discovered that the Utah County Platform for the Democratic Party is very moderate—and conservative in the aspects that are important to me. I felt that the Republican Party was not likely to heal itself from the inside and decided to run for the legislature as a democrat. I will not be bullied or threatened by members of my own party or any other. It is essential to have a better-balanced legislature to ensure ethics reform and dialog on important issues.

Gotta be the Economy

2008-09-29T19:24:00.003-06:00

When the Utah Foundation surveyed Utahns for a list of prioritized issues last spring, there were a lot of items to choose from--transportation, the environment, education. I'm sure there were some who had financial worries but the worries didn't seem to be wide-spread.

There had been talk of a housing bubble. There were a lot of "no down payment" loans being pushed. There was even news of unprecedented consumer debt. Still there was definitely a feeling of being blind-sided when the financial melt down began a month or two ago.

Now, there are predictions of doomsday and comparisons being made to the stock market crash of 1929. While the Congress and the feds fuss and fume about what is to be done to mitigate the trouble, it is clear that there is no way to avoid it altogether. Both presidential candidates are blaming deregulation, so it seems that "trickle down" economics has turned into a deluge of debt that we will all be swimming in, whether we were wise in our own money management or not.

The State of Utah has a great challenge ahead of it. We will be in better shape than many states but the problems in the stock market and banking industries will have repercussions here as well as everywhere else. The decisions that will be made as budgets are cut and appropriations examined will be extremely important and will require prioritizing needs. Everyone will be wanting a larger slice of an ever-smaller pie.

As I have walked from house to house in my legislative district, I have discussed with many people the needs of individuals and families. The incentives to business must take a backseat in times like these. Lobbyists may holler but the voices of hundreds of my neighbors have my ear.

As I continue to walk door to door, the conversations with the voters are showing their concerns about future economic stability.
"My retirement is disappearing."
"I may get laid off."
"I'm worried about my mortgage."
What issues are you watching in the next year or two?
It's gotta be the economy.

Happy Constitution Day!

2008-09-17T10:17:00.002-06:00

I want to take a break from campaigning to acknowledge a document that has changed the world. The Constitution of the United States was signed by a majority of the participants at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on this day in 1787.

I love this country. I love that it was founded on the concepts that "small people" can govern themselves. I love that this document was made to live, breathe, and grow with a country that would change rapidly in the subsequent 221 years. I love that the rights outlined in the First Amendment have challenged Americans to examine themselves and better their own instincts.

Despite its bumpy history I remain an optimist about the future of the United States. The Statue of Liberty has welcomed tired, poor, huddled masses and continues to do so. Of still greater impact is the attitude of the American people that, whatever his or her beginnings, the individual is worthy of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Americans are generous people; charitable giving and volunteerism are strong impulses. Americans have a sense of justice but love to see signs of mercy mixed in.

I agree with the observation that Alexis de Tocqueville made over a hundred years ago: "America is great because she is good." I also acknowledge the corollary that-- "If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

The greatest service we can give to our country is to make a commitment to goodness. The Constitution has a physical structure; it is our goodness that enlivens this document and gives it longevity.

Happy Birthday and long live the Constitution of the United States!

Lipstick Quick-draw

2008-09-11T10:15:00.005-06:00

When Geraldine Ferraro and Shirley Chisolm were national political candidates, the country was not at all ready to welcome a woman into the White House. Now in 2008, it has been interesting to see the excitement generated on diverse ends of the political spectrum, by the entrance of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin into the national spotlight.

Sarah Palin is rousing support by her socially conservative convictions that fit so well the culture of Utah and much of the western United States. At the same time, she is praised for the courageous handling of entrenched political power brokers in her own party and the special interests who were accommodated in Alaska state government.

Whether or not she is a candidate prepared for presidential responsibilities, her history should be looked at with interest in the state of Utah. She came to her office as governor describing herself as a "Hockey Mom", doggedly dedicated to ethics reform in state government. She saw closed door deals, politicians enjoying campaign gifts and financing from Big Oil or other special interests, and various ethical problems in the state. Her success in handling these problems is making national news. This should send chills through the Utah Republican Party.

Moderate republicans, as well as democrats, have been calling for ethics reform in the Utah legislature for years. Well-managed leadership in the State Republican Party has, however, held them at bay. As long as incumbents could recruit enough friends to become delegates to the county conventions, voters would have no say about their party nominees. The Democratic Party, hobbled by progressive national politics, could not elect a legislator in Utah County as well as much of the state, and the republicans ceased to worry about campaigning against them. As a result, the ethical questions have gone unanswered.

Unable to heal the Party from within, many traditional republicans and unaffiliated voters are looking to the Democratic Party for a "bulldog" to stir up the questions.

Thank you, Sarah Palin, for making this cause a popular one in Utah! Women's ability to take on this problem is certainly now proven. Now I just need to get a little more consistent with wearing lipstick.

The pain in Campaign

2008-08-19T22:32:00.006-06:00

The challenge of running for office as a democrat in Utah County is in discovering who the "swing" voters are. I happen to know that among the registered republicans, there are quite a few "closet democrats" who just wanted to have a chance to vote for something (as in, vote in the Republican Primary). There are also a number of disenchanted republicans who are looking for a way to change the State Legislature and just need to know there is an alternative to the incumbent.
So how does one find these potential supporters?
Walking the district -- going door to door to introduce myself to the neighbors. And that's what I have been doing this summer.
My door to door campaign is one of the reasons my blog entries have been so sparce this summer.
I enjoy the experience of meeting people and visiting with them at their doors. It does, however, have its dangers.
One Saturday, I stood at a door, campaign flyer in hand, and admired the floral wreath hanging there as I waited for the owners to open the door. As it opened, the jarring startled three or four bees who had been nestled in among the flowers of the wreath. They flew out and into my face and one stung me on the cheek when it hit. The lady of the house accepted my flyer as I grimaced and stuttered my greeting, "Hello, my name is Deon Turley and I -- I've just been stung by a bee!"

The Educrat

2008-06-13T20:17:00.002-06:00

A newspaper recently carried letter to the editor that commented on the large numbers of opposition candidates vying for a seat in the state legislature. Noting that many were from the teaching profession, it warned against the election of “educrats” who wanted to take over the legislature.

Certainly there is a strong showing of the education community in the field of candidates this year. I see it as a natural response to the legislature’s arrogant disregard of constituents' support of public education.

I was, however, fascinated by the term “educrat”. It isn’t found in the dictionary and the word itself sounds like something spat on the ground. Who would want a title like that?

If having a commitment to public education makes me an educrat, it is a label I'll gladly accept. If recognizing the need for excellence in institutions of higher education in the state, and wanting to fund them sufficiently makes me an educrat, I admit to it. If efforts to provide everyone literacy training and educational opportunity would make me an educrat, sign me up.

Statistically, Utah is the youngest state in the nation. Families are large and school-age children make up a large percentage of our population. Young people left to popular media, television and advertising, won't find training for informed citizenship. Preparation for their emergence into responsible adulthood requires a large investment.

It is well-established that education is power – not only measured in earning capacity but in ability to control one’s own life. We want our children to understand how to function in an increasingly complex world. The educated citizen is more likely to tell a good idea from a bad one, a trustworthy steward from a swindler. Parents play the greatest role in raising their children. Most families rely on public schools to help them teach their children to become independent, thoughtful individuals.

Our society also invests in the future through education. Public schools should prepare children to become productive, informed citizens. We all benefit when doctors know how to operate, architects can design a building well, and engineers create planes, trains, and cars that get us where we need to go in a safe manner.

The training of teachers has never been better. They are being prepared to teach a wide range of children with various individual challenges, family circumstances, and cultural backgrounds.

The administrators of public schools and state institutions of higher education shoulder responsibilities that are comparable to CEO's of large businesses in terms of employee management, legal navigation, contract negotiations, capital investments, and the logistical maze of governmental requests, requirements, and restrictions.

The biggest difference between schools and business enterprises is that business generates its own income; public education must rely on public revenue controlled by elected officials.

Our state legislators show their commitments by what they are willing to nurture, support, and entrust.

Nurturing the education community means giving them manageable class sizes. The current student to teacher ratios in Utah are among the highest in the nation. This means our students get the lowest levels of individual attention of any group of public school students in the country.

Supporting the education community means providing the funds necessary to do the job. That hasn’t happened in our state. Public school employees in Utah are among the lowest paid in the nation. Per-pupil funding of education continues to place Utah at the bottom of the stack, relative to every other state in the nation.

Trusting the education community means allowing parents, teachers, and administrators at the local level to control their budgets and curriculum. In this year's legislative session a big part of the increased education funding went to specific state-defined programs. School officials who see, at close range, the needs of the students and employees, are constantly shuffling budget categories to meet the requirements of earmarked funding.

The effects of this neglect take years to emerge but they are showing up now. Scores that show preparation for post-high school training are dropping and measurements of technical understanding among Utah's population are showing a decline. This trend must stop. To scrimp on education is to leave the next generation unprepared for the challenges of a complex world.

We must be willing to nurture, support, and trust the education community. Our legislature could use a few more educrats who will do that.

The Balancing Act of Privatization

2008-04-09T14:59:00.002-06:00

There is a move afoot to privatize operations that are currently performed by government agencies. After all, the competitive market and capitalist ideals have built the American economy and powered business initiative and productivity. Government workers have a reputation for inefficiency and lethargy, knowing that they will draw a paycheck no matter how they perform on the job.

While I can see the need for many functions of government to be provided by private industry, there is a balance to be achieved.

Services that are seasonal or intermittently needed are good candidates for out-sourcing. Imagine if the local public school district had to use government employee architects and carpenters to build a school. In addition, options would be limited, if elections were held using only the sort of balloting machine that some government agency had produced that year.

Some things should not be left to the private sector. The livability of a community relies on free access to certain amenities. Property owners would not be motivated to provide libraries, parks and playgrounds that are open to the public. Similarly, maintenance of public spaces, for example, parks or the grounds of public buildings or custodial care of buildings, might be privatized but work of this sort tends to be full-time employment, and it makes sense to employ maintenance workers that provide continuity of the care.

There is a danger in privatizing too much. When elected officials must award contracts to private companies, conflict of interest questions mushroom and campaign contributions from businesses vying for contracts would surely be seen as “kickbacks”. Before I would entertain proposals of widespread privatization of government services, I would demand ethics reform of the state legislature, especially in regards to conflict of interest and campaign finance.

Financing the Work

2008-04-09T11:55:00.002-06:00

Was I surprised, when I first began to consider this project of running for office, how much the campaign itself would cost? Yes, indeed!
So the first thing you do is say, "How does everyone else raise that sort of cash?"
I knew that Mitt Romney had the resources to pay for his campaign -- or a lot of it. That isn't my situation.
Calling upon businesses or political action committees to contribute seemed the last thing I wanted to do, since that would send the message that I would be able to return the favor when their interests came up in legislation.
The ones whom I want to represent are the people of my legislative district, my neighbors. It takes confidence to approach a neighbor, especially one who you know is struggling to makes ends meet, and say, "It is so important to you that I be elected that you should help to pay for signs and pamphlets." As hard as this is, it is equally amazing when people respond and pull out a checkbook.
Many people don't get it. They haven't been asked to support a political candidate. It has hasn't been necessary in Republican dominated Utah County. There are enough willing businesses and PAC's to get the job done for republican candidates.
But others recognize the relationship of money and representation.
When it is difficult to get out of my comfort zone, memory of the $25 check that came as a surprise gets me on my feet.
This campaign may be a long shot but these $50, $20, and $5 contributions are feeding my resolve.

Looking behind the legislation

2008-04-03T14:32:00.002-06:00

Now that the dust from this year's legislative session is settling, we are left to inspect the results.
1. The tax on the most expensive snuff tobacco is lowered and tax rates are now set by legislation per ounce. So no matter how the price changes on the stuff, the taxes will be static. It will take an act of the legislature to up-date it. This doesn't make sense to me.
2. The amount of time that citizens have to collect signatures for a referendum on legislation has been shortened by about six weeks, by act of this year's legislature. We witnessed the herculean task to place the voucher issue before the voters last year. Regardless of my opinion on education vouchers, I really like the rights of citizens to petition government. I am still trying to figure out why this bill was a good idea.
3. I am also a big fan of citizen's access to the courts. This year, the legislature passed a law that took away the right of most home owners to sue the builders of their homes for slipshod workmanship. I spoke with a frustrated subcontractor who lamented that this would affect the reputation of all the trades in the building industry. The ones who suffer the most from this legislation are the homeowners stuck in a ramshackle house. The ones who benefit are the developers who sweep in, sweep out, and sweep up.

Tied to each of these pieces of legislation, are lobbyists who are making generous donations to the campaigns of many of our legislators. It is not difficult to see who is being represented.

Answering Education Questions

2008-03-07T07:46:00.004-07:00

I recently received email from a neighbor who said that he felt that since he didn't have children, he shouldn't be taxed for public education. He also favored the voucher program, which the legislature passed and subsequently was overturned by referendum.

The two statements were related but not necessarily complementary. If we only taxed families with children, we would certainly not be able to afford the current level of funding for public education, let alone the additional costs of vouchers. My response to him was long but perhaps this forum is a good place to record my perspective.

I believe that quality public schools are a priority because they ensure an educated citizenry for the future of democracy. The taxes we pay are not tuition for our children any more than the taxes are user fees for the library or the parks or the freeways. Not everyone will use them but everyone benefits from the fact that the services are provided in our communities.

I don’t know what your occupation is but say you manage a fast food restaurant, or run a print shop, or an insurance company. You might discover that you “use” the public education system because it is supposed to prepare your employees to be able to do basic mathematics, to communicate, or to think logically. Whether or not I am an employer, I want my police officers, my cable guy, or my store clerk to be trained – and trainable. So I benefit if the public school system is working. No, I don’t like to pay taxes any more than you do but I think that the alternative would be worse.

There are many areas of government that support other segments of the population. We hope we don't ever need the service of a school for the blind but we support it because we are charitable. Loyalty to the community often trumps freedom to support only those areas of government that serve us individually. And we take on the projects that protect or care for our neighbors.

The voucher issues seem to linger and unfortunately are very divisive.

The problems I had with the education voucher legislation of last year were these:

1. The appropriation for vouchers would be another budget category-- one that goes to support private schools, when public schools are already underfunded relative to education funding in every other state. This appropriation would be called additional education funding though, and legally could be pulled from the education Trustlands revenue.

2. Voucher proponents claimed that the parents would have greater choice. However, the tuition voucher would lower the expense of private school tuition only if the school chose to accept the child. The children who would be accepted would not be the “at risk” students, the learning disabled, the ESL, or behavior problems. And it is unlikely that the low-income parents could provide the transportation or the parent involvement that private schools require, let alone the remainder of the tuition. I visited with a college student who described the urban public schools in Baltimore. She said she wished they had vouchers available so she could have escaped them. Our schools are not currently as bad as that. I believe that vouchers would have hastened the descent of our public schools to that situation and widened the gap of social classes.

2-B. I call it 2-B because it might be an alternative scenario to #2 above. The private schools set the price of their tuition based on a free market system. They will charge what the market will bear. If they are not particularly interested in growth in the number of students they serve, they may find that they can raise their tuition by the amount of the voucher, and the families who were willing to pay at that level before will still be able to pay. This gives them more revenue with the same affluent population. But the increased revenue is tax dollars.

3. In areas of the state where there are no private schools within hundreds of miles, the families would have the tax burden of benefits to the urban and suburban private schools.

4. Lastly, not all private schools would be willing to accept tuition vouchers because they don’t want to bow to government requirements. And the legislature would be anxious to show that the schools accepting tuition vouchers were held accountable. Their way of doing this is to subject the schools to the same testing requirements or teacher certification. Many private schools don’t want the expense of this intervention.

I know that there are private schools that fill a need. I wouldn’t stand in the way of those who want to provide them or patronize them. I also don’t object to appropriations such as the Carson-Smith scholarships for autistic children who are not served in public schools. But I have this attitude that tax-funded public education is the basic education that is provided to prepare the next generation for responsible citizenship. Public schools must take everyone that comes to the door. Private schools don’t have that responsibility. Private schools should not be given the public funding.

On a more personal level, I choose to have my children experience public education because it puts them in an environment where they learn to work with those people who make up their community. Their education is enriched at home and we as a family try to contribute time and talent to enrich the education experience for others at the school as well.

Well, now you have the long version of my voucher opinion. Admittedly, some of it consists of speculation, but then, so did the opinions of those who favored vouchers. A system as widely applied as the Utah proposal that was over-turned, has never been tried. No other developed country in the world has a system of education vouchers for private schools. It would be an experiment. For the reasons I gave at the beginning of this message, I am not anxious to be the state to see whether I am wrong.

Effective Legislators

2008-03-06T10:06:00.015-07:00

There is an organization whose purpose it is to judge the effectiveness of legislators. While there might be many aspects that go into defining a “good” legislator, the single criteria for being “effective”, according to this group, is the number of bills an individual sponsors that pass. So, the more laws that make it into the Utah Code, more effective our legislature is. Of course, no elected official wants to be seen as a “slouch”. Is there any wonder that citizens are increasingly dependent upon lawyers to keep them on the right side of the law?

I wonder if there might be an organization out there which would take on the task of identifying the legislators who are most effective at stopping the passage of needless or downright bad legislation.

What's for dinner?

Every once in a while it's time to clean out the refrigerator. There are Ziplock bags of this and Tupperware containers of that – some of the contents of which are beginning to show their age. So we sort out these containers. This one is definitely a “keeper”-- just what we want and need for dinner tonight. That one (Piu!) goes into the trash.

The legislature has the responsibility to do a similar exercise. Bills pile up going into a session in January and the sorting begins. Committees evaluate them first. If they merit approval there, they are sent to the House or Senate for debate. Both chambers must declare them worthy of adoption, after which, the Governor has an opportunity to validate the choices, and (Bingo!) we have the latest set of laws and regulation. In other words, “Dinner is served.”

What happened this year was interesting. Education is a hot topic in the state as well as the legislature. Lawmakers are being hounded by their constituents to adequately fund public education and the institutions of higher education, for which they have responsibility. The number of bills dealing with education was daunting but the committees began their work of sorting back in January. Some bills were debated in one legislative house or the other; some passing, some tossed out.

But the days were passing faster than the bills. By March third, votes on many bills that were essential had been postponed and still more, which were deemed of lower priority, were a long ways from being debated.

So some legislators came up with a brilliant, if unappetizing, idea. Take a big pile of education bills; pour them all into one stew pot, called an omnibus bill; and vote on them all at once. A time saving concept in the kitchen as well as the legislature! So in went the essential funding, along with the questionable programs, along with (What's this?) proposals which had already been rejected in committee or defeated by an earlier vote. What does it matter that some parts of the concoction were fished out of the trash? Would any legislator dare to reject the essential funding of education in an election year?

Law makers went home smiling. Everyone who sponsored an education bill got a gold star on the forehead for being an “effective legislator.”

What the public is served up now is a stew that brings in the increased money that educators need, but it sure smells funny.