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The Daily Herald had an editorial today on what to look for in a candidate. I liked the criteria they listed:
Candidates to be wary of:
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- Have that “deer in the headlights look”
- Spout too many cliches
- Have too much experience – What worked in 1987 or even 1997 might be as outmoded as a Betamax video tape player today.
- Have no backbone
- Worry you now
They gave a good example of the “no backbone” criteria:
One test we find interesting is Referendum 1. School vouchers are not a municipal issue, of course, but at one forum recently, city council aspirants were asked to stand or sit to show where they stood on vouchers. A couple of candidates responded by neither standing or sitting, but by going into a sort of crouch. That sort of response worries us.
Look for hopefuls who:
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- Know their stuff
- Acknowledge difficulties
- Plan for progress
- Work well with others
- Accept change
I would add one more criteria for those who are interested enough to get involved in the political process early. A candidate should be responsive to voters.
I have been meaning to list my endorsements for Lehi City Council and I think that fits well at the end of this criteria. We have 3 incumbents and 3 new candidates for city council. They are largely campaigning as two groups. To a certain extent the groups are fitting. The incumbents have been largely unresponsive to individual questions outside of the few candidate forums while the new candidates have been more anxious to answer questions on their positions. As groups, both seem to have grasp of the issues comparable to the other. Some individual candidates have demonstrated a better grasp of the issues than others. Sadly, the incumbents were more likely to campaign on “I love this town.” (In one case that seems to be the entire platform.) If I had to vote for one group or the other I would vote for the new candidates. For information on each candidate visit Utah-Candidates.com.
Thankfully I get to vote for individual candidates. I know two candidates that I really want to vote for. Selecting my third choice was a bit harder. I am supporting Jeff Ray, Craig Laurence, and Mark Johnson for Lehi City Council. Overall, these three candidates each have a grasp of the issues and seem prepared to work for the city rather than working for a special interest or simply enjoying their position on the city council.
17 replies on “Endorsements for Lehi City Council”
Hi David,
Are you the same David Miller that lives five houses away from one of the incumbents, Johnny Revill? If so, I am very disappointed that you would make such a statement as “the incumbents have been largely unresponsive to individual questions…..” Have you ever asked Johnny or any of the other incumbents a question? Have you tried to contact them or voice your concerns? I dare say no. Shame on you, especially since one of them is your neighbor. Also, you discredit them for using the fact that they “love this town” in their campaign. I can speak for my husband when I say that he does love this town. He was raised here. His past is here and his future is here. This town has shaped his life. Why is that so wrong? I personally feel a lot more comfortable voting for someone who is rooted here and has ties to the traditions and heritage. Also, he has no agenda. He is not running because he is angry, wants revenge, or has been encouraged by those who feel they have been wronged by the city. I think some of the candidates will have a rude awakening when they realize that in every situation, someone will not be pleased. You can not please all of the people all of the time. Before you go making these strong opinions known, I would encourage you to walk down the street and talk to your neighbor before you go by what one candidate tells you to believe.
Nicole
P.S. I commend you for your website listing info about each candidate. One of the incumbents tried to put together a similar website some months ago. Unfortunately, some of the candidates chose not to participate.
I am that David Miller. The fact is that I have asked questions of every one of the candidates and none of the incumbents responded to my issue related questions. Perhaps in fairness I should say that at least two of the incumbents (including Johnny) responded to questions that were posed by a group of citizens. I did get a response from Mark Johnson on some questions and comments about his website. In fact it was because of that discussion with Mark that brought me to finally create Utah-Candidates.com because I felt that nobody could fairly represent themselves and other candidates on a personal website.
I did not mean to discredit anyone for saying that they love Lehi as part of their campaign. I meant to say that it is necessary to campaign on more than loving the town. It is necessary to campaign on the issues that the town is facing. Citizens deserve to know what any candidate (incumbent or otherwise) thinks about the issues.
I would be happy to talk to Johnny about the issues and I already know that he wants to do what’s good for Lehi, but the fact is that I have not chosen to walk down the street because Lehi is too large for everyone do be able to talk to a city councilman that way. By communicating through email I was not only seeking information about the issues I asked about, I was also testing the channels of communication for each of the candidates. In a city as large as Lehi and growing as fast as Lehi I think it is very important for us to have officials who find ways to be responsive to citizens and to communicate their ideas about the issues that the city is facing.
I find it completely humorous that you think it’s important to be able to contact officials through email when our current Mayor doesn’t have an email. What does that tell you? If you are not comfortable approaching a candidate face to face because you don’t think he has the “time,” maybe you should re-think who you are voting for. I KNOW all of the candidates would be fine speaking to someone because I have personally done it with each candidate. If they don’t have the time, they are not the candidate for me. I think it is a matter of guts. This campaign has been tainted with rumors and malicious mudslinging. Nobody has the guts to confront a candidate on an issue because they are afraid to hear the truth. Go speak to each candidate and you will realize who has the facts.
Ashley McKinnon
PROUD supporter of Revill, Johnson, and Dixon
If our current Mayor were on the ballot and I were supporting him then I would think it humorous as well. As it is, he is not on the ballot this year. I did not say that I thought any of the candidates lacked time. I said that in a city of this size there are many people who do not have the convenience of walking down the street to talk to one.
As for approaching candidates face to face, I have done that with multiple candidates since before the primaries, but not before they pass the responsiveness test.
I am aware that the current Mayor isn’t on the ballot. Believe me, in 2 years, I will be voting for whoever is running against him. I was just stating that fact. There were many opportunities for Lehi residents to communicate with the candidates face to face. Unfortunately, most people don’t care and it is tragic. I attended both meet the candidates nights and there were times that the candidates seemed bored because of lack of attendance.
During election season is not the only time that citizens should be able to communicate with the candidates but it’s the only time that the candidates are holding forums for citizens to come to. I agree that not enough citizens are active in the election process to ensure that they make informed votes.
Regardless of how poor the participation of citizens is, I look for candidates who will respond to citizens they don’t already know at times when they have not already arranged to make themselves available. I want to know that my city officials will respond to my concerns if I take the time to make those concerns known – even if I am unable to attend city council meetings in person.
On your first post you wrote you are looking for candidates that “know their stuff.” Very interesting that you are voting for Craig Lawrence and Jeffery Ray. Both of them supported the freeway at 2100 N until the Mayor met with UDOT (yes, the Mayor met with UDOT, not them) and told them that the best option is the Lehi Proposal. Now they support a 4800 N freeway after they got the real facts. Who came up with that proposal again? Oh….that’s right…the current city council did. (Of course they give no credit to them.)Let’s see…what else do they “know about?” Oh yeah, they think the city has control over where the school district puts their schools. No, they have no control. When the school district came to them and told them they wanted to put a school near 2100 N (where the district already owns property) the coucil joked that they should put it there to stop UDOT from putting the freeway there (so they jumped on that to say that the council wants it there.) The council also informed the school district that there was already a plan to put an extended stay hotel near that school. The district said that didn’t matter and they still wanted to go ahead with it.
On their latest flier, it says that they want to build a second firestation and that is “top priority.” Hmmmm…last time I checked the council already voted for it and they have already approved it. They say the city currently has no paramedics? Have they ever met Randy Wells? He has been a paramedic in Lehi for over 20 years! He helped save my dad’s life. He is full-time too. The city spends thousands of dollars training these brave citizens in many areas and so they are not simply called “paramedics.” They are trained in many areas so Lawrence, Ray, and Harris jumped on that opportunity since they are not simply called paramedics. If anything they know NOTHING. They don’t “know their stuff.” I promise you that. The city is not interested in building a miniature golf course. I don’t know where they got that from.
And lastly, their slogan “Represening YOU”….they are not. Their views of offering “basic” services to the community by eliminating un-neccesary programs like the arts and recreation are not representing me. I care about these programs. I have actual quotes from Lawrence and Ray saying that they do not support the city funding these programs. If you want the TRUE facts about our current council and not the accusations of 3 “mad at everything and change whatever the current council has done, even if it is a good thing” candidates, visit the website http://www.votelehi.com and go to “is that really true.” Maybe you’ll learn some truth.
I forgot something. 🙂
On the issue of “No backbone,” seems to me that Jeffery Ray will join any group to gain votes. On his website it says:
“I have been an active participant in the delegate and Caucus system in Utah and have served multiple terms as a State and County Delegate for the Republican
Party in my Lehi precinct.”
Yet he is being endorsed by the Constituntionalist Party on their website. This comes directly from that site:
Lehi City Council Campaign
Hello All:
As many of you are aware from the events at the State Convention, The CP is supporting three candidates for city Council in Lehi in this years November General Election. Craig Laurence ran for city council in 2005 and lost by a mere 136 votes. This year he is running again as is Jeff Ray another member of the party and George Harris. There are three seats open and that is why the three are running. They are running as a team. In the September Primary, there were ten candidates running and four were eliminated. All three of our candidates made in through the primary, but so did the three incumbents.
The three have run a hard campaign and have received a lot of support. Craig received the endorsement of the Realtors Association in Utah County. It is the candidates’ hope to run a final flyer to the homes of all those who voted in the 2005 election. The cost of that will be about $1,200.00. This could well make the difference of tipping the election in our favor. To elect all three to office would be a tremendous and much needed boost for the party in Utah. If we do our part, this race is win-able.
If any of you are in a position to donate to this final effort, it would be greatly appreciated. With time of the essence, it would be best to simply make your check payable to Craig Laurence and send it to his address at 2434 North Carter Drive in Lehi, Ut 84043. Mark the donation for the final flyer effort. If you know of others who might donate, please pass this information on to them as well. The momentum seems to be with our candidates and it would be so unfortunate if we failed to take advantage of this last window of opportunity.
My sincere thanks to each of you.
Frank Fluckiger, State Chairman
Talk about flip-flopping and no backbone. If he does this with endorsements, how is he going to make decisions as a councilman?
I’ve visited “is that really true” (I checked it out again after your comment in case there was something new) and there was not one bit of information there that I did not already know.
None of the accusations addressed there had anything to do with my decisions. And the fact that they are not representing you – Ashley McKinnon – is a great reason why you should not vote for them. Those who feel unrepresented by the current councilmen should be happy with the prospect that these new candidates might do better at that if elected.
Personally I don’t think it should be an issue of incumbency – I prefer to cast my votes for individuals rather than for alliances.
That’s great. I commend you for doing your homework. My concern is that people in the city don’t. If they think that by simply voting for someone for a “change” is the right path or if they think voting in an incumbent just because they’re an incumbent is right, they are wrong They need to know who they are voting for and what that candidate stands for. That was my reasoning for posting. Thank you- David Miller- for the opportunity to express my comments.
I agree with you whole-heartedly. Voting for the incumbent because they are the incumbent is no worse than voting for the challengers just because they are not the incumbent. I also agree that too many people do not do their homework before they go to the voting booth.
I’m glad you chose to leave your comments. I like receiving comments because I find that people who leave comments sometimes know things I have not heard, or add a perspective I do not have which may reinforce my thinking, or change it. I hope you will continue to comment anytime I write something you have opinions about.
David,
I still think it is a cop out to accuse Johnny of not responding. You have never e-mailed him or tried to talk to him about city issues in any situation- as a neighbor or through e-mail. Oh well. That is your choice. Just don’t accuse him of not responding to you when you have never contacted him about city issues through any means of communication. Happy voting.
Nicole
Thanks to the efforts of Nicole, I have received a response from Johnny that was quite satisfactory. I said in my post that two of my selections were very solid and that the third was was a tough call. In fact it was a tough call between all four of the remaining candidates (after the two I had chosen). Based on what Johnny has said since I posted, I am thinking that I will give him that third vote tomorrow.
As I said to Nicole in an email – I didn’t want to give Johnny an advantage in my decision over other candidates just because he lives down the street. I just don’t think that being my neighbor adds to anyones qualification for city council.
I have found this thread particularly intriguing to see how people justify deciding for whom they will vote. I like the idea of responsiveness being a factor.
For me responsiveness is a primary factor. I like to assume that most candidates are well intentioned, which means that when we elect someone we don’t like later it is probably because we are not able to communicate effectively (or else we are solidly in the minority). For me, I don’t think I could dislike a councilman who votes contrary to what I might wish if they are willing and able to articulate the reasons behind the votes.
That is why responsiveness before I choose to vote for someone is so important to me.
David,
I’m curious. You originally mentioned that you were supporting Jeff Ray, Craig Laurence, and Mark Johnson. Mark Johnson has such a different philosophy of the role of government and position on government spending than both Jeff Ray and Craig Laurence (to such an extent that I would call them polar opposites.) I’ve found that Mark Johnson is very knowledgeable about the issues, I just don’t agree with his agenda. What issues/positions did you base your choice on? Was it mainly responsiveness? Not that it matters too much since the election is over, but I am sincerely interested.
Thanks.
Responsiveness was the main reason that I picked Mark initially, but after I getting more information from Johnny Revill I ended up voting for him over Mark. Once I had cleared up the responsiveness glitch (and it turned out to be a glitch) I found that I aligned more closely with Johnny than Mark – although Johnny is still philosophically quite distant from Jeff and Craig. Had my choice been based on philosophy of government I would have picked George Harris, but I just couldn’t come to support George because his campaign seemed to be focused too much on Traverse Mountain (where he lives) which did not seem to match up with an at-large seat on the city council.