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Questions
The League of Women Voters has made every effort to present accurately the candidates' responses as they were submitted.
1. If elected, what two things do you hope to accomplish as a state representative for the people of Utah?
A move towards a more enviromentally friendly state with more energy efficiency and independence on unrenewable resources. To increase our per-pupil spending by distributing money where it counts, not only teacher raises, but other vital personnel.
2. How would you address the following issues?
- Adequate funding for education, including funding for disadvantaged populations such as non-English-speakers and prison inmates
The pool from which we draw funds is limited in size, but yearly the surplus seems to be about the same. Unfortunately the public is not sympathetic to these groups. Educating both groups is important for them to be fully functioning members of society, so that they can in turn, contribute in the future. Extra money for ESL and other minority driven education must have the goal of integrating them within our society, with the goal of speaking English and eventually being on par with other students their age. Vocational skills should be the main focus of our prison populations, so that when they are ready to re-enter society, they will be able to be placed into a job where they can instantly contribute. The money for school aged children would come from the general education fund while for our prison population would come from our budget towards our correctional system. Extra money would be brought in from the general surplus as needed.
- Energy resource development and clean air
The state of Utah has passed laws about having Rocky Mountain Power move our energy sources to renewable resources. The law unfortunately has loopholes that allow corporations to get around this quota. Our first step would be to close this loophole, making so that Rocky Mountain Power does put more effort into renewable resources. As for the clean air, we need to increase the availability of mass transit to help reduce the number of cars on the roads. We should also try to get developers to focus on re-development rather than new development so that we can work on bringing people closer to where they work, cutting down on drive time and fuel used.
- Water development and conservation
Utah is a desert and everyone living here needs to realize this. As such, it is important to stress xeriscaping to the public as a whole so that we can limit the amounts of water used. It is also important to lead by example, moving state and local buildings towards a xeriscape rather than traditional grass.
- Better communication between elected officials and their constituents
The communication breakdown could easily be blamed upon a dominant "one-party" system that Utah has. Elected officials know that they are always going to be re-elected because of their party status. Whether it is a republican in Utah county or a democrat in Carbon county, there is a dominant one-party feel. I've been a fan of term limits, but that would not solve the problem here, it would perhaps make it worse, especially in a "lame-duck" term. Any other proposed solution would fall short because there is no way to know is a elected leader was actually listening or is "just there in body only". Until an official knows that there is a possibility that they can legitimately be voted out and lose to the other party, they have no reason to really care what their constituency says. As long as there is a "mindless one-party" only vote who are unwilling to look for alternatives, there is nothing that can honestly be done.
3. If the State had a revenue surplus of $100 millions, how would you allocate the money?
$25 million Teacher pay raises
$40 million Publically financed heathcare
$10 million Diability resources
$15 million Eldery services
$10 million Statewide recycling program
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