My Record

I am a conservative.  I have a 20 year record of being a conservative leader in this community.  I can point to that record with pride and say that I have never once voted to raise taxes, increase fees, or increase government spending.  One of my opponents has been claiming that he is the true conservative in this race and yet he has no record.  He only has his word for it.  Orem City is too great of a city to argue over a maybe.  I have a very strong conservative record and I am not just standing up and saying look at me, I am a conservative with the core principles of  a current conservative thought. These are things I have done my entire life. I am in favor of very limited government.. I am in favor of very low taxes, and I believe that government should get off our backs, get out of our pockets, and get out of our way. I am not just claiming that I will do these, I have done them. I'm proud of my record. Yes there have been mistakes and I wish with every fiber of my being that I had not supported Utopia. I apologize for that mistake and can honestly say I will not do that again.

Public Safety

One of the key issues that have not been brought up in this campaign yet is public safety.  I will champion public safety in Orem City. I am opposed to a Utah County Unified Police Force.  I support the idea that Orem City have the very best and very brightest in their public safety department The public safety department in Orem City needs the total and complete support of every member of the city council. We need to hire the best and trust that they know what they're doing when it comes to public safety.  Orem should be second to none in this area. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough, I will champion public safety.  Orem's Public Safety Department is the best in the state of Utah we must make sure that our police officers and firefighters have the latest technology and tools needed to ensure our safety again let me emphasize I will champion public safety in Orem City

Cultural Arts

In 1990 I was first elected to the SCERA Board of Trustees. I was 26 years old and had great plans for SCERA.  Since that time the cultural arts has been very important to me.  I was chairman of the SCERA Board of Trustees when Mayor Nelson wanted to build a cultural arts center on the campus of  UVSC. SCERA opposed the new center and we took our relationship with Orem City and Mayor Nelson to the very brink.  Fighting against the Nielsen Cultural Arts Center was the right thing to do at that time, and my opinion has not changed about the current center,. I am not opposed to the arts center being in Orem.  However, I cannot support a cultural arts enter at Orem’s City Center. The Orem City Council is not considered the damage this will do to SCERA and the Hale Center Theater. The damage is just too great to SCERA and Hale Center.  If I am elected I will ensure the survival of the two great cultural arts center's of this city, SCERA and Hale Center.

Utopia

I've had a lot of people want to know what my position is concerning Utopia, Utopia was a mistake and I would like to apologize to the electorate of Orem city for my support of Utopia in 2003. At the time of the vote I relied on information and advice from people that were much wiser than I conserving computers and digital data, at the time of the vote I can remember saying that I was uncomfortable with Utopia and was uncertain that this was the proper role of government, but I was relying on the advice of people that I thought were more knowledgeable and more experienced in this type of technology than me. I can honestly say that I wish I would have voted no, but I did support Utopia and I did support its refinancing two years later and I offer my sincere apology to the citizens of Orem for those two votes.  Had I been on the city council in 2010 when again, the bonds were refinanced, I would have voted a very strong NO. Utopia needs to be held accountable for the money that has already been spent. Utopia needs to understand that Orem City will not give them one more cent until Orem is built out and there is a 33% take rate.  These two promises have been made more times than I can count and Orem needs to stand up to the Utopia board and make it very clear, no more money.   If I am elected to the Orem City Council several things will happen with Utopia,

 #1. There will be no more meetings with individual council members. Utopia is doing this so that they do not have to have minutes of the meetings and it’s much easier to intimidate council members.

 #2.Everything will be done in the open and in the bright light of day, high proprietary information or not.

 #3 They will be held accountable for the business models that they had sold to the city By this I mean, Orem City will be totally built out and a 33% take rate, and Orem City should accept no less.

What have we become?

As I have been out campaigning the last couple of days, there have been many questions that have come up, and I just have to ask myself, what have we become? We're littering the city with our signs, we interrupt your evenings with robo calls, we load up your mailbox with pointless fliers, and we hang door knockers on your front door all in an effort to help you remember our names when you're looking at the ballot. But what have we become? Orem is just too good of a city to be conducting such a poor campaign.  I was lucky enough to represent this great city for eight years on the Orem City Council and during that time every possible question was before us. Very few of those questions are now in this campaign. The questions that are in the campaign are the momentary ‘hot button’ issues that seem to hold our interest. Some of these concerns are questions that will shape the way we live in Orem. The biggest question that seems to be on people's minds now is… who will be appointed the new Orem City Mayor. There's going to be a special election.  This election is so special that only six people will get to vote.  If all six people vote it will take four votes to select a new mayor and if one or more of the current city council recuse themselves in order to be considered for the appointment, then it will take less. I have sat in three appointment meetings. They are at best, tense, and at worst hostile. I wish my former colleagues the best of luck in finding a replacement mayor. I can honestly say that I am grateful that I will not be in those closed-door meetings. Llet me add this, I'm not trying to buy this election. I'm not trying to paper the city with signs and literature, but I am saying this; if it is the citizens of Orem's wishes are that I serve again on the city council, the citizens of Orem will get my very best!   I am not an ideologue like some of the candidates, I'm not trying to be king or queen of Orem City, and I am not running around saying who is conservative and who is liberal.   I hope the citizens of Orem can look past all the smoke and all of the mirrors that right now is on open display, and can vote for someone that will do their homework study the issues and speak with the voice of the citizens of Orem very carefully..

My friend Jerry

It is with great sadness that I note the passing of my good friend and mentor Jerry Washburn. I first got to know Jerry when I was elected to the Board of Trustees of the SCERA in 1990. At that time Jerry was serving as a member of the board as well. We became good friends as we worked through the some incredibly difficult problems at the SCERA. I had the honor of nominating him to be Chairman of the Board of Trustees in 1992. He served as chairman until he was called to be a mission president. After he returned, and while I was serving as chairman of the SCERA, I was able to discuss the plans for the new theatre with him many times. Years later when Mayor Nelson passed away, I joined with Jerry and started a petition drive to have the Orem City Council appoint DeLance Squire as mayor. Although our efforts were not successful, Jerry and I remained friends. I was happy to support him in his election bid for Mayor and I have always been grateful that he was elected.

When I was elected to the Orem City Council in 2001, Jerry and I renewed our friendship. While we have not always agreed with each other, I have always considered Jerry to be a great friend. I have appreciated his wisdom and his insight. Orem City has lost a true champion and he will not be replaced easily. His mark will be seen in Orem City for generations. I am grateful to be able to call Jerry Washburn my friend. I will always treasure the memories I have of Mayor Jerry Washburn. 

Thanks for the overwhelming support

I have been overwhelmed with the offers of support since I have announced my candidacy for city council. It was not my intent to run this time, but since my good friend, Carl Hernandez, decided not to run, I have decided to add my voice to debate. There are many issues facing the city that will add a great dynamic to this election.

         One of these issues is the current debate surrounding the Center for the Story/The Cultural Art Center. Many years ago when the initial cultural arts study was presented to the city council, I was very supportive of the revenue being funneled towards the Scera, Hale Center Theatre, and Orem Recreation. The issue that is currently facing the city council is whether or not to build the Center for the Story adjacent to the current Orem City Library. The current issue before the city council seems to be problematic at best. I hope that the current city council members are taking into consideration a few very important issues.

Issue number one- the current size of the building and construction plans call for the use of multiple parking areas in the city. Potentially people attending programs at the new center would have to park almost a block to the east at the Orem Friendship Center. This is unrealistic and a more likely scenario would be vehicles inundating the surrounding neighborhood. I believe this would present a very difficult problem to the Sharon neighborhood directly north of the city center. To alleviate these problems a potential future solution would be to pave over two of the existing ballparks now at the city center. This solution would be unacceptable to me. I would never want to forfeit those baseball diamonds in favor of additional parking.

Issue number two- there is only so much fundraising ability in this community. Should the arts center be built at the proposed location this would require an on going fundraising commitment from the story telling festival and the Arts Center. I believe that this would put considerable pressure on the fundraising ability of the Scera and the Hale Center Theatre.

Issue number three- How do we justify the consumption of open space on state street when the arts center of the city should be centered around the Scera Theatre or the Hale Center Theatre.

Issue number four- I also believe that there is a real possibility that the citizens of Orem will not renew the CARE Tax when it again comes to a vote in a few years. If the voters do not renew it, how is an additional arts center going to be funded?

I hope that the city council will take these questions into consideration for a future discussion.

Please feel free to leave a comment or ask me questions to be answered in future blog posts.