It is so easy to criticize the thousand votes of an incumbent, and to forget that their opponent has not been so scrutinized, nor can be.
In a race between Representative Paul Neuenschwander, and Becky Edwards, Edwards might as well be wonder woman. She has, however, no record of which to speak, which speaks to why some have questioned just where she is rooted. I disavow those who question her Republican bonifides. I renounce those who will not accept her as a fellow Republican. But I will not ignore her experience gap, or the fact that I do not know, save on one dead issue, her viewpoints.
She's running against the incumbent because he along with the majority of legislators in this state voted for vouchers twice!
Of course, even voucher opponents in the house voted for vouchers once when the voted for the amendments to the original bill.
The voucher debate victors are exorcised in the manner of Captain Ahab only because they won. Now they want to further divide the state by raising a battle cry against an opponent that is not there. Legislative leadership has said that they have no plans to resurrect the voucher debate, and former voucher supporters have vowed to not vote for the legislation if it were to manifest.
So, what is the problem?
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Acid Voucher Reflux
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13 comments:
You're assuming I'm against Rep. Neuenschwander because of his voucher vote. I'm actually a little more open-minded than that. I give my full support to Ron Mortensen running for Eastman's senate seat - and he was a voucher supporter. I am strongly opposed to vouchers and you are very naive if you think this issue will not resurface. (Ask Gordon Snow why he is leaving the House after many years in House leadership.) I have spoken to Mr. Mortensen on several occasions and he has satisfied my concerns and has presented some great ideas regarding education in Utah. But he probably won't have the chance 'cause Dan Liljenquist has plenty of money to buy his seat in the Senate.
Paul sponsored about 7 bills of his own this session. A couple passed, a couple were substituted and passed, one was substituted and failed, I think one went back to committee and one bill failed. He co-sponsored a couple senate bills and co-sponsored a health reform bill with David Clark. Co-sponsored another bill with Aaron Tilton. Anyway he's not a political giant by any means. He comes off as a leadership lap-dog.
Will Becky Edwards do any better? I think she will.
I don't have a problem - just a difference in opinion.
"You're assuming I'm against Rep. Neuenschwander because of his voucher vote. I'm actually a little more open-minded than that."
I realize that I've been away from blogging for a while so my readership might have dwindled to just one or two individuals, but my post was directed to a larger number of people than one or two. Several people have told me that they will not support anyone who voted for the voucher bills. This post is for those people.
If a number of constituents in District 20 are telling you not to vote for Paul Neuenschwander, maybe you should listen. That is what's frustrating us out here - not being heard. If, as you admit, that you don't know where Becky Edwards stands on the issues - ASK HER. That's your responsibility as a delegate, isn't it?
The idea of not voting for someone just because "he voted for vouchers" needs to be expanded. The voucher idea, in itself, is not the real issue. Why did the voucher initiative fail? It failed because the citizens of Utah did not want vouchers. Not listening to their own constituents IS the issue. If people really wanted vouchers, there never would have been a referendum to stop them. For the most part, elected officials in the state of Utah do not listen to their constituents. And the constituents are sick and tired of having those officials' ideas being shoved down their throat. So yes - there is an "acid voucher reflux." People want their voices to be heard above 4 people on capital hill. That is the issue.
I've never been more offended than I am of BE's election signs. "Representation for Real?" Perhaps that slogan is true if you are the teacher's union, but Rep Neuenschwander has been the BEST representative I have ever had. He has been diligent in attending everything asked of him, he has provided detail e-mails to constituents and invited feedback, dialog and participation.
Paul Neuenschwander is FINALLY a REAL representative and I'm offended that a former democrat, recruited by the teachers union would attempt to claim she can represent 'REAL REPUBLICANS.'
Congratulations to you on seeing through her lack of experience and complete void of understanding.
Becky has never been a Democrat- not once; although to some Utah Republicans being unaffiliated is the same thing. Yes, Paul is good at informing us at what is going on, but if he disagrees with a constiuent he does not return calls or discuss issues with them. This is about a lot more than vouchers.
I have never known Paul to shy away from disagreements. He claims (and it has been my experience) that he returns every call and every e-mail. He also claims Mrs. Edwards never tested that theory as she never attended any town hall, any committee hearing or made any effort to contact her representative with her supposed keen interest in the issues.
Last night Mrs. Edwards openly stated that she has not voted in a Republic Primary for several years -- she said she voted democrat this past Presidential election AND now she forced the Republican party to and the tax payer to pay tens of thousands of dollars to conduct an election that could have been avoided if she had cared about the issues BEFORE she decided she wanted to be a member of the House -- the performance of the current representative be damned.
Mrs Edwards has much to give -- but she has shown herself to be VERY naive and uninformed about the process, the issues and the party she now claims to represent.
Becky is a Democrat - voting for a Democrat in the Western States Primary after stating she held a fundraiser for Mitt Romney. Ask her when she registered as a Republican. And, someone please tell Becky that universal health care is a democratic issue - I think she forgets which party she is running for sometimes. Paul is a republican for real.
Have you never heard of voting in primaries against a candidate to help another win? And do you not know that you do NOT have to be a registered Democrat to vote in the primaries? Actually, there have not been too many excitin Republican primaries around here. Becky has been VERY involved in her local community; involved in the schools, in her neighborhoods, volunteering, knowing the exact pulse of her community. She has been up to her elbows in SERVICE. It's not that Paul is so bad, it's that she is better.
And yes, there are plenty of people to whom he did not return calls.When he disagreed or was planning to vote the other way, he conveniently did not call them.
This party line stuff is getting old. It is funny to me that if the people of Utah held Romney to the same standard, they would have never supported him. He is another free thinker.
If Becky was smart during the debate she WOULD HAVE stated that she was supporting operation chaos like you say, but guess what? She isn't. She isn't conservative and she wasn't thinking about that when she voted. She has democratic ideals, pure and simple, proving why she voted democrat. Heidi, you have no idea how much Paul has done for the community, like him being involved at the Homeless Shelter and various other boards. He cares about education just as much as Becky. Plus, this isn't a service award decision. This is about who supports Republican values! You seem to know of "plenty of people" Paul hasn't gotten back to yet try googling Paul and you'll find a democrat who got two replies (which she was quite surprised about) from Paul about his voucher decisions. If Becky was so concerned about educational issues, why didn't she contact Paul while he was Rep. to do something about it?
The issue is that Becky claims to offer "REAL" representation. She is not offering "FREE THINKING" representation.
"Real representation" means that you will follow through and vote for the policies that reflect the thinking of your district.
"Real representation" does not include holding a fundraiser for one candidate and then voting for another. That is politics as usual.
"Real representation" does not include bowcotting your party when they make a decision you don't agree with and disengaging in the process. Real representatives attend their neighborhood caucaus (before they run for office), they talk with their political leaders, the petition party leaders.
The only things real about Mrs Edwards is her connection with the teacher's union, her vote for Hilary Clinton, her ambition and her ignorance of 90% of the issues that she would face in House.
Jordan,
I don't think it's safe to say that universal health care is a Democratic issue. Our Republican governor is pushing for it at the state level, and both of our Republican senators are supporting it at the federal level.
If you want to say that it's a Democratic issue then you imply that many Utah Republicans are not real Republicans, in which case why should Mrs. Edwards be any different?
David,
Our republican governor and senators are not pushing universal health care in the Obama / Clinton form. They are pursuing a free market solution to the health care problem - it will increase options for those who don't have health care, but it is not universal health care. There is a big difference between the universal health care that the democrats promote and the health care solution that republicans are pursuing. Becky openly supports universal health care - you wouldn't find a single republican to go as far as she does on the issue because her stance is not a republican stance - it is a democratic stance.
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