Brian Elkins: Q & A

Update: Let me first apologize to Brian Elkins for misleading him regarding the purpose of the Q&A that I sent him. I had no intention of deceiving him. I'm sorry. As an aside, I thought his answers were thoughtful and perfectly suitable for posting. I would not have posted it if I had known that he did not wish it. He sent me this email shortly after this post.

"Tyler,

I didn't realize you were going to post the questions and answers on your
blogsite.

I wish to clarify that I believe all people should be treated equally
regardless of their religious, ethnic background, gender, socio-economic
status or sexual preference.

You have my permission to post this on your blog if you wish.

Regards,

Brian Elkins"

I received answers to some questions that I posed to Brian Elkins who is running for City Council in North Salt Lake.

Q:

I'm curious about how you feel about Equality Utah's recent endorsement of your candidacy? Do you welcome their endorsement? Are there ways in which you may disagree with their viewpoint?

A:
I'm honored to receive an endorsement from Equality Utah. They are the only
organization that contacted me with regard to an endorsement and I was
flattered to receive it.

They wished to provide a campaign contribution but I turned it down as I am
not accepting any campaign contributions.

You can go to the Equality Utah website and read their mission statement and
what they support. Many people incorrectly think that Equality Utah is in
support of gay marriage, that is far from the case. Their mission statement
does not even begin to address this particular issue.

I would imagine Equality Utah has some members who are in support of gay
marriage and others who are not.

I was asked privately at "Meet the Candidates Night" if I was concerned that
the endorsement might harm my chances at being elected. My response was that
I honestly did not know but if it did end up making the difference between my
being elected or not I will graciously accept defeat but I will retain my
honor and integrity.

I asked this person if the endorsement meant that I would not have his vote
and he replied in the affirmative. I'm disappointed that I will not have his
vote but I certainly understand his reasons. I honestly enjoyed talking with
this person and I wished we had more time to speak. We were both very
cordial and listened to each other's opinion and I believe he respected my
opinion and I certainly respected his.

He feels marriage is strictly between a man and a woman. Unfortunately it did
not occur to me at the time to mention that Equality Utah did not have a
position on gay marriage.

As far as their mission statement is concerned I fully support it. I feel it
is important in our society that the strong support the weak and oppressed.

One thing I think I need to mention is that I am straight and I am married to
a lovely woman!

Q:
What position do you take on the recent land dispute between North Salt Lake and Salt Lake City? Do you support Mayor Briggs' actions in this regard?

A:
The most recent proposed plan I have seen from the city calls for a ten acre
cemetery, twenty acres for development and 50 acres of open space which would
include natural open space, parks and soccer fields. I fully support this
plan.

Needless to say I support Mayor Briggs' position.

Q:
Where do you stand on the Rec Center Debate? In particular, what do you think about the escalating costs associated with the facility?

A:
I honestly do not know enough about the Rec Center debate to voice an opinion.
If you know of a website that would enable me to learn more about it I would
certainly appreciate you passing it on.

Q:
What do you feel is the greatest challenge that NSL faces in the next few years?

A:
I think the greatest challenge facing NSL will be the ability to provide
adequate services (in particular water, emergency services and educational
facilities) to the burgeoning population. I recently heard that NSL is the
second fastest growing city in Utah (of course that is fairly easy to
accomplish since we have a small population at this point).

Q:
Regardless of how the election turns out, will you continue to blog after November?

A:
Yes, but I don't know if it will be about politics.

Local Candidates vs. Local Bloggers

I wonder if any of the candidates running for municipal office are concerned that the local blogs feature more prominently in search engines than the official campaign websites? Campaigns come and go. Bloggers are forever.

This begs the question. Do bloggers rank well with voters?

Mayor Kay Briggs Homepage

I've considered sparing my readers, (all five of them), the funny story about how this website came to my attention. But I can't resist-in part. Needless to say, I happen to be friends with someone close to Briggs' Campaign. I'm pretty tight lipped, offline, about my blogging and they were so obviously involved that I steered clear of the subject matter. Now that they've found me out, they've sent this link my way.

Mayor Kay Briggs Homepage

NSL Campaign: Brian Elkins Blogging

I recieved an email from City Council Candidate, Brian Elkins informing me of his new blog. I offered to link to him if he'd agree to answer some questions--Well, why wait! I really like blogging during an election cycle because political awareness is heightened. (Here's a little hint to anyone interested in running for office in the future-start blogging now. And, no, that isn't why I'm blogging--I don't fit the public-servant mold.) Here's hoping that this brave new world we call 'Blogosphere' will continue to do some good. Time is short and the election cometh.

Brian for NSL City Council

Kay Briggs: Campaign website

I hear whisperings of a campaign website for Kay Briggs.

Citizens For Tax Fairness

Citizens for Tax Fairness has updated their website with some questions for the Candidates.

Citizens For Tax Fairness

Kaysville: Patrick Buchanan

I'm breaking my own rule in mentioning Kaysville. Earlier I tried to limit the focus of this blog to six cities on the south end of the County and Kaysville was not included. But, my attention has been drawn up to Buchanan's campaign website in which he repeats an allegation originally levelled at Kaysville governement in 2003. Kaysville is moving funds from the power company to the General Fund. This is the same charge as one other city I blogged about earlier-Bountiful.

What other cities in Utah participate in this sham? These citizens should band together and lobby for a change in Utah law to make this practice illegal.

Kudos to Candidate Buchanan.

Sitemeter Search of the Day: "Farrer for Mayor"

No joke. Somewhere, someone sharing my name is running for Mayor. I'd vote for 'em!

Google: "Farrer for Mayor"

deseretnews.com | Engage in local politics — early and often

A recent comment on this blog accused Kay Briggs of being disengaged from the citizens. Of course the only time these kind of comments come are during the election cycle when somebody has something to gain from the accusation. So, you'll forgive me if I think the charge is a little hollow-a little forced.

This editorial by Marjorie Cortez struck a chord with me.

"There's a jillion ways to be involved without ever leaving one's home. Seemingly every elected official in Utah has a telephone and e-mail address. Most, if not all, governmental bodies have their agendas available online. Some meetings are broadcast on cable and Web casts. Engagement is but a mouse click away."

So what if Mayor Briggs doesn't have a website. You can be sure that www.juan4mayor.com won't be sticking around after this election. The Mayor gets out, in his way, and tries to make a difference. (Besides, I like being among the top results in a search for his name ;) ) He should not be faulted for taking a stand on the 80 acres owned by NSL. After all, It is our land, not SLC's!

What do you think?

Engage in local politics — early and often

Time to have my vision checked: Farmington City Council won't pay for cable program

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Farmington city council has shown that they can be trusted with a budget. Way to go Farmington!

City to meet candidates, but not on cable

The Rumors of my death...

My voice has been notably silent during the recent primaries and I've been fighting the urge to feel guilt about it. If it weren't for the solitary voice of Centerville Citizen goading me onto greater activity I might not be explaining myself now. The fact is that my job is demanding more of my time than before and blogging takes more energy than I've had. That doesn't mean that I haven't remained a political junkie-I simply haven't broadcast my views for a while.

I received an interesting email from a Phill Wright, a candidate for Bountiful City Council, that informs this post. I'm no longer a resident of Bountiful, but am not immune from the politics of the city. I've felt comfortable enough with Mr. Wright to encourage my family members to vote for him. Although, they are neighbors with another prominent candidate and may vote another way. Although he supports the Rec Center he has expressed dismay that costs have escalated. I believe that he is the kind of person that could prevent further cost increases. He has proposed the novel concept of selling Bountiful Utilities, or at least, lowering the rates to remain competitive with Utah Power. In my estimation he could have taken a harder stance on the Rec Center but his is the most reasonable response I've seen to the whole debacle.

Salt Lake Tribune - Utah:Rec center's planners ride the tides of budget changes

Quote of the day:

"They could have mentioned it's only 3 feet deep"
--Bountiful resident Carolyn Jorgensen

We are told in the article that the Rec Center will contain more than the voters asked for. Does it bother anyone else that so many of our taxdollars are being shovelled into an already bloated project?

""It's going to be what the people voted on and more," says Bountiful City Manager Tom Hardy, noting that the county's cash infusion allowed planners to add four lanes to the competition pool. "

Rec center's planners ride the tides of budget changes

Salt Lake Tribune - Utah/Standard Examiner

Bountiful is loaning $2 Million Dollars to the South Davis Rec District, to be paid back by the County, in order to fund all the extras on the Rec Center. The quote of the day comes from Tom Hardy, supporter of the deal, "I'm just praying we don't have an earthquake."

The whole deal depends on the State Legislature not changing the law to remove the tourism tax.

"Construction costs are an inherent part of these projects, and this is just one more example of why the cities and the county should not be in the business of risking tax dollars to build rec centers in the first place," said Mike German of the Utah Taxpayers Association.

Why couldn't the Rec District just scale back the facility?

Salt Lake Tribune - Utah

And the Standard Examiner

Utahn's for Immigration Reform and Enforcement

"I think he ought to consider his views and decide whether they're consistent with the Republican Party," Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said of the Colorado congressman" (Tancredo)

The above quote comes from ufire.net which is dedicated to immigration reform. What does Cannon think Tancredo is doing that is out of line? It seems to me that the GOP Platform is all for enforcing legal immigration? What am I missing?

Republican Platform

deseretnews.com | No amnesty, critic says

Representative Tom Tancredo will be speaking at the auditorium of the Redwood-Salt Lake Community College tonight at 7:00 PM. He is taking a hard-line stance against immigration puting the onus on employers rather than the government. Immigration becomes an important issue for Davis County to address considering the large illegal inmate population in our jails. Tancredo would have more illegals sent to jail. What sort of effect could this have on our Counties bottom line?

deseretnews.com | No amnesty, critic says

Centerville Citizen: Eight candidates, eight letters, and hopefully eight responses

At the risk of sounding like a running advertisement for Centerville we should expect some response from most/all mayoral candidates for that city to appear on Citizens blog. Stay tuned...

Centerville Citizen: Eight Letters...

Clippertoday:Centerville rated best in state, county

Some good news about one town in Davis County.

Centerville rated best in state, county

Salt Lake Tribune - Utah:Candidates for municipal offices

Below are the candidates that relate to this blog. As far as I'm concerned, I would like to see Joe Johnson of Bountiful gone. Kay Briggs of North Salt Lake to remain. I think that Arce-Larreta, Briggs' opponent, was recently fired by Salt Lake City-he's only running to reverse the position of NSL on the land dispute, anyway. Is it true that Michael Johnson, of Centerville, is only 22?!

Which candidates do you like? Are there any incumbents that you would like to see replaced?

(redacted by yours-truly)"DAVIS COUNTY Bountiful (mayor and two council seats) Mayor: Joe Johnson (i), Jeff Ovitt At-large: John Marc Knight, Fred Moss (i), Shawn O'Hara, Thomas Tolman (i), Phill Wright Centerville (mayor and three council seats) Mayor: Michael Johnson, Ron Russell At-large: Justin Allen, George Fisher, Delise Herem, Richard Hunt, Sherri Lindstrom, Jim Pedersen Clearfield (mayor and two council seats) Mayor: Thomas Waggoner (i), Mark Shepherd At-large: Ivan Anderson (i), James Barlow (i),Kathryn Murray, Don Ormsby, Vern Phipps Clinton (mayor and three council seats) Mayor: Mitch Adams (i) Four-year: Dale King (i), Lori Miller (i), Barbara Patterson, Frank Russell Two-year: Jeff Comrie, Chris Martinez, Nathan Schow, Cheri Reed, Tony Thompson Farmington (mayor and two council seats) Mayor: Dave Connors (i), Scott Harbertson, Cory Ritz At-large: Paula Alder, David Hale (i), Susan Holmes (i), Trinity Jordan, Robert Kohutek, Darrell Lake, John Montgomery, Art Parmley Fruit Heights (Sept. 13 caucus) Kaysville (mayor and two council seats) Mayor: Brian Cook (i), Neka Roundy At-large: Patrick Jon Buchanan, Mark Johnson, Gil Miller (i) Layton (mayor and two council seats) Mayor: Steve Curtis, Stephen Handy, Renny Knowlton At-large: Carl Thompson, Michael Bouwhuis, Scott Freitag, Michael Courtney, Kathy Hyde, Loran Hubbard North Salt Lake (mayor and two council seats) Mayor: Kay Briggs (i), Juan Arce-Larreta At-large: Brian Elkins, Matt Hardy, Lisa Watts-Baskin South Weber (mayor and two council seats) Mayor: Joseph Gertge (i), Guy Saucer At-large: Tom Graydon, Gayle Kennington, John Massengale (i), Scott Peterson, Farrell Poll Sunset (mayor and two council seats) Mayor: Janice Galbraith (i), Timothy Isom, Dan Von Almen, Brad Weller At-large: Randy Boothe, Ricky Carlson, Fred Childs (i), Norman Sant Syracuse (mayor and two council seats) Mayor: Amy Butters, Fred Panucci (i), Bill Williams At-large: Joshua Hughes, Lurlen Knight (i), Michael Lawton, Stuart Montgomery, Jeffery Orn, Phillip Orton, Doug Peterson, Marc Webb, Wesley White West Bountiful (mayor and two council seats) Mayor: James Behunin, Carl Martin (i) At-large: James Ahlstrom, Wes Argyle, J.R Bangerter, Alan Malan, Tom Madsen, Debbie McKean, Julie Millard, Rex Tunbridge West Point (mayor and two council seats) Mayor : Jerry Chatterton, John Petroff (i) At-large: Sheri Anderson, Lee Barrett, Eric Craythorne (i), Andy Dawson, Barbara Langston Woods Cross (mayor and two council seats) Mayor: Jerry Larrabee (i), Kent Parry At-large: Daniel Bradford, Tamara Dayley, Jennifer Decker (i), Jill Evans, Randen Funk, John Hadlow (i)"

Salt Lake Tribune - Utah:Candidates for municipal offices

Standard Examiner:S. Davis rec center loses pool, features

The Rec Center will be scaled back with the following features missing:

Climbing Wall
Outdoor Pool
Some Stadium Seating
Some Sound Panels
Some Bike Racks
Some Carpeting

Officials have said that they may have to reuse parts of the old facility, (which is what they could have done in the first place). Why does it take a crisis like this before officials decide to try to cut costs?

Standard Examiner:S. Davis rec center loses pool, features

DesNews:Budget cuts loom for rec center

Today is the day to make your voice heard. Those who can attend the Recreation District meeting at 4:00 PM, please do.

Bountiful City Hall
790 South 100 East

Update: I don't like the title of this Deseret News article. It seems to imply that the Rec Center will end up costing us less than was originally planned when it is anticipated to cost 2.7 million more! A meeting, open to the public, will be held on August 15th at 6pm which all should attend that aren't going to today's meeting! For more information see Citizens for Tax Fairness.org.

DesNews:Budget cuts loom for rec center