Gutless Political Ads

A surprising political ad appeared in the October 18 edition of The Crossroads Journal, a small, bi-weekly community paper that's mailed to the residents of Eagle Mountain and other rapidly growing communities of northwest Utah County. Well, it's not too astonishing if you know what politics are like in the small, bedroom community I've called home for the last three years. Politics in Eagle Mountain can get downright nasty.

Since moving to Eagle Mountain, anonymous "informational" pamphlets have been left on my door by political groups targeting candidates and encouraging me to find out the "truth" about individuals or issues being discussed by the city council. Candidates for mayor and city council have refused to attend "meet the candidates" nights because they feared bias from the group sponsoring the event and decided to hold their own events on the same night. Recently, a member of the city council was charged with accepting $10,000 from a developer to finish her basement. The complaint against the councilwoman was initiated by a member of the city council who has acknowledged double-dipping into city funds in 2005 by using a city credit card to buy a hard drive for his laptop [and] then asking for city reimbursement. The money was paid back and charges were never filed.The advertisement that appeared in the local newspaper was a perfect example of the toxic political atmosphere that exists in what is otherwise a pleasant city. Under the headline "Know Before You Vote" the ad listed the tally of public records found for the last 15 years on the two mayoral candidates and six people running for city council. It also gave a website where these records could be viewed.

And what did those public records reveal?While one candidate for city council had a bankruptcy in his background, another had a divorce and two others each had a pair of traffic tickets. One of the mayoral candidates had three bankruptcies, two divorces, a disbarment from the Utah State Bar, a reinstatement to the Bar, a slew of small claim collections and lawsuits and four traffic tickets. (The same day the ad ran in The Crossroads Journal, the Provo Daily-Herald ran a story on this mayoral candidate stating that his real estate license had been revoked by the state's Real Estate Commission on Wednesday over loan fraud.)

Compiling public records on those who seek public office and putting them on display for all to see is a good idea. Public records can be informative as to the integrity and honesty of those seeking office. Someone with a personal life so out of control that he has had multiple bankruptcies, divorces and other problems should make voters wonder how effectively this person can run a city.

But public records are not the final indication of whether or not someone is going to act with integrity while in public office. It's doubtful that a public records search would have indicated that a previous mayor of Eagle Mountain, Kevin Bailey, would have lied about being abducted or another mayor, a former Utah highway patrol officer, Brain Olsen, would have been charged with seven third-degree felonies for misusing public funds.

Results of the public records search aside, what was truly bothersome about the ad is that those who paid for it remain anonymous. A visit to the website reveals that it was funded by concerned builders, developers and entrepreneurs --some of whom claim to live in Eagle Mountain --but no names, businesses or organizations are listed.

In short, it's politics as usual. Eagle Mountain style.

It's easy to disseminate politically damaging information -- even if the information is true --so long as it's done behind a cloak of anonymity. That way you don't have to justify why you ran it or what you were really hoping to accomplish with the ad.

Those who ran the ad claim "this public information is presented for the sole purpose of informing the electorate and is not a statement for or against any political candidate or issue."

If that's true, then why not put your name on it?

If you're going to list the public records of candidates for mayor and city council don't hide behind an anonymous website. Instead, have the courage to declare the names, organizations, businesses and individuals who sponsored the ad and/or paid the private investigator for his work in compiling the records.

The voters of Eagle Mountain should know who's paying for the advertisement containing a public records search so they can see what candidates these people have supported in the past. This gives the voters the chance to learn what political motivations, if any, were really behind the ad. It's not secret that developers have funneled large amounts of cash into Eagle Mountain's political campaigns. What if those who bought the ad turned out to be supporters of the candidates with big zeros next to their name in the public records search? Is it not reasonable to ask if the ad would have run if their candidate of choice would have had multiple bankruptcies and divorces?

While it may be legal for someone to run an anonymous advertisement, the ad itself is reminiscent of anonymous hit-and-run political tactics that are so often used to silence those who find themselves on the wrong side of a political issue. Those who profess so much concern for Eagle Mountain should be able to rise above the anonymous mud slinging and deal with the truth and facts.

If Eagle Mountain is going to stop being the political laughingstock of the state, it should not only demand more honesty and integrity from those who are running for office but also from those who use their resources to buy political ads in newspapers and otherwise work to influence the election.

Gov. Huntsman is Mr. Fantastic

One of the top local news stories on the drive home on Friday was that Hanna Montana added a second Salt Lake show to her tour to the delight of teens and parents throughout the Beehive State. Since I didn't know who Hanna Montana was, I did a Google search that night and discovered that she's a Disney Channel show about a character named Miley Stewart (played by Miley Cyrus), who lives a double life as an average teenage girl at school during the day and a famous pop singer, Hannah Montana, at night, concealing her real identity from the public other than her close friends and family.

This weekend Marathon Girl and I watched The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. (Horrible movie, in case you were wondering. Bad acting, terrible screenplay, cliched plot, etc.). The one thing I did glean from the movie is that like Hanna Montana, Utah's governor, Jon Huntsman Jr., also lives a double life. However instead of being a pop star, he's a superhero named Reed Richards (a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic).

Here's my proof:

Photo of Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

Photo of Reed Richards (a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic)

The similarity is striking, don't you think?

I don't know how the govenor manages to govern this state as well as save the world, but my hat's off to such a public figure who can lead a double life and not have the press know about it. :-)

Small Town Politics II

Right before the primary election, I complained about how nasty our local elections were. To put everything in perspective, I probably should have disclosed a little bit more about the political history of our fair city. The town I live is only 11 years old. During that time the town has had 10 mayors. Some have resigned for personal reasons. Others have resigned because of legal troubles. Marathon Girl and I have seen three mayors run the town in the three years we've lived here. The guy who was mayor when we bought our house stepped down after being convicted of a misdemeanor for falsely reporting his own kidnapping. The second mayor resigned after being charged with felonies for misappropriating public funds. The mayor who was appointed to replace him as so far managed to avoid any trouble. However, he only wanted to fill in until someone could be elected this November and declined run for office.

But trouble doesn't stop at the mayor's office. Not in our little town, anyway. A week after the election a member city council, who received enough votes in the primary to make it to the general election, was charged with accepting $10,000 from the town's main developer to finish her basement in 2005. Accepting the money wasn't illegal. However, Utah law requires public officials to receive gifts to disclose the gift. This council member never disclosed the "gift."

Ironically, according to news reports, the council member who reported her "mistake" doesn't have a squeaky clean reputation either. He has admitted to "double-dipping into city funds in 2005 by using a city credit card to buy a hard drive for his laptop, then asking for city reimbursement. He paid back the money and charges were never filed."

And then to top it off last week in another high profile incident, a former city councilman killed himself with a handgun as he was flying his powered parachute. According to police the event was in someway related to a domestic disturbance incident.

It's Chicago-style politics without the big city atmosphere. (No offense, ChicagoJo.) Personally I'd rather have boring, small-town politics instead of this mess.

And people wonder why I have not interest in running for public office. Who'd want to be part of this mess?

Local Politics

Marathon Girl and I live in a small community of about 15,000 people. We like it here. It's quiet, we have nice neighbors, and there are plenty of kids for our kids to play with. You'd think that living in such a small, peaceful community that the local politics would be something that would barely be worth noting. Yet in the three or so years we've lived here, the local political scene has been fairly nasty.

Last week a local political group held a "meet the candidates" night. Half the candidates felt the group sponsoring the event was biased and decided to hold their own event. The result? Two separate events and a lot of nasty remarks about the candidates that went to the other event.

There have been ads in the small, local paper and left on our door advertising websites by candidates and other political groups targeting other candidates and encouraging you to find out the "truth" before the primary elections on Tuesday.

You'd think with such a nasty campaign that there'd be some big, local issue that would cause such bitterness. Sadly you read all the campaign literature or talk with the candidates and there's really not that much difference between the candidates. They all basically say the same things on the same issues. The only difference, as far as I can tell, is how much say some developers will have regarding the future growth of the community. While it's an important issue and one that I do have feelings about, I'm not sure it warrants all name calling and feuds that the candidates have become involved in.

I've lived in much larger towns where local elections were never this nasty. Sure, there were issues or the occasional spat between two people running for office but for the most part people has some sense of decency as they campaigned. I'm always more impressed with candidates that can differentiate themselves from the pack and use persuasion instead of name calling to attract votes.

Not here.

It's enough to make Marathon Girl and I wish when you voted in the primaries on Tuesday that you could vote for "None of the Above."