Mike Dmitrich
Let me begin by thanking the Sun Advocate for making available this space to candidates. It is a fine tradition and allows the candidates to address the issues more fully.
The most important issue in this campaign has to do with a principal rather than strictly an issue. When the majority party redrew District 27 last time they included part of Utah County in it. My opponent is from Utah County. Now the Wasatch Front already has 90 percent of the seats. While I respect my opponent, or most anyone who will give of themselves to run for public office, I will say that we in Eastern Utah simply cannot afford to lose local representation.
As I have been saying for years, it isn’t Democrat vs. Republican; it’s Urban vs. Rural. Utah is the most urban state in the Union, believe it or not. Urban people simply do not understand the problems that come from resource production and the problems of distance and space we have to contend with. They do not understand the sense (and reality) of rural isolation. They don’t know what it’s like to provide services with very minimal tax bases. If Southeast Utah, loses this seat; I can almost guarantee you we’ll never get it back.
To the issues: CEU is not only alive and well but a showpiece among the junior colleges of the state. No other such institution has such outreach programs as the San Juan Center. I have worked ceaselessly since going to the Legislature in 1968 to assist CEU’s growth and I believe that work has borne fruit. It is an honor to have my name on the Bunnell-Dmitrich Athletic Center.
I’m very proud of the fact that, with the assistance of Representative King, of the improvements we have been able to push through on Highways 6 and 10. We used to simply put up with the tyranny of the UDOT Transportation priority lists. Roads would appear and disappear from those lists. Now, we actually force the improvement priorities into the authorization bills. We’ve seen a lot of improvements but the work is only about half done and we’ll need strong representation to finish the work. This is another one of those urban verses rural things.
One thing we’re trying to work on is to assist Utah Power in being able to construct Hunter four power plant. There was unfriendly legislation last year that sought to bar Utah Power from constructing new plants. Other people wanted to provide power: everyone, it seems, wants to get into the generation business. You’ve seen the mess a state can get into by not have a good solid utility base. Remember the brown-outs in California? Not only will Hunter Four provide a stable source of power for the people of Utah, it will provide an incredible boost to the local economy.
This area needs a senator who has been in and understands resource production and rural water issues. Those of you who know me, know that I have always been a good coalition builder. It is my seniority and connections that allow me to get done the things you want done. It is always a pleasure to hear from you and I hope that if I am re-elected you will continue to write me with your concerns and to visit me during the legislative sessions. Again, if I am re-elected please contact me with your ideas and needs for legislation as soon as possible before the session starts.
Phill Peay
Phill Peay, Republican candidate for the 27th District in the State Senate, was raised in Springville and currently lives in Mapleton. He served for 34 years in the Utah National Guard, retiring in 2000 as Deputy Adjunct General.
In this campaign, he has identified five issues that demand timely corrective action: Education, Economy, Public Lands, Transportation and Water Rights. Phill believes if these issues are resolved, our communities will reap great benefits.
Education. Phill supports local control of education, believing that we would be better off without federal intervention in our schools. The federal government provides less than 10 percent of the money we use in Utah schools, but over half of the regulations that our teachers must comply with. Within the state government, regulation of education should also be minimal. Just as a bureaucrat in Washington, D.C. does not know what Utah children need, a bureaucrat in Salt Lake is highly unlikely to know what a child in Price or Moab needs. Educational decisions must be made at the local level. To ensure this, we must limit the power of the state school board over local school boards and cut state education regulations. If necessary, we must forgo federal funds to remove federal bureaucratic regulations from our classrooms.
Economy: Phill believes we need to lower the personal and corporate income tax rates. We must also cut unnecessary regulations, which burden business. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but they have been smothered with the endless paperwork and licensing that is required by government agencies. Additionally, Utah must promote tourism by developing a campaign in conjunction with county and local officials. The Board of Regents and legislature need to implement a new strategy for our higher education institutions that will tailor our academic programs to meet the needs of Utah businesses, and promote advancement into them.
Public Lands. Phill believes the Federal government must divest itself of much of the land it controls in Utah and turn it over to local control. This would create jobs and dramatically increase the funding for our schools, roads and water development. Phill also supports school trust land swaps, to ensure that natural resources are developed, and billions of dollars get to Utah’s schools.
Transportation. Phill strongly believes we must achieve a balance between maintaining major highways and developing better transportation routes to our rural areas, to allow better economic development. He also would like to pursue a commuter rail from Brigham City to Santaquin.
Water. In Utah’s sixth year of drought, Phill expects water rights to be increasingly important. As the growing Western population fights for the existing water, we must maintain our share of the Colorado River Compact water. Additionally, water conservation must become part of our daily lives.
Phill believes that without solutions to these problems, the State’s economic future is at risk. As Deputy Adjunct General, Phill was responsible for Federal and State Government Relations and Community Affairs. He has worked effectively with Utah’s leaders to reach positive solutions in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
William Sharp
I am the Constitution Party Candidate for State Senator in District 27. The Constitution Party name is the short description of what the party is all about. We are outspoken defenders of the original God given freedoms and rights guaranteed under the United States Constitution.
A few lines from the Constitution Party website www.constitutionparty.com will help explain why your support and vote for Constitution Party candidates is so vital to the future of America. “American needs and deserves representatives who will stand against the entrenched socialism, elitism and globalism which have a stranglehold on American political power.” Which president’s term in office was characterized by support for the so-called assault weapon ban, a big increase in deficit spending, bigger budgets for virtually every domestic program, including Americorps and the National Endowment for the Arts, and signing into law a massive increase in federal government regulation of political speech, whose administration would you suspect they were describing? That of Democrat Bill Clinton? No. We’re talking about the first term of Republican President George W. Bush.
When it comes to Bush’s first term in office, never has so much been overlooked by so many! Millions of Christians and conservatives continue to labor under the obviously erroneous belief that G.W. Bush is a conservative, that there is some huge difference between his policies and those of his Democratic rival, John Kerry. However, the facts do not bear this out.
The Republican and Democrat representatives here in Utah are carrying out the same agenda on the state level. Consider how 69 percent of Utahns voted to make it harder for the government to confiscate their home and property in last years general election (Citizens initiative B) and in this years session the Utah legislature defied this Constitutional right to property by voting to override the voice of the people and give government easy confiscation powers (SB 175 S2) and wipe out your rights to due process. Your State Senator Mike Dmitrich voted in favor of this defiance.
Consider the power the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS), and how they wield that power picking and choosing whom they will and will not prosecute for leaving dirty dishes on the dining room table. No jury trial, no facing your accusers. Sure they are necessary in legitimate cases of serious abuse, but even the parents accused in these cases should have the Constitutional right to a jury trial thus avoiding the bonuses paid by the Feds to judges and DCFS workers for each child taken, working against the accused.
The ways and means being used by state leaders to subtly wipe out your rights and freedoms are too numerous to all be mentioned here. I hope these few examples are enough to prompt you to take a closer look at the Constitution Party and consider voting for me for state senator. Elected or not I will do all I can legally do to bring back Constitutional freedoms. Tell your friends, tell your neighbors they no longer have to vote for the lesser of two evils. The Constitution Party stands for your God given rights.
Introducing the candidates for 2004: State Senator
