I attended the Gubernatorial debate on Wednesday afternoon. It was a great opportunity to see all the front runners (and some of the not so front runners) interact with each other and answer a variety of questions.
I have decided to be open about my opinions here as I would like the members of my precinct to know my thoughts about the candidates and which way I am leaning in my support for them. I have not made any decisions as of yet, so I continue to be open and hope to continue to hear from the members of my precinct about their thoughts an feelings on the candidates. It is my sincere desire to represent the members of the precinct at the convention.
With that said I will review the candidates. As I stated in my speech on the caucus night, by biggest issue is the economy and jobs, so I took specific notes on each candidates response on that issue that I will report here. Otherwise, I will just give a general response about the candidate.
This is the order they sat in during the debate...
Ken Sumsion
I want to like this guy, but he is rubbing me the wrong way. He is a conservative legistlator. He is the co-founder of the Patrick Henry Caucus, which has led the states in taking the Obama Care Lawsuit to the Supreme Court. He want to fight hard for Utah Lands. I agree with his support of these issues. He gave the best response to my question about the economy and jobs. He stated that the economy would grow from 1. low energy costs 2. a well-managed work force (including government employees) and 3. manageable taxes. Even with this response, he does not currently have my support. I believe a governor needs to be able to listen to their constituents and here all sides. I don't believe Ken would have the capacity to do that. He has an agenda and I believe it would be his way or the highway.
Morgan Philpot
This was my first opportunity to hear from Morgan Philpot. He is a dynamic speaker and gave clear and decisive answers in the debate. Morgan is guided completely by the free market. He would like to see both education and health care given back to the free market system. Morgan called me after the debate and was able to talk with him about four issues:
1. What was his bill that gave vouchers to students with disabilities
The bill was inspired by one of his constituents who wanted to have her son with Autism attend a private school. The bill give the parent of a child with a disability $7000 to attend a private school, but keeps $8000 (I might be wrong on this number) with the public school the student would have attended. It has been well received among parents of kids with disabilities.
2. What would be your answer to improving education?
He would prefer to introduce the principles of the free market into education with a voucher system, but he understands that Utah has spoken out against vouchers and would "not be a dictator" on this issue if he were elected to be governor. He would instead introduce more choice within in the public school system by allowing parents to take students to the school of their choice.
3. How do you feel we can improve the economy in Utah.
He is in strong support of the free market, but is not in support of "crony capitalism". Which means he would lower taxes and provide incentives to any business that wants to come into Utah, but would not give special incentives to specific businesses who then make campaign contributions to the Governor. He states that is happening with our current governor.
4. What experiences do you have they prepare you to serve as governor?
He doesn't feel anyone ever has enough experience to serve as governor unless they become a career politician. Having said that, this is his work experience.
-internship in white house during Clinton administration
-served in Utah House of Representatives
-law school
-currently works for an advertising agency (I believe it. He has the best posters.)
I have to say, I was impressed with Philpot, particularly after my phone call with him. I need to do more research before I make a decision on him.
Governor Herbert
Governor Herbert was attacked on all sides and I felt like he held his own. He is only one with a clear record as governor, so he had plenty to attack. He continued to point out that we are seen as the best managed state in the country, we have one of the most appealing business environments, we are looked at as an example to the rest of the country. I agree with that. I believe Governor Herbert has done a good job of managing the state. We have a low per pupil spending in Utah, but still has good educational outcomes. It is hard to criticize him for that. I believe the Replican party is making an issue out of the common core, without checking their facts. Governor Herbert understands what the common core is all about. As of right now, Governor Herbert still has my support for Governor.
William Skokos
William Skokos is an oil guy who would like to see Utah lands developed for their natural resources. He pointed out that there are plenty of resources on the lands that are not managed by the Federal Government, which is good news, because it sounds like the effort to get our lands back will be a long, tough, and most likely unsuccessful fight. All of his answers centered on natural resources. If the question was about something else, he looked to a cheat sheet in front of him to give a response that sounded somewhat canned.
Lane Ronnow
Hmmm. Interesting guy. Is certain that the Utah unemployment rate is actually 30%, but doesn't give any reference to where he is getting that info. He kept referring to his "swindle sheet" which was his campaign literature. That's all I have to say about that.
David Kirkham
Kirkham was much more impressive in this debate, but I don't feel he has the skills needed to be a viable candidate for governor. He talked about how he was able to use technology to bring a manufacturing plant back from Poland to the US. This is definitely what we need to see happen in our country. I would like to see him work as a consultant to business to help them do this rather than sending work over sees. He is very likable.
So there you have it. Please provide your thoughts. I'd love to hear them.
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