Yesterday was the Chamber forum with Brian King (D) and Jeff Morrow (R), candidates to fill the state House seat being vacated by Roz McGee (D). District 28 is on the east side of Salt Lake City, in the Foothills area. Utah Foundation is cosponsoring these forums with the Salt Lake Chamber, trying to get candidates to focus on some of the issues highlighted in our Utah Priorities Project. Here are some observations from the forum:

Brian King is a trial attorney, and he described his work as largely representing clients who have been denied insurance claims. He has lived in the district for 22 years. He focused most on the balance of power in the Legislature (Dem vs. Rep), public education, public transit, and ethics. He describes himself as somewhat independent, with much that he agrees and disagrees with in both major party’s platforms. On education, he’s alarmed by Utah’s low per-pupil spending, wants to see better teacher pay, and generally wants Utah to invest in education, calling it an infrastructure need. He sees a “basic lack of commitment” to education in this state. He was gratified to see vouchers defeated at the polls. He wants to see Utah children prepared better to deal with the information age and sees that as the most important economic development strategy the state could pursue.

Mr. King feels that if two candidates are equally qualified for an office, voters should give the tie to the Democrat, to try to even out the imbalance of power in the Legislature. He also wants to see better balance between land development and open space preservation, cleaner air, stronger ethics rules in the Legislature, and healthcare reform. On healthcare, he said his experience in insurance law would help him contribute to sensible reforms, especially when it comes to the federal ERISA law and how it governs large employers’ healthcare decisions. On ethics reform, he cited problems that have been in the news this year with specific state legislators as well as his concerns about the new use of omnibus bills at the end of the legislative session and about Utah politicians being allowed to use leftover campaign funds for personal use.

Jeff Morrow is a real estate broker who also teaches marketing at SLCC. He is on the Envision Utah Steering Committee. He grew up in the district and has lived in Chicago, New York, and Washington DC as an adult but has been living back in the district for more than a decade. His main campaign theme is “reclaiming Foothill’s influence,” which is partly a reference to winning this seat back for Republicans and that a Republican can benefit the district more by being part of the majority party and having more influence over policies that matter to the district. He also said it was as if the state capital had moved to Sandy, Draper, or even Utah County, and he wants to increase the influence of Salt Lake City in the Legislature and in his party.

Mr. Morrow also outlined four policy areas he would work on to reclaim Foothill’s influence: 1) Promoting downtown economic development, which benefits all of Salt Lake City. He is troubled by business going to other places, such as Sandy or Ogden, while properties are vacant in downtown Salt Lake. He believes we need to focus on one major downtown for this region, which can be supported with mass transit options for workers like the new FrontRunner commuter rail. 2) Promoting economic development related to the University of Utah, which has been successful at spinning off business enterprises and benefits his district with good jobs. He would work to ensure sufficient funding to maintain the quality of the university. 3) Promoting quality education by reducing dropout rates, addressing the needs of diversity, increasing guidance counselors, providing merit pay for good teachers and increasing the pay of teachers of math, science, and technology. He also agrees with the defeat of vouchers at the polls. 4) Promoting fiscal restraint by placing limits on state spending, coupling economic development with cost controls for state government, budgeting with a longer horizon to avoid surpluses and deficits, and evaluating agencies’ return on investment.

Overall, it was a very cordial forum, with the candidates speaking to and about each other in complimentary, civil tones.

Please post your comments about either candidate, about these forums, the kinds of questions you’d like us to ask, or any other thoughts prompted by this report. We’ll try to report here in the Town Hall about each of these forums as the campaign season progresses.

- Steve Kroes