Ralph Okerlund
Toby Dillon
Benton Petersen
This seat, which was vacated when Sen. Darin Peterson, R-Nephi, announced he would not run for reelection, covers Juab, Sanpete, Piute, Sevier, Wayne and Tooele counties. In Tooele County, the district includes Rush Valley, Stockton, western Tooele County, including Wendover, and Tooele City south of approximately 600 North.
The Transcript-Bulletin sent a questionnaire to the candidates asking for their positions on various issues. Their responses are below.
Q: Briefly introduce yourself.
Okerlund: I have been a lifelong resident of Sevier County. I live in Monroe with my wife, Cindy. We have three children and seven grandchildren, and enjoy having all of our children and grandchildren close. We enjoy camping, hunting, fishing, four-wheeling, or anything that the family can do together. I was a teacher and a dairyman. I have retired from teaching and sold the dairy, so I have time to serve full time in the Senate. I have served on the Monroe city council and as mayor of Monroe and Sevier County Commissioner for the past 26 years. As a county commissioner, I have served on numerous state boards and national assignments. I have served two terms as president of the Utah State Association of Commissioners and Councilmen and am currently serving as 1st Vice President of the Utah Association of Counties. I have served for the last 12 years on the state Community Impact Board, where I have enjoyed helping many of the district’s communities with projects. I am highly motivated to serve and be available to listen to the issues of Sanpete, Tooele, Juab, Sevier, Piute, and Wayne Counties.
Dillon: I’m Toby Dillon, your local Tooele candidate. Instead of a career politician, I am a regular, working-class family man with no ties to big business or other special interest groups. Born in Salt Lake, I graduated from Cottonwood High School in 1995, received a degree in English from Salt Lake Community College, and am completing my bachelor’s in Information Technology at Western Governors University. I am an Eagle Scout and former assistant scoutmaster, and a returned LDS missionary. I am the IT manager for Skymail International, where I have worked for over seven years. I sing tenor with the Tooele County Choral Society and recently served as Vice Chair of the Tooele County Democrats. My wife, Carina, and I have lived in Tooele for the past six years and we love it here. I believe we need balance, transparency, and accountability in the legislature, and that is why I’m running as a Democrat. I am a man of faith and principle who does not support abortion or gay marriage and who does support fiscal and moral responsibility.
Petersen: No response.
Q: What are your top three priorities if elected?
Okerlund: I believe the three most important issues facing the voters of the 24th District are the economy, education, and transportation. The economy of a rural area is greatly affected by the infrastructure that is available. We must continue to build our infrastructures to allow our economies to develop. Water, roads, airports, rail, public buildings, public services, energy development and other needs must be met to allow an economy to grow. If we do not prepare, we cannot expect to be able to provide jobs for our children and grandchildren, and those who will want to live here in the future. A healthy economy will help us meet our education needs and goals. Competition is the keyword for education. We must provide a competitive salary base for educators, so that our children will be able to compete with those from across the country and the world. Our transportation needs are increasing with growth and use while the costs of maintaining roads and bridges are exploding because of short supplies of materials such as asphalt. We must be decisive and creative in meeting these needs. We must identify and preserve corridors for future needs.
Dillon: My main priorities are families, resources and representation. True family values includes ensuring all children have access to excellent education, environment and opportunity — including health care. The voucher debacle will not be forgotten by either side. We must fulfill our mandate to put families first. We must exercise responsible stewardship over Utah’s limited supply of natural resources — balancing lives and livelihood, environment and enterprise, and progress and preservation of our way of life. From concerns about the proposed Sevier County power plant and the Snake Valley water project to the necessity of developing alternative energy and securing and maintaining water and grazing rights, there are many issues involving our finite resources on which we must be proactive. Tooele County deserves its own senator, and I am the only senate candidate from Tooele. The senator we elect will take part in the next redistricting, so it is vital that our interests are represented. The partisan gerrymandering to consolidate power and recent ethical scandals have shown that one-party government is unhealthy. We need a non-partisan solution that provides equal, local and honest representation for all in the upcoming redistricting.
Petersen: Top three priorities: Repeal as many dangerous and silly laws as possible. For example, The Utah Highway Patrol must tow your car and leave you stranded by the side of the road if you do not have auto insurance. That is completely dangerous. Prohibit home owners associations from legally enforcing any rule that is not an ordinance or law.
Q: The legislature just made $354 million in cuts to the state budget and more cuts may be forthcoming. In your opinion, which parts of the budget can be cut and which cannot. Also, are there any areas in which you would increase spending?
Okerlund: We must do everything we can to provide basic services to our elderly, sick and mentally challenged citizens, and it is important to continue to provide money for public education. Until our economy rebounds, it will be impossible to increase spending.
Dillon: Because we’ve had a succession of surplus years, cuts in the budget now should be cuts in “wanted” projects, not “needed” or “maintenance.” Understanding that our children are our most valuable resource, money allocated to their education and health should be carefully apportioned, then left alone. When the cost of goods is high, cut back on projects until the cost drops again. Balance that with a good return-on-investment analysis. For instance, for every $1 we invest in CHIP, the federal government matches us $4 — an enviable ROI. Good money management requires us to consider that that spending has a much greater fiscal impact than, say, building parking structures. We also need to recognize that cuts and additions to one area affect other areas. For example, family stressors, including divorce, poverty, and lack of health care put a strain on our educational system. As we strengthen families, reduce poverty and improve health, our schools improve and our money is just as well spent as if we had put it directly toward the education budget. Likewise, better education reduces poverty and dependence on social services. Cutting social services as the current Legislature has done — especially during economic downtimes — leads to increased costs to the courts system, corrections, emergency rooms and more.
Petersen: Cut the bureaucracy such as the state school board and board of regents. The districts and schools can do just fine without a person at a desk in Salt Lake telling them what to do. That and other bureaucratic cuts will be a more effective way to save money than cutting aid for the elderly and infirm.
Q: The state engineer has declared that water rights in Tooele Valley are over-appropriated. As a result, new appropriations in the valley have been discontinued and the price of water rights continues to rise. Residents have also had their water rights abruptly terminated by the state engineer. What can the state do to manage water more effectively, protect the rights of small water users, and balance the requirement of beneficial use with the need for municipalities to hold water for future growth?
Okerlund: The water has all been appropriated. To meet future needs, we will need to be able to better use the water we have. Conservation is important. Better resource development for irrigation and culinary needs will allow the owners of water rights to work together for simultaneous use. For example, waste water could be used for industrial and then returned to the groundwater level. The state could help on decisions of multiple uses.
Dillon: Education, education, education. We do a lackluster job in educating our citizens concerning their rights — water or otherwise — and the entities responsible for enforcing and protecting those rights. As a result, we end up with over-appropriation and costly litigation and mediation. I don’t envy our state water engineer — he’s got a tough couple of years ahead of him. But I applaud his willingness to tackle the problems left to him by earlier administrations and, from the Senate, I’d like to give him the tools to re-appropriate water with special emphasis for those “small users” and “growth centers” that have very different needs. We need to diversify our water rights, understanding that not every need is equal in importance nor volume. It sounds like any easy solution, but it’s going to take a lot of work to get people to agree to it and implement it. I’m open to suggestions to allow a full spectrum of water users to be fairly treated while doing our best to conserve and preserve water for future generations.
Petersen: To manage water more effectively, we would need to replace the state engineer and work with the counties and municipalities, and not dictate from Salt Lake.
Q: Does Senate Bill 81, which was passed last year, address the problem of illegal immigration in Utah in the right way? If not, what would be your solution to the problem?
Okerlund: Senate Bill 81 was a start. First, we must secure our borders; second, we must penalize those who break the immigration laws; third, we must provide a secure guest worker system through smart-cards or something similar; fourth, those who benefit from our services should pay for it; fifth, we should treat good people with dignity; sixth, we should prosecute those who are criminals diligently.
Dillon: SB 81 is, in my opinion, short-sighted and full of holes. It does not adequately address the problem, nor can we, as a legislature, address a problem that we do not fully understand. To really determine the extent and impact of illegal immigration, we need to bring people out from the shadows, not push them further underground. Provisions of SB 81 would discourage immigrant communities from reporting more serious crimes and make it more difficult to root out those who are truly a danger to the community. Real reform needs to happen at the federal level, including and especially streamlining the legal immigration process. These workers are vital to the economy, and we can’t just remove them without impacting all areas of economic life. We also must remember that they are human beings. The rule of law is important, but the punishment should fit the crime, and I would hope that those who would relentlessly pursue Jean Valjean for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s family have never let a weed grow higher than six inches in their yards, received a parking ticket, or exceeded the speed limit even once.
Petersen: Cut off state benefits for illegals and make their children pay out of state rates for colleges if they plan on going there. Cut the benefits and reduce the influx.
Q: How would you work to reform health care and insurance in Utah in terms of cost, quality and accessibility?
Okerlund: Insurance costs and availability are a huge problem. Health care costs should be shared by everyone, so everyone should have, at least, some level of insurance. It should be portable and flexible in use levels and cost. The state has been working on some recommendations and I would like to be involved in this process.
Dillon: Health care is a huge issue for me and my family. My wife and I are currently uninsured. Our children are on CHIP. Major, major reforms are needed in this area. I firmly believe that health care is an important component of the inalienable right to life as espoused by our founding fathers. While I believe a single-payer plan is the best option, I am open to any solution that fairly compensates our medical professionals, provides quality, timely, evidence- and prevention-based care, is portable, doesn’t penalize those with pre-existing conditions, provides maximum provider choice, is accessible and affordable to everyone, includes mental and dental parity, and is uncancellable. CHIP’s tiered income-based system is a good model. We must also consider our rural citizens. I recently spoke with some Wendover residents who have expressed the need for a hospital or trauma center. We need to make sure our outlying and underserved populations are not forgotten.
Petersen: Get the insurance companies out of the lobbying business in state health care. Allow alternative practitioners who are trained in their respective fields.
Q: As Tooele County’s roadways become increasingly congested, what long-term transportation solutions would you propose for the area?
Okerlund: First, let’s make sure we have identified and secured necessary corridors (transportation master plan). Second, we should prioritize what our most critical needs are. Then we must plan for raising the capitol necessary for our needs. We will need to be creative to find enough money to meet our needs, but we can consider federal earmarks, vehicle taxes, express-lane fees, congestion pricing, toll roads, etc.
Dillon: Tooele County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation. With that growth comes the need for long-term transportation planning, like the Midvalley highway. We must be careful to protect our open space, our air, and the vitality of Main Street and other small businesses. Our waistlines and our pocketbooks would benefit from more walkable communities. We must improve our public transportation options by continuing to expand our bus service and possibly adding light rail. As we continue to grow, traffic and fuel costs will increase. Alternative fuel development is crucial to minimizing the environmental and financial impact to our community. I intend to propose a tax incentive for businesses that allow employees to telecommute, thus reducing air pollution and traffic congestion, as well as saving people money and allowing them to spend more time with their families.
Petersen: Work with the county and municipalities in your county to work together to determine what your needs are and your long-term plans are. Do not dictate from Salt Lake City.
Compiled by Staff Writer Tim Gillie
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