When Adam Ford was first approached about playing a role in politics, it wasn’t from the Democrat Party. His roots are conservative, family oriented, and centered on tax cuts and education. Yet he turned down the Republican Party’s offer to be a candidate for office in exchange for the more difficult challenge of playing for that other team. The team he believes that really grasps what is best for Utah.
Here comes a home grown Utahn, South of Salt Lake, largely religious and dedicated to a vision that he feels had been abandoned by the Republican Party, a vision of community. Remember when we focused on the best interests of the state? Adam recalls the 2006 legislation that quickly brought a reduction in state funded dental and vision care for the heavily disabled and Elderly. Individuals like his sister Amy with Down’s Syndrome were suddenly threatened by prospects of no longer having a solution for health needs. Yet the legislature easily funded a personal multi-million dollar parking facility that justifiably should not be first on the list.
As Adam watched his vision of Utah slip under pressure from political gamesmanship within the hierarchy of the Republican Party, he determined to make a difference by bringing accountability to our local Senate. As has happened before in out Nation’s history, the reason for a two party system is becoming ever more apparent. We can not rest our faith in Utah’s major party to just do the right thing.
Individuals such as Mr. Ford’s challenger, Howard Stephenson, need to be called in to question. Utah has some of the loosest ethics laws in the nation, thanks in part to Stephenson. Is the public aware of his movements as an employee of a lobbying firm? Why was he able to convince our Senate that the public does not require more accountability? Adam is committed to being that voice of reason in our legislature that reminds them exactly what Zion was intended to look like.
We can understand Adam’s drive for improving our state when we look at his history. He served an honorable service mission for his church, studied at BYU in International Relations with a focus in Russian, received a Law degree from Duke University, was selected by the Utah National Guard to study Arabic at our Nation’s Defense Language Institute, filled a study abroad in Moscow, worked for one of the oldest and most prestigious firms in New York focusing in corporate litigation, and presently is a partner in a successful law firm in American Fork. His entire career has been a study of society, self-improvement, and community service.
Adam remembers living back East while trying to return to his family in New York on 9/11 and seeing the burned scared landscape. He will never forget that everyone in the community came together. His daughter Sariah’s public school held an assembly soon after where each class paraded papier-mâché symbols of America; an eagle head, Uncle Sam, the Statue of Liberty. Some parents wore Sikh or Muslim head coverings, some spoke Serbo-Croatian or Greek or Spanish, but all stood together in grief and love for America.
Adam's Website
Adam's Blog
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