Thursday, May 03, 2007

News Release: New Utah County Democrats want to make Party viable

Candidates for Utah County Democratic Party Office Want to Make Party Electorally Viable Again

Making the Democratic Party viable again. That’s the mantra of a group of local Democratic party activists who have announced their candidacies for office in the Utah County Democratic party. The four – Richard Davis, Orem ; Larry Brown, Alpine; Hinckley Jones-Sanpei, Provo ; and Kristin Gerdy, Orem - are running for chair, vice-chair, secretary, and treasurer, respectively.

“It’s time for the Democratic Party to win elections again,” Davis said. “We believe Democratic candidates reflect Utah County values more than Republicans do. We want tax money to go to public schools, not private schools for rich people. We want working families to have decent wages and health care coverage. We’re concerned about planning for growth rather than just letting it happen. We think the tax burden needs to be shared by all, not just by the middle class. Republicans haven’t stepped up to the plate on those issues. And they’re not likely to in the future.”

The four are veterans in the party organization. Davis and Brown have chaired or served on various party committees at the state and county level, and Jones-Sanpei and Gerdy have been precinct chairs. Gerdy also currently serves as the party treasurer and is running for re-election. Professionally, Davis is a political science professor at BYU; Brown is a senior program manager for Cisco Systems; Jones-Sanpei is a full-time homemaker and part-time researcher; and Gerdy is a law professor at BYU.

For the first time in memory, the race for county party leadership is competitive. According to Davis , the competition for party office is one of several signs of resurgence for the local Democrats. Davis also points to increasing numbers of registered voters who are Democrats, higher vote totals last year for local state legislative candidates, and the strong interest by local Democrats in running for office.

“These are all signs that the Democratic party is coming back to life in Utah County ,” David explained. “We’re excited to be a part of that and hope we can lead the party to victory in the future.”

Click here to check out the New Utah County Democrats website.

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