GARY SHUMWAY for Summit County Council

The Park Record article below is regarding the 10/27/2008 meeting of the candidates for public office in the North Summit High School auditorium. All the Summit County Council candidates were there as well as many of the state candidates.

As I was campaigning for State Representative in 2006, this was my second attendance at the event. This year it seemed like a smaller and more subdued crowd attended, but that is only my subjective evaluation. The format this year for the Council candidates was a three minute introduction and then we would take Q&As from the audience.

I gave my three minute intro (see below) and was among the Council candidates who responded to four or was it five questions from the audience. This year the questioner came forward to the microphone vs. question cards being selected by the moderator. I much prefer the former as it is less open to the manipulation I believe occurred in 2006.

My three minute intro (I had written it out) was as follows:

I am Gary Shumway and I am offering you a choice this November 4th. You have a choice of continuing politics as usual or you can elect a member of the Constitution Party to represent you, not just the party.

Politically, I am fiscally conservative and socially inclusive. I believe our human rights come from God, not government. I believe the Constitution to be the supreme law of the land and we have strayed too far from it. I believe we must reign in government or government will reign over us.

I have three Masters degrees and have attended the University of Utah and Utah State University. Back in 1847 my Great-Great-Grandfather, Charles Shumway, was one of the first pioneers in this area. My Utah roots go deep.

I am a husband, father, and grandfather and with my wife, live in the Jeremy Ranch area. I am the owner of Ernest Hill Publishing and a contract computer programmer.

I have written two books, published scientific papers, and maintain several web sites including voteshumway.org.

In short, I am a viable third-party candidate offering you a choice.
But enough about me.

What about my opponents in this campaign? This is from Chris Robinson’s campaign brochure…

Since 1986, Chris has served as the CEO of The Ensign Group, a holding company with a broad range of interests – from agriculture and real estate to high-tech composite materials and venture capital.

Of course I applaud Chris’ achievements but being CEO is the wrong skill set for a legislator. With the new council/manager arrangement the council members are the legislators while the manager is the executive. Chris should be interviewing for the manager position, not council member.

Further, as a CEO of a large holding company, will Chris have the same agenda as someone who, like most of us, simply own a home and have a small amount of property? Hobnobing with large land owners is a great gig but does it represent the majority of Summit county residents?

With his “broad range of interests” in the county, Chris is going to have to recluse himself from voting on a “broad range of your interests”. With Chris’s reclusion we have to settle for only four council members yet we are paying for five.

Alison is my other opponent and she also has business dealings in the county and her husband is a Park City Attorney. Alison is no doubt going to have to recluse herself from some County business. Here again we are paying for five and we’re getting four.

This is not meant to be a negative critique of Chris or Alison. I am only pointing out the fact that, having no business dealings with the county (other than paying taxes), I would seldom, if ever, have to recluse myself from county business; that is, your business.

With Gary Shumway, you pay for five members on your council and with Gary you will get five members voting for you.

As I cannot remember the specifics of my answers to the questions posed by the audience I will not try to reproduce them here. If the proceedings were taped by the Park Record then they would be a far better source than my memory.

The following is the article in the Park Record a per Pat Parkinson's take on the 10/27 event and is entitled "Few fireworks in Coalville; Candidates continue to criticize county government for being too secretive" (as a reporter this is of course one of Pat's pet peeves, so it's natural that it should be his focus):

A familiar refrain from some vying for seats on the Summit County Council is: more openness is needed in local government.
At a campaign forum Monday in Coalville the county was criticized by several candidates who claimed the government is too secretive.

Hoytsville resident Bill Wilde agreed with the criticism in an interview after the debate.

"We've had some real issues with public meetings," said Wilde, who was one of about 60 people who watched the debate. "I hope it changes."

Too often deputy county attorneys unduly influence members of the Eastern Summit County Planning Commission at meetings in Kamas and Coalville, he lamented.

"The lawyer runs the meeting and that is not right," Wilde said. "They put public comment right at the last and you'd have to be blind not to see that."

Government students at North Summit High School helped organize this week's forum.

"The politics of the presidential race are more intriguing but it's the County Council races that are going to affect us the most," said 18-year-old Hannah Rosenthal, a senior at North Summit High School. "I really don't know which I am more interested in."

Rosenthal said she will vote Nov. 4 for the first time.

"Both the parties are confusing," Rosenthal said when asked about her political views. "Both groups have policies you can agree with."

But engaging the nearly 40 students enrolled in his government courses can be difficult, said Russ Judd, a teacher at North Summit High School.

"It's hard to get the kids interested in any kind of government I remember when I was a kid, the number one thing we were worried about was being drafted into Vietnam. So we were real active in government and we wanted to vote because that was a direct impact," Judd said.

The form of government in the county will soon change and this year voters will elect the first five-person County Council to replace the three-member Summit County Commission, which is currently comprised of all Democrats.

Voters can pick candidates for four- and two-year terms on the board and each representative serves the whole county at large.

In the contest for seat A, a four-year position, Park City Democrat Sally Elliott touted her experience serving the past four years as a Summit County commissioner.

"I have not put my head in Park City sand," Elliott said Monday. "I've been out all over the county working for you."

Her challenger is Woodland Republican Bill Miles.

"I have some deep roots here to represent you people," Miles said about his birthplace in Coalville. "I think I'm very, very qualified to represent the people of North Summit."

The County Council seat B race pits Snyderville Basin Democrat Claudia McMullin against Grant Richins, a Republican from Henefer for a four-year seat.

McMullin said her skills come from a career in law and serving four years on the Basin Planning Commission.

"It's that experience that makes me want to be a county councilperson," McMullin said.

Richins, a retired educator, countered that he has experience serving on the Henefer Town Council, Henefer Planning Commission and the North Summit School Board.

"I know that there are many problems facing us as a county," Richins said. "I hope that none of us are looking at representing one particular group."

Silver Creek Democrat John Hanrahan and Park City Republican Tom Hurd are locked in the race for seat C, which is a four-year council term.

"Growth and development is going to be a huge issue for us," Hanrahan explained.

But Hurd said the downturn in the economy could most greatly impact county taxpayers.

"We're in possibly the worst economic crisis since 1929," Hurd said. "When these things start to happen you have to start being more fiscally responsible."

Three candidates are facing off for seat D, which begins as a two-year term. Basin Democrat Chris Robinson is against Park City Republican Alison Pitt and Jeremy Ranch resident Gary Shumway, a member of the Constitution Party.

"It's important to be involved," said Robinson.

He boasts that a conservation easement on about 10,000 acres he owns in North Summit protects the rangeland from development.

Pitt said rules for developing land on the East Side are unclear and must change.

"The code ought to be clear and predictable, not only for the property owner, but for the neighboring property," Pitt said.

Because Robinson owns land in Summit County and Pitt is a corporate attorney in Park City, Shumway says voters should support him because he is least likely to bump into conflicts of interest as an elected official.

Pitt and Robinson would have to recuse themselves from discussions, Shumway said.

Two South Summit men Kamas Republican Dave Ure and Samak Democrat Steve Weinstein are campaigning for seat E, also a two-year term.

Ure is retired member of the Utah House of Representatives who touts his political chops.

"I do have that respect but I also have an outside opinion," he stressed.

Weinstein, meanwhile, admits it's his first time campaigning for public office.

"I can do the job that I'm applying for," Weinstein told voters. "What you're deciding on is who is going to help guide this county into the future."