The Deseret News brought up that UTOPIA and iProvo are proving to be campaign issues in the upcoming municipal elections. (h/t: Brian Merrell) The article itself provides a good background on the financial details of the networks (and an added bonus that the Utah Taxpayers Association is little more than a lackey for Comcast and CenturyLink), but not much in the way of where candidates stand. Personally, I’ve found them to fall into one of three categories.
The first is the obvious municipal network supporter. They’re in favor of the network and are willing to do what it takes to make it successful. Long-time boosters like Dan Snarr and JoAnn Seghini fall into this category. You’ll find them to be few and far between because of the amount of flack so many of them catch.
The second is the opponent who wants to acknowledge reality. They don’t think joining the network was a good idea, but they know the reality is that the decision has been made and they have to make the best of it. In some ways, they are the best option since they won’t pull punches when something isn’t working the way they think it should. John Curtis is a good example.
The last is the opponent who has plenty of complaints, but nothing in the way of solutions. They’ll rant all day long about how the network was a terrible decision, it should have never been done, and no good can come of it. They completely fail to propose any real solutions, and the “just sell it” attitude pays no heed to making the city take a financial bath in order to prove their ideological point. These people are a reckless danger to any city they govern since they are willing to make you, the taxpayer, pay dearly in order to kill off their non-favored programs. George McEwan is a prime example of this kind of low-information irresponsibility (and he was thankfully eliminated from the election for failure to file financial disclosures).
So as you head to the polls in your city, ask yourself which of these candidates is going to make good decisions for the city. Ask yourself who each one of the candidates fits from your list. You’ll know what to do.
