- Do you support or oppose the Independent Redistricting Commission and Standards Act that Utah voters approved in 2018? Please explain your reasoning.
- I support the Independent Redistricting Commission. SD1 covers all of Box Elder County, half of Cache County, and four cities in Tooele county including Wendover on the Nevada border. I have to drive through 3 counties to even get to Tooele county and I have yet to go to Grantsville and Wendover, (but am going there tomorrow), and visited Stansbury Park recently. The fact that I live over 100 miles away from Tooele county is an indication that this district is not drawn with fair representation for the citizens of these cities in mind. The fact is that these cities in Tooele have been gerrymandered because they are more progressive than the folks in Box Elder and Cache County and this is watering down their votes so that they cannot have the kind of representation they need and deserve. They deserve to have a senator that lives in their area that is available and accessible to them and that knows the local issues. Tomorrow when I go to Wendover, Utah, it will be 2.5 hours to get there, and 2.5 hours to get home. They deserve someone that lives a lot closer, ideally in the same county as their constituents.
- What should happen when the legislature disagrees with a map the commission produces, and what would you do in that situation?
- I would want to listen to expert testimony to understand if the map really had a problem and needed revision or if the map was being rejected because it was too fair. The current legislature is only concerned about maintaining power at all cost by controlling districts so that only Republicans can win, and gerrymandered maps are an essential way for them to hold onto that power.
- Do you support Utah's vote-by-mail system as it stands?
- Absolutely.
- What would you do to encourage more people to vote who currently don't vote?
- I would find out what they are concerned about and then connect that to their right to vote creating an ability for them to make a difference. I could also let them know that when state legislatures are corrupted they are more likely to gerrymander their voting districts so that only those that their party chose to run are designed to win. This also means that it affects presidential races so the party that gerrymandered the districts will likely also have the entire states electoral votes for their party's presidential candidate.
- Utah voters can put questions on the ballot through citizen initiatives and referenda. Should the threshold for passing them be changed? Why or why not?
- It should not be changed. This is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. It is a constitutional right that citizens be allowed to petition the government, and initiatives and referenda are part of that process. It is so important that it was included in the first amendment to the Federal Constitution along with freedom of religion, speech, the press, and assembly. The Utah Constitution enshrined the spirit of the first amendment by directly giving each citizen an equal voice.
- What do you see as the relationship between transparency and corruption?
- If there is transparency, corruption is less likely to occur if everyone can see what you are doing. This is why transparency in government is vital to our democracy.
- Does Utah's GRAMA support the public's right to know, or does it need strengthening? Or is it too stringent?
- Utah's GRAMA laws need to be strengthened. I can understand redacting names of victims or minors from documents, but redacting businesses and corporations or other information from documents for data centers or other businesses that want to operate in the state is totally unacceptable. Applications or documents concerning any business or entity that desires to build or expand into our state must be required to submit documentation that is complete and appropriate.
- Describe a specific action you would take in office to make sure every person in your district has equal access to government services and equal protection under the law, regardless of citizenship status.
- If elected, I would hope for a new majority in our legislature so we could immediately close most ICE facilities and prosecute under the State of Utah those that have broken our laws. If convicted of breaking state laws, no president could pardon those that have acted out their criminal intent. We must follow the Constitution of the United States that defends the rights of all people that live within our borders and territories regardless of their citizenship status. Five of the amendments in the Bill of Rights deals with protection from a government that has gone out of control. The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures and requires probable cause for warrants. ICE is not following this amendment by breaking into people's homes and cars and dragging them onto the street. The Fifth Amendment provides for the due process of law, which is also not being followed by ICE. The Sixth Amendment states that people have a right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury, but many are being held by ICE without any trial at all and without just cause. There are also not enough appropriate judges or public defenders. Most importantly, the Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments, and being held in an overcrowded warehouse, without adequate sanitary facilities, without clean and healthy food and without communication with relatives or anyone in the outside world is definitely cruel and unusual punishment. These constitutional laws are being trampled under foot, and we need to document, make videos, and bring these law-breakers to justice.
- Is there anything else you think is relevant that our questions did not reach?
- Any person, whether in the government or not, that has aided and abetted ICE or any other government sanctioned agency in breaking the law of the land, which is The Constitution of the United States, should be held accountable in a Utah court of law. We were the first country in the entire world to have a government of, by and for the people. We need to protect our rights and freedoms and to show the world that our Constitution is still in effect and that there are still people in the United States that will defend and support that Constitution.
