The Nacilbupera Guzzle

Whoever examines with attention the history of the dearths and famines … will find, I believe, that a dearth never has arisen from any combination among the inland dealers in corn, nor from any other cause but a real scarcity, occasioned sometimes perhaps, and in some particular places, by the waste of war, but in by far the greatest number of cases by the fault of the seasons; and that a famine has never arisen from any other cause but the violence of government attempting, by improper means, to remedy the inconveniences of a dearth. (Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations IV.5.44)

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Mudslinging by an Attack Dog

In today's hardprint Daily Herald as well as online at both the Daily Herald and Salt Lake Tribune was the following superb letter-to-the-editor by Troy and Angie Carter entitled "Beware of D party":

Recently, we received a campaign mailer from Steve Clark. If we hadn't known better when we read it, we would have sworn the Provo mayoral race had become partisan. Clark claims he's showcasing Curtis' inconsistencies, but it appears he's really appealing to the Demophobia rampant in our county. (Demophobia: fear of all people and ideas belonging to the D party, a fear that Democrat equals liberal.)

His mailer tries to paint Curtis as a liberal. However, the label fits neither man. Both are Republicans who espouse conservative principles. As Republicans, we are disappointed with Clark's attempt to turn a non-partisan race into a partisan one.

As for consistency, that is exactly why we are voting for John Curtis. He has consistently demonstrated an attribute we find sorely missing in our society: an open-minded, non-partisan nature. He possesses a unique quality: he is neither afraid nor ashamed to change his mind when warranted. He understands that clinging to a weak idea will never make it strong, even if it is his own. Imagine that -- humility in a leader.

•Troy and Angie Carter, Provo">

The Carters really hit the issue on the head. Curtis has worked day and night to try and bring our city together around a pro-business (grow our sales tax base), fiscally responsible, and city safety agenda. He listens and cares deeply about our city and brings a tremendous amount of executive experience. Below is the copy of the mudslinging campaign mailer we received in the mail from Clark and surely representative of the one referred to by the Carters:



In case you are not familiar with the Democratic Party Platform of Utah County, the platform is surprisingly moderate including pro-life and marriage-between-one-man-and-one-woman stances and maybe not pro-gun but at least acknowledging gun ownership rights. In fairness the Democrats are liberal on government social issues, although tend to be quite ethical. The epitome of a Utah County Dem is recently-deceased Bill Orton who represented Utah County several years ago. We think Curtis is a Conservative who happens like many of us to see some faults in the Republican Party and are willing to consider alternative approaches when the party fails us (as it is doing right now in not condemning Tim Bridgewater's FEC violations).

For Clark to openly insinuate that Curtis does not espouse Conservative or Republican ideas--even amidst a non-partisan race--is frankly, a farce and demeans the accuser. We love Republicanism but we hate this putrid and vile mudslinging over non-issues. Do we really care if Curtis was a Democrat for a brief period during his life: NOOOOO! Do we care that Curtis has a plan for ridding ourselves of gang violence while Clark denies we have a problem? YESSSS!

We have had ample opportunities to meet with Curtis even one-on-one and found Curtis to be extremely respectful of his opponent as Curtis tried to sell us on the positive he had to offer us. After literally hours upon hours of listening to Curtis, we cannot remember a single negative thing Curtis has ever said about Clark: that my friends tells you the high caliber of this candidate for mayor and why we have been proud to financially contribute in a modest way to the Curtis campaign.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Funny that you are only looking at HALF of the story, which Steve Clark is trying to tell the rest of Provo. You talk about how Conservative the Democratic Platform is in Utah, but did you know that Curtis openly admitted that, back in 2000, that this platform fit closely to his "core values"? If not, then you should read the following article found at:

http://whoisjohncurtis.blogspot.com/2009/10/which-story-is-true.html

Curtis is trying to paint himself as two very different people, depending upon which group he is addressing. He cannot answer the hard questions, such as how he plans to finance his ambitious plans when our budget is currently running a deficit. Don't believe me? Ask the gentleman in the green sweater whom Curtis attacked when he couldn't answer a simple question about our budget:

http://whoisjohncurtis.blogspot.com/2009/10/gentleman-in-green-sweater-makes-curtis.html

You really should educate yourself beyond one-worded campaign slogans and ask the 'how' behind the plan. That is unless you enjoy ambiguity in your municipal government.

Nacilbupera said...

Anonymous-- Our reply at: Re: Mudslinging by an Attack Dog