Author: John Mulholland (Page 1 of 2)

five men at a table facing the audience - debate TL;DR

City Council Debate TL;DR

10/17/2023 / John Mulholland

Editor’s note:

American Fork’s five city council candidates debated various issues for an hour and a half Monday evening before an audience of about 70 at the American Fork Senior Center. Audio from the event will appear here later this week, and commentary and analysis should be posted here early next week. Watch for the event’s host and sponsor, the American Fork Chamber of Commerce, to post video. Meanwhile, frequent contributor John Mulholland has a different, quicker report.

Three four-year seats are available. Election Day is late this year, November 21.

Clark Taylor 2023 - American Fork City Council

Clark Taylor
I love American Fork
Pushing for fiber
Tax increase went 45% roads, 55% public safety
We finished Art Dye through the PARC tax
Incumbent

Ernie John
Water guy
I won’t kick the can down the road
Fiber is a utility now
Wells dropping a foot a year
The tax increase was needed

Tim Holley
Marine and in IT Sales
We are building a city
Some places with extreme weather have good roads
We need to have bike / pedestrian trails

Ken Sumsion
Accountant
Opposes fiber, it is a money pit
Opposes tax increases
Thinks the people should decide both on the ballot
Was in the state legislature

Jeff Shorter
Lawyer
Previously on City Council
Against taxes and fiber
Keep all single family zoning
Weather will always make roads bad

John Mulholland lives in American Fork, Utah. His reports on candidate interviews have appeared at AFelection.info since 2017. His writing on Utah politics has appeared at Utah Politico Hub.

Featured image credit: AI-generated, not a drawing of the candidates or the actual event. (DALL·E with prompt “pencil and watercolor drawing of five white men in suits sitting behind a rectangular folding table in a large room; the two men on the left are bald.”)

2023 American Fork City Council Candidate Interviews with John Mulholland

08/17/2023 / John Mulholland

There are nine candidates for American Fork City Council in September’s primary election. The top six will advance to the general election in November, to compete for three available seats. Terms are four years. Here are notes on interviews with the candidates.

Updated August 24, 2023 (one candidate added)

2023 Candidates for Utah State GOP Offices

04/20/2023 / John Mulholland

Like county parties, state parties have their organizating conventions in off years, when they’re not nominating candidates. Some of the most important business is is electing party officers. The Utah State Republican Party 2023 Organizating Convention is this Saturday, April 22nd, at UVU’s UCCU Center in Orem. Here’s my report on my interviews with most of the candidates for state GOP party office.

For further information about the candidates and the convention, go to utgop.org.

Utah County GOP - Utah County Republican Party

Candidates at the 2023 Utah County GOP Organizing Convention

04/10/2023 / John Mulholland

The annual Utah County Republican Party Convention gets a lot more attention in even-numbered years, because it selects candidates for county offices and any state offices which are partisan and don’t cross county lines. In the odd-numbered years it’s an “organizing convention” which selects the county party chair and other party officers. This year’s Utah County GOP Organization Convention is April 15. I’m interviewing candidates and reporting on those interviews in posts here. A future post will report on candidates for state GOP offices.

Most the races have one candidate running unopposed, but I am writing about them anyway, so people can better know those who will serve in the various party positions. More information is available at the Utah County Republican Party website.

Alpine School Board District 4 Primary (nonpartisan)

06/15/2022 / John Mulholland

Three candidates are on the June 28 primary ballot for Alpine School Board District 4. Because this is a non-partisan race, the function of the primary is to reduce the field of three to two, for the November general election.

Because of redistricting, two candidates in this race, Sarah Beeson and Amber Bonner, are incumbents, each seeking a second term on the board. They are joined on the ballot by Lana Nelson.

Alpine School Board District 4 includes Highland, Alpine, Cedar Hills, and roughly the northern half of American Fork.

An Interview with the Interviewer

04/08/2022 / John Mulholland

If you’ve been reading my reports of interviews with Republican candidates in Utah County, you may want to know what’s behind them. So here I am, John Mulholland, interviewing John Mulholland.

Q: Please describe your process.

A: It goes like this:

2022 Utah County Attorney Candidates (Republican)

04/07/2022 / John Mulholland

Two candidates are are on the June 28 Republican primary ballot, vying for the 2022 Republican nomination for Utah County Attorney: incumbent David Leavitt and challenger Jeff Gray. Adam Pomeroy has withdrawn.

(Page updated 4 June 2022.)

2022 Utah County Commission Seat A Candidates (Republican)

04/07/2022 / John Mulholland

Two candidates, Amelia Gardner and Renee Tribe, will be on the June 28 Republican primary ballot, vying for the Republican nomination to Utah County Commission Seat A.

The Utah County Commission consists of three commissioners who are elected by the entire county to staggered four-year terms. Seats A and B are up for election in 2022. Seat C will be up for election in 2024.

(Page revised 4 June 2022.)

Kay Christofferson - Utah House District 53

2022 Utah House District 53 Candidate (Republican)

04/07/2022 / John Mulholland

In Utah House District 53 (part of west American Fork and east Lehi), incumbent Kay Christofferson is running unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Note that for his current term Rep. Christofferson serves House District 56. Boudaries changed somewhat and the resulting district was renumbering in the recent redistricting.

Incumbent Representative Val Peterson is running to represent the new District 56, which also includes part of American Fork.