Another Weber County Democrat Throws His Hat Into the Legislative Candidacy Ring

Steve Olsen announces his challenge for Sen. Jenkins's District 20 Senate Seat

For the second day running, the Standard-Examiner announces the entry of a Democratic Party state legislative candidate into the 2008 Weber County general election race. Steve Olsen, of Plain City, has now thrown his hat into the ring as a challenger for Senator Scott Jenkins's Senate District 20 seat. More from this morning's Charles Trentelman story:

OGDEN — Steve Olsen, of Plain City, jumped the gun Wednesday, announcing his candidacy for the Utah Senate before filing even opens up this year.

Olsen is running as a Democrat for the seat representing District 20, which covers western Weber County. The seat is currently held by Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City.

Olsen hasn’t filed for the seat yet because filing doesn’t begin until 8 a.m. Friday in county courthouses around the state. The filing deadline is 5 p.m. March 17.

Olsen said he is running to try to shift the power in the Legislature, which he said has become so solidly Republican that it doesn’t respond to the people anymore.

“For many years, Democrats have talked about the need for balance in the Legislature,” Olsen said in a news release.

“The events of the last few years highlight this need more than ever. Private-school vouchers are only the most recent and visible example of how the Republicans on Capitol Hill have lost touch with the people of Utah.

“They knew that an overwhelming majority of Utah’s citizens opposed this scheme, but they rammed the voucher bill through anyway.”

Olsen ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop in 2006.

For the benefit of those readers who are unfamiliar with Mr. Olsen's political philosophy, we reprise this February 8 Weber County Forum article, which addresses a Steve Olsen guest commentary, appearing in the Std-Ex on the same date.

Here in the early going, it appears once again that Weber County Democrats are re-energized as we move into the 2008 election season. In that connection, we hope that local Democrats will fulfill their promise to field a full slate of capable candidates, in order to afford Weber County voters a full range of debate on all issues pertinent to the 2008 election.

We believe that robust political debate is the lifeblood of American democracy, and that in recent years at least, Weber County citizens -- and Utah citizens in general -- have been sometime short-changed on that. The absence of viable opposition allows political excesses, as we've sometimes painfully observed. We propose that the the existence of such opposition, on the other hand, keeps everybody straight, and is healthful for the body politic in general. It's always good for elected officials to know that strong opposition candidates are "breathing down their necks," in other words.

We thus welcome Steve Olsen into the 2008 race, and look forward to a lively Senate District 20 campaign. As we have often remarked here before, we love a good political scrap.