Just as we speculated earlier this week, this morning's Standard-Examiner confirms that retired Air Force combat fighter pilot Don Bell has entered the House Legislative District 8 race under the Democratic Party banner, for the seat now occupied by Republican State Representative Gage Froerer. From the tone of the current conversation, we predict this contest will be a lively one. We incorporate here a few snippets form this morning's Marshall Thompson story:
“While the people of District 8 were being abused by horrific property taxes, my opponent was ineffective and participated in a propaganda campaign for 5 months against true property tax reforms,” D-Bell wrote. “It is time to hold him, and the special interests he represents, accountable for the ineffective leadership and representation. My opponent has represented his own business interests and those of his cronies in the Realtors Association and development industry, while neglecting his constituents.”Being the curious type, we navigated through the state's online reporting system, and these are the figures reported for Rep. Froerer's 2006 campaign:
Froerer, who runs a real estate business in Weber County, said Bell is exaggerating and the people of District 8 won’t believe the claims.
“He’s very selective in what he points out there,” Froerer said. “I think the people know the efforts I’ve put out on property tax reform, voting rights and the Powder Mountain deal.”
Froerer has sponsored legislation and amendments that would retroactively change a loophole in a law that allows developers, like Powder Mountain, to incorporate as a town without letting future residents vote or elect the first town council. The law at the center of the debate, House Bill 466, passed unanimously through the Legislature last year.
D-Bell said he would be running as a Democrat in Weber County because of the local party’s strong stance on campaign finance reform in Utah. He said, if elected, he won’t accept any gifts and will only accept campaign donations from individuals for under $250.
D-Bell criticized his opponent for spending nearly $50,000 on his 2006 campaign and getting too many donations from real estate interests, but Froerer said that’s not accurate.
“One of his (D-Bell’s) problems is that he tends to invent numbers that don’t correspond with reality,” Froerer said.
If voters want to see his finances and contributors, Froerer said, they can go to the State of Utah reporting system at https://ucrs.utah.gov/.
Totals: Contributions: $61,552.46; Expenditures: $47,477.69; Balance: $14,074.77. A list of Froerer's 2006 contributors is viewable here.
Close enough for government work, we guess. We suspect this will be a highly-interesting race.
