Questions for State Senate District 23 Candidates

The Utah State Senate District 23 race has four candidates right now, two Republican candidates who will face off in a June 24th primary, a Democratic candidate and a Constitution Party candidate. I have compiled a list of 13 questions that I have e-mailed to these four candidates. I will post any responses that they permit me to post.

Yesterday, May 23 2008, I e-mailed these 13 questions to:

Constitution - Jorgina Hancock - jorginah@wwdb.org
Republican - Dan Liljenquist - danliljenquist@yahoo.com
Republican - Ronald Mortensen - protectfamilies@gmail.com
Democratic - Richard Watson - rjwatson@xmission.com

These e-mail addresses were taken from the Lieutenant Governor's website at:
http://www.elections.utah.gov/2008Candidates.htm

1) Do you support or oppose cities coming together to create certain entities such as the South Davis Recreation District, South Davis Metro Fire District, United Fire Authority, etc.? Why?

2) As a state senator, would you vote to make it more or less difficult for cities to create such entities as those listed above?

3) What are your feelings about the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency, better known as UTOPIA? What about other similar entities?

4) In the 2008 legislative session, Representative Brad Daw sponsored a bill (HB139, http://le.utah.gov/~2008/bills/hbillint/hb0139.htm) that would have placed certain restrictions on anyone providing wireless internet access. Pete Ashdown, owner of Xmission, has publicly opposed this type of legislation and has said that he will shut down the free wireless provided by Xmission in downtown Salt Lake City if such legislation passes. (see http://peteashdown.org/journal/2008/01/24/the-end-of-free-xmission-wireless/) Would you support or oppose this type of legislation? Why?

5) In the 2008 legislative session, Senator Dan Eastman sponsored a bill (SB46 http://le.utah.gov/~2008/bills/sbillenr/sb0046.htm) that limits the decisions that the government of a municipality in Utah can make in regards to it's municipal waste. Do you feel such decisions are rightly made by the Utah Legislature, or the government of the municipality? Why?

6) What are your feelings about "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB)?

7) What are your feelings about the federal government mandating states to follow certain criteria, such as they did with NCLB? What about the Utah Legislature mandating cities to follow certain criteria such as has been done with entities like UTOPIA?

8) What are your feelings about charter schools?

9) Are there any changes that you would like to see made in relation to charter schools?

10) Do you support school vouchers?

11) What are your reasons for running for State Senate?

12) What do you see as the biggest issue facing our state? What would you, as a state senator, do about it?

13) What makes you the best candidate? In other words, why should someone vote for you over one of the other candidates for this seat?