A brief guide to the voters in House District 60, Orem, Utah, consisting of a summary of differences on important issues between the challenger, Alan Keele, and the incumbent, Bradley Daw (for more details and the sources of the information please look at all the other postings on this blog at: www.alankeeleforutahhouse.blogspot.com):
1. Rep. Daw has failed to work hard to support education, both K-12 and our wonderful new university in Orem, Utah Valley University. A second-grade teacher told us recently she had 32 youngsters in her class last year. This year it’s 37! How can any child learn at a high level with so little access to the teacher?! The legislature also cut UVU’s budget just this year a full 12% even through it is growing with new students every year by at least 10%! Even though UVU is right here in our District 60, Rep. Daw did not make an effort to help out, evidently because he is philosophically opposed to spending money on public education.
Alan Keele is a life-long educator (40 years teaching at BYU) who knows we must re-prioritize to turn around this decline in support for Utah’s schools and its wonderful, dedicated teachers! Money is available! 101 million dollars are right now going to waste to “send a message to Washington!” (See my blog posting entitled: Big Tobacco Money = Ok?...) Alan Keele will break any china in the Legislature he needs to to call attention to the needs of K-12 educators as well as President Holland of UVU!
2. Rep. Daw recently sponsored House Bill 150 which makes it legal for your electronic e-mails, cell-phone calls, and other electronic communications to be obtained without a search warrant signed by a judge. The bill is clearly unconstitutional since it undermines our Fourth-Amendment right to be safe from unwarranted intrusions. This important part of the Bill of Rights reads: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Alan Keele thinks that any true conservative would have opposed such a bill, not sponsored it. At the very least, this bill will end up costing the State a lot of money to defend in court before it is ultimately judged unconstitutional and thrown out. (Or the Legislature could do the wise thing and rescind the bill before the State has to waste money defending it. For more information see my earlier posting on how safe you are in your home in Utah.)
3. According to the public record, on August 11, 2008 Rep. Daw accepted a campaign donation of $400 from Altria Group, one of the world’s largest tobacco companies (formerly called Phillip Morris) which also deals globally in beer and wine. The public record further shows this was part of a total of $109,000 distributed by Big Tobacco companies to Utah lawmakers to influence them to vote against a program that would increase the tax on cigarettes to fund an anti-tobacco educational program called the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. (After it originally failed, I’m happy to say the bill finally passed this year, over Rep. Daw’s negative vote.) Now, whenever I see a Brad Daw campaign sign, especially his big, exorbitantly expensive billboard, I can’t help asking myself if it was purchased with this Big Tobacco money.
(In fairness, it must be admitted that Mr. Daw's overall voting record on tobacco questions has not been consistent and easy to understand. Based on some of his earlier votes, he even likes to portray himself as an opponent of tobacco, and he apparently did start out opposing certain kinds of smokeless tobacco products. But for Alan Keele the question isn't whether Brad Daw ALWAYS voted with Big Tobacco. The problem is that after he took their money, in 2010 he undeniably DID vote with Big Tobacco. And from Alan Keele's point of view, even one vote in Utah for Big Tobacco is a vote too many.)
Alan Keele knows the terrible costs associated with youngsters who start to smoke early in life: 1,100 Utahns die annually from their own smoking, 230 from second-hand smoke. 26,000 kids now under 18 and alive in Utah will ultimately die prematurely from smoking. Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murder, and suicides combined, and this does not count other tobacco-related causes such as fires from smoking, nor does it tally in the harmful effects of smokeless tobacco products or account for the much larger number of tobacco-related health problems that are not fatal. In terms of money, smoking directly causes $345 million in annual health care costs in Utah. Additionally, the state suffers $294 million annually in smoking-caused productivity losses. Each Utah household bears an annual extra tax burden of $523 from smoking-caused government expenditures. There's not enough money in the world to induce Alan Keele to vote even once on the wrong side of this life-and-death matter!
I hope you’ll study all the issues and vote for me on November 2nd! There's an old saying: "Politicians are like diapers. They need to be changed often, and for the same reason." Sincerely, Alan Keele
