As a resident of the North Summit area I recently expressed my opinion about The Coalville City mayoral race in which the chair of the Summit County Democratic Party, Rory Swenson, is a candidate.
In Rory’s Park Record interview he expressed sympathy for the city’s more “progressive” residents — presumably all six of them. I asserted that the results of my recent County Council race serve as a clear indication that progressive ideology has no home in Coalville, illustrated by the fact that I, a consummate conservative, won the area with over 80% support and most residents choose to live in Coalville for its traditional, conservative culture and therefore do not support the idea of the chair of the Democratic Party being their mayor.
Rory answered respectfully that he wishes to work across the aisle, and that we shouldn’t “import national politics or culture wars into our town.” He warned not to divide our community with “extreme partisanship” and ended his remarks by jokingly reassuring us that under his watch, Coalville’s sewer system won’t go woke.
A couple of thoughts:
- As swell a guy as Rory may be, I simply do not have faith that the head of the Summit County Democratic Party will abandon all progressive prerogatives should he take the helm of Coalville City. We’re not merely talking about some Reagan Republican who jumped ship from Trump’s party to caucus with the alternative. We’re talking about a man who heads the local Democratic Party during arguably their most radically progressive epoch ever. Furthermore, Swenson has rigorously opposed the effort to district our county council races, which would enable better representation for rural residents, an effort which enjoys overwhelming support in Coalville.
- Stating the obvious — that political philosophy influences the way an individual governs — is not divisive and certainly not “extreme partisanship.” Coalville residents should be made fully aware of who they are voting for.
- Rory wishes not to “import culture wars” into a non-partisan race. However, the progressive ideology that he evidently embraces is the culture war. Progressives are eternally attempting to gaslight others into believing that opposition to social engineering and omnipresent activism is the culture war. Stop doing crazy things and we won’t push back on you for doing crazy things … culture war ended.
Therefore, Mr. Swenson’s concern of me importing culture wars is perfectly misplaced. My contention is that culture wars don’t need to be imported. They can and will be manufactured domestically by the very people that Mr.Swenson and his partisan organization pushes to the top. For proof see the current controversy in the (non-partisan) Park City Council race in which many local women of note, who Mr. Swenson, undoubtedly supports and helped elect to public office, have taken up the cause of nullifying a City Council candidate for his apparently deeply misogynistic use of the term “big brother.”
To say the least, I have my concerns.
Do I think that a Democratic mayor will erect a statue of Stalin in the Coalville City Park? Not likely. Do I believe DEI and CRT and similar polemic agendas will shape Mr Swenson’s, or any other Democratic mayor’s decisions? Absolutely. Do I think that sympathizers of progressive ideology will make space for the piercing cry of cancel culture that the Park City race is currently embroiled in? Evidently.
So, before we vote in this coming “non-partisan” election, let’s ask the following questions of our candidates:
- Will your hiring decisions be based on anything other than merit and capability?
- Will your hiring decisions ever be influenced by race, gender, sexuality or privilege?
- Will you subject city employees to implicit bias or similar training?
- Will meetings be subject to land acknowledgements?
- Will staff ever be made to acknowledge guilt for past events or historic cultural norms?
- Will tax dollars be used to affirm the LGBT community or any other “marginalized” community?
- Will land use, zoning and building code remain entirely unaffected by consideration of historical inequities?
- Will gender be defined solely by biological/genetic characteristics?
- Will staff members be forced to recognize someone as any gender other than their biological?
- Do you believe that Coalville deserves representatives that share their values and priorities or are you in favor of the status quo where Park City and Snyderville hand pick and elect our county representatives?
Happy voting. Choose carefully.
Tory Welch
Vice Chair, Summit GOP