This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I have written several times about the fun and games in South Jordan politics — from City Council members censuring one another, to banning one another from public meetings and a resident complaining that the mayor pestered his teenage daughter on Facebook.
Now comes an allegation of political bribery in a council race.
Chuck Newton, the incumbent from District 2, contends in a letter to the council that after the August primary, he was offered $10,000 by one of the candidates eliminated in that election to drop out of the race so that contender could replace him on the November ballot.
The incumbent asserts in the letter that Andrew Petersen, the candidate who made the offer, said the $10,000 would be for Newton's run for mayor in 2017, an office Newton has expressed interest in pursuing.
Newton said that Petersen offered him $5,000 now for a political campaign contribution and another $5,000 in 2017, when he actually gets into the mayor's race.
Newton's letter was turned over to the South Jordan city attorney and police department. It has been referred to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.
District Attorney Sim Gill confirmed that his office has received the complaint and is determining whether to launch a formal investigation.
Newton finished second by 34 votes in the primary to challenger Brad Marlor. The two will square off November.
Meanwhile, the candidate who finished third, Paul Bateman, said Petersen asked him to bow out if Petersen could talk one of the two top primary vote-getters to withdraw.
Bateman said he made no promises and that Petersen never mentioned any donations.
For his part, Petersen, who did not respond to requests for comment, came in last in the primary.
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Rights and wrongs • At the end of Canyon School District board meetings, members are invited to make personal reports on items of concern.
At the Sept. 15 meeting, board member Robert Green took that opportunity to stand with embattled Rowan, Ky., County Clerk Kim Davis, who spent several days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Green declared that he, too, would refuse to follow the law if it interfered with his beliefs.
"Your religious convictions, in my opinion, should trump any type of oath you made because we are one nation under God," said Green, who was elected in 2012.
He referred to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that bars discrimination, including against religions — not mentioning that refusal to issue legal marriage licenses to a certain group is discrimination.
He also cited the Declaration of Independence stand that "All men are created equal" and "that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights," which has a certain irony given the context of his comments.
"I firmly believe," Green said "that my convictions and oath to my God do trump and always will trump any type of oath I made to man."
That begs the question: Does it trump the oath he made to women?
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Onward Christian soldiers • The school board member's need to pontificate for the right to discriminate against same-sex couples in the name of God prompts me to revisit the battle for a photo-op between presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz when Kim Davis was released from jail.
Huckabee won the fight when a flunky in his campaign blocked Cruz from going onto the stage and sharing the spotlight.
Huckabee then used the opportunity to make himself a martyr, saying he would go to jail in place of Davis.
That led to an op-ed piece written by Kim Renninger, widow of a slain Washington state police officer, which was carried by several publications and online blogs.
Renninger's husband and three other Lakewood, Wash., police officers were murdered by an Arkansas parolee while they were sitting in a Seattle area coffee shop about six years ago.
The parolee left prison early with the help of then-Arkansas Gov. Huckabee.
She said Huckabee has never expressed any remorse to her or the families of the other officers killed by the man he helped let free.
"The murderer, Maurice Clemmons, had his 108-year prison sentence cut down to only 11 years, when Governor Huckabee granted him executive clemency and set him free. This violent prisoner, who had accumulated '29 [disciplinary actions] and zero achievements' during his 11 years behind bars, should never have been let out of prison," Renninger wrote. "My life, my young son's life and the three other families of the fallen officers were forever changed that day. Nine children lost a parent because of Mike Huckabee.
" ... We never heard a word from Governor Huckabee," she added, "but we did get notes and calls from many other governors and high-ranking officials."
Wonder how God figured into that decision?