Richard Snelgrove once oversaw the Republican Party for the state and Salt Lake County, but it's his small-business sense that he believes makes him politically perfect for a council seat in Utah's most populous county.
Snelgrove, 55, announced this week that he will run for the countywide Salt Lake County Council seat that Democratic Councilwoman Jenny Wilson plans to vacate at year's end.
Although the county has become bluer in recent years -- voters re-elected Democratic Mayor Peter Corroon, handed Democrats control of the council and favored Barack Obama for president -- Snelgrove believes a midterm backlash toward Democrats nationally could work in his favor.
Snelgrove argues that the county has taken the wrong tack for balancing its recession-bruised budget. The county shouldn't have turned to higher property taxes and a police fee in unincorporated areas to keep its ledger intact.
Instead, the county should have done what he has done as a small-business man during the past two decades: cut, cut, cut.
"We have to look for every opportunity to cut costs," Snelgrove said. "To saddle maxed-out families in Salt Lake County, who are at their limit of trying to make ends meet, is over the top. Salt Lake County needs to look in every crevice for ways to economize."
Snelgrove is the president and founder of Snelgrove Travel Center & USATravelMart. He has served as chairman of the state and county GOP, as an elector in the Electoral College and as a district director for former Congressman Merrill Cook. He ran previously for County Council and for Congress and was named to the National Small Business Advisory Council.
The Republican enters the campaign alongside three other candidates: Republican and former County Councilman Winston Wilkinson and Democrats Holly Mullen and Christian Burridge.
Candidates can begin officially filing for office March 12.
