This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I find Utah Democratic Senate hopeful Misty K. Snow's assertion that Doug Owens is Republican-light and doesn't provide enough of a distinction between himself and GOP Rep. Mia Love completely outrageous. Owens, a moderate Democrat, and Love, a conservative Republican, have very different views and values. Owens' platform is progressive yet pragmatic. He has pledged to fight for a more affordable college education experience, responsible government spending and reducing the influence of special interest groups. "I will listen to voters, not corporations," Owens wrote on his campaign website.
Furthermore, I find these kinds of brazen accusations by a candidate against another candidate in the same political party to be in extremely bad taste. Thanks to gerrymandering, statewide races are already a tough enough hurdle for Utah Democrats to overcome without drama like this. Firing volleys of criticism at each other about not being purely Democratic enough smacks of the tea party to me. To borrow from Hillary Clinton's campaign slogan, Utah Dems are indeed stronger together fighting for the same common cause rather than standing at opposite ends of the political battlefield.
Ryan D. Curtis
Salt Lake City