That, of course, is an overgeneralization. There are clear differences between Christine Johnson and Kenneth Grover, but the choice, nevertheless, is not an easy one for voters. Still, Johnson, the Democrat, has the edge, because of her commitment to education, health-care funding and the environment.
Grover is a veteran educator, a former assistant principal at West High School and now director of career and technical education in the Salt Lake City School District.
His ideas on education are influenced by his real-life experience with schools and his concern for students who need a leg up. He believes optional all-day kindergarten is "necessary" for Utah children, especially those in his district, and he wants children of undocumented Utah residents to continue to have the opportunities that in-state tuition at public colleges might give them.
He knows that teacher performance varies, and so, too, should pay increases.
Johnson, a Realtor who does not take donations from the industry, also supports all-day kindergarten and believes state revenue surpluses should be funneled to basic early-grade programs. She favors the perennial Jones/Mascaro legislation to end tax breaks for large families as the best way to increase funding for education.
Neither Johnson nor Grover supports tuition tax credits or vouchers that would send public funds to private schools, and neither would have voted for the income-tax cut recently approved by the Legislature, believing the money would have been better spent on education.
Johnson would work to ban sales of Utah concealed-weapon permits to those who live outside the state. She would support expanding the Public Employees Health Plan to include uninsured small-business workers, and full funding for health programs that carry federal matching funds.
She has legislation already in the works to curb diesel-truck idling, and she has a clear commitment to preserving open space and cleaning up pollution.
It's Johnson, by a nose.
* House District 25 comprises the Harvard- Yale neighborhood of Salt Lake City, the extreme east bench of Salt Lake County as far south as Holladay, and western Summit County, excluding Park City.
