In regard to the recent Salt Lake Tribune article, “Will Salt Lake City mayoral candidates have to raise more than $1 million to be competitive?”
Recently my husband and I received a flyer from the Ibarra for Mayor campaign. It had no information about the candidate’s background, political views, policies, etc. It only asked for campaign donations, noting that legally we could give Mr. Ibarra up to $3,500 each. It’s no surprise he’s now “leading the pack” in the money race.
No other country in the world has such a money-drenched election system. It’s a national disgrace and has produced the sort of cynicism that causes countless citizens to not even bother voting.
One way to combat such corruption is by having elections publicly funded. That’s what many other countries do, and now a number of U.S. cities (New York, Seattle, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Tucson, etc.) as well.
We should emulate them.
Christiane D. Huckin, Salt Lake City