RadioWest Transcript: September 26, 2000
By Steve Spencer

Democrat Jim McConkie and Republican Carlene Walker are facing off to fill the seat in the Utah State Senate left vacant by Scott Howell, the two-term State Senator who is now facing four-term incumbent Orrin Hatch for the U.S. Senate. McConkie and Walker are seeking to represent a strategically important district-- the Democrats need just three more seats for a majority in the State Senate, and nearly evenly divided District 8 is a key battleground.

Reporter: Democrat Jim McConkie and Republican Carlene Walker are no newcomers to politics, and each is aware of what could be the key to victory. Walker has worked for pollster Richard Wirthlin and her husband was a Reagan political appointee. She hasn't done any polling in her own race-- it costs too much-- but she says walking the neighborhood six days a week, she has an idea what could give her the win.

Walker: There really is what I feel to be a gender loyalty that surpasses party loyalty and that's really manifest in men as well as women. They feel that there are very strong Utah women that need to be represented in the legislature in Utah.

It's the first time Walker has run for office. McConkie ran for Utah Attorney General 20 years ago after time in Washington as Utah Senator Gunn McKay's Chief of Staff. Other Democrats have also been referring to past Democratic leaders-- Scott Howell to former Senator Frank Moss, Jim Matheson to his father, Governor Scott Matheson. McConkie says Utah Democrats are using the past to help win in the present.

McConkie: I think one of the reasons we mention them is twofold-- one, there haven't been many Democrats in the recent past, and two, it's an indication that Democrats, in fact, can gain the trust of a majority of Utahns.

McConkie also has a political past and name to draw on-- a grandfather and uncle, were prominent in state politics, and another uncle, Bruce, was a prominent LDS church leader.

Walker's past is important to her, too -- she is quick to point out how long she and her family-- four generation's worth-- have lived in the district, which is in the south-eastern part of the Salt Lake Valley. McConkie moved in about a year ago from about 5 miles away.

The number one issue for the candidates, they says, is the same issue voters across the state are worried about—- education. McConkie and Walker both say the state should do more. McConkie has come out against vouchers to subsidize private education, saying they would keep money from schools at the time when schools need it most. He says he's seen how bad it can get if something isn't done right away.

McConkie: When I lived in Virginia in the 1970s, I could not send my kids to public schools, because the public schools were in such disarray that it was a dangerous place to send them. And in Utah, we haven't reached that critical point yet, so of all states in the nation, where we have an opportunity to save public education, it's Utah.

Walker: Raising taxes is something we may have to resort to, but with the amount of taxes Utahns pay already, we need to balance it all out.

Walker says she wants to look at all alternatives to avoid raising taxes, but she says she would be careful before supporting them.

Walker: The only way I could support something like vouchers or tuition tax credit is if it could be proven to me that it was and advantage to our schools.

How weighty decision like those are made on the Hill is a big issue for McConkie, who thinks big contributors and gift-giving lobbyists hold too much sway over lawmakers.

McConkie: I don't think that legislators ought to be taking gifts. Gunn McKay used to say, if you can eat it drink it or smoke it, you can take it. Anything more than that, legislators should not take.

Walker doesn’t think new regulations on gifts are necessary.

Walker: If on the other hand, I were elected, and my constituents said I have a big problem with this, I would certainly be responsive to my constituents, but I’m not hearing that.

Walker says people she's talked to are satisfied with financial disclosures that state where the money's going and where it came from.

The two agree on other issues facing the state. Both are opposed to nuclear waste in the Goshute reservation, and both want to preserve local control over incorporation, especially important in the home district, since it encompasses unincorporated parts of Salt Lake County.

The two candidates acknowledge the agree on many things, even though they are of different parties. Part of that, MConkie says, is because he's a Utah democrat. McConkie wants to be clear there is a difference between Democrats nationally and in Utah.

McConkie: We're not going to go along with the pro-choice policies, we’re not going to go along with gay marriage type policies, but we are going to go along with planned growth and education the other things Democrats are well known for.

Walker says she's totally in favor of the national Republican platform, and voters like that kind of party politics better.

Walker: It’s confusing to the votrers, to say wait a minute, you’re platform’s pro-abortion, and you say you're not pro-abortion, which is it? What platform are you standing by.

McConkie says that’s exactly what he and other Democrats are doing this election. He says if they can clarify their position and remind voters of their past successes, they’ll win a bigger rol in utah state politics in the future. I'm Steve Spencer, KUER News.

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