Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, wasn’t sure he would get more than one chance to serve in the State Legislature so he wanted to make his mark.
“I wanted to get as much done as I could in case I didn’t get a chance to come back,” Weiler, 45, said of his first year in office. He replaced former Sen. Dan Liljenquist who resigned the seat to run against U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch in the Republican primary.
Weiler won a race for the seat just 10 days before the start of the 2012 legislative session.
Now he faces another challenge in his bid to return to the Hill. Breck England, a Democrat from Bountiful, is running against Weiler for the 23rd Senate District seat, which covers southern Davis County and seven precincts in Salt Lake County.
Weiler’s mark in the Legislature is illustrated by eight bills he got passed during his rookie session, which was the second highest number among Davis County legislators, behind only veteran lawmaker Sen. Stuart Adams, R-Layton.
Weiler is especially proud of a measure he was told wasn’t possible, getting the Legislature to allow veterans to get a commercial driver’s license if they qualify and drove and showed the necessary skills in military service
He is also proud of a move this summer to buck some of his GOP colleagues to support the appointment of Su J Con as a judge on the 3rd District Court, despite the fact the appointment was rejected by a Senate confirmation committee.
England, 60, is running because he thinks Weiler and legislative Republicans are off mark in helping the state move forward. He gives the Legislature a grade of “D” for public integrity and said Utah’s approach to environmental quality and educational excellence must change.
“The best-managed state is nothing of the kind. In educating our precious children, the Utah Legislature is doing a decidedly mediocre job. And while they like to blame everyone else for these results, a good long look in the mirror would show them where the real accountability lies,” England said.
Both candidates think there needs to be more focus on air quality for south Davis County, where there are four oil refineries. Weiler thinks the needs of business and the environment can be addressed together in moving forward on the issue. England says the technology exists to reduce refinery emissions to zero, similar to Japan, and he wants to see changes.
“I say if we live in a bowl of soup, we should make extra efforts to get rid of the soup … We can make Utah an environmental jewel, instead of an environmental soup bowl,” England said.
England is passionate about spending more money on education. He doesn’t think $3.7 billion of a $13 billion state budget is nearly enough. He says the Republican Party isn’t doing everything it can to find more money for education.
“That $13 billion could easily be reallocated to bring public schools up to the national average in class load and give teachers a 30 percent raise, if they were to reallocate $1 billion,” England said.
One potential source for new revenue is the severance tax, which England said should be expanded to include coal.
England said he will not take a legislative salary if elected and will focus on job growth within Davis County. He claims local leaders missed a chance to get a university in the county 30 years ago and he thinks growth in Davis County has focused too much on retail and not on high tech jobs.
“Davis County is not the center of growth. It’s the center of small, failing retail. Our tax base is diminishing and our job growth is lagging.”
Weiler said the biggest difference between him and his opponent is that his political views are more in line with voters in his district, while England’s are more in line with those of President Barrack Obama.
He has a lot of things he hopes to accomplish if re-elected.
“My priorities are education, accountability and transparency. I have opened almost 20 bill files for next session. Several of them are aimed at streamlining in state government. For instance, Utah is the only western state that is losing money on sales of surplus property. I aim to change that and make it profitable by privatizing it,” Weiler said.
A graduate of the BYU Law School, Weiler is currently vice president and general counsel for Logistic Specialties, Inc. He and his wife, Elizabeth, are the parents of four children.
A lifelong Bountiful resident, England earned a PhD from the University of Utah and taught at Bountiful High School before going into the business world. He is currently vice president of FranklinCovey Company. He and his wife, Valerie, are the parents of five children.
The newly drawn district includes all of Bountiful, Woods Cross, North Salt Lake, West Bountiful and almost half of Centerville as well as seven precincts in Rose Park in Salt Lake County.
More information on the candidates can be found at www.Todd4Senate.com or www.facebook.com/BreckEngland4UtahSenate.
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