Adams nominated to replace Bell in Senate

KAYSVILLE -- Former state representative Stuart Adams got the nod Saturday from Davis County Republican Party as the next state senator in District 22, succeeding Lt. Gov. Greg Bell.In a close race among eight candidates, Adams came out on top with 53 percent of the vote. Second place went to Julie Fisher, currently a member of the Utah House of Representatives. Third place was Craig Taylor, who held the seat 11 years ago.Adams, who is also chairman of the Utah Transportation Commission, still has to be approved to the seat by Gov. Gary Herbert."He and I get along pretty well, so I think I'm OK," Adams said SaturdayCounty Party Chairwoman Shirley Bouwhuis said she was excited about Adams selection because "like I told Stuart and Julie, it's a win-win. Julie keeps her seat in the Legislature and Stuart, who is very capable of working with people, is in the Senate. He's the one who negotiated so we could get Legacy (Highway) moving forward."She also cited his work on the development of Falcon Hill, the commercial development on the west side of Hill Air Force Base "which is ultimately going to bring thousands of high-paying jobs to Davis County. So it's a win for Davis County. He's very hard working and a great man of integrity."Adams is filling out Bell's unfinished term, which would have ended next year. Bouwhuis said Adams will have to run for the Davis County Republican Party's nomination again at its convention in April.Davis County Republicans use a system of voting in which delegates list preferences in order on their ballots. If no delegate gets 50 percent of the top vote the first time the ballots are counted, the lowest finisher is eliminated. The votes of the ballots which the lowest finisher was chosen first are then redistributed according to delegate's second choice on those ballots. The process continues until one candidate has more than 50 percent of the vote.Bouwhuis said the balloting was close. "It went right down to our instant runoff voting, to the last three candidates," she said. "When the third candidate was eliminated, his votes gave it to Stuart."Adams said he is grateful to the delegates for choosing him. Of 268 possible delegates, 94 percent showed up. "And this is on a Saturday, when people have soccer and family things. For them to rearrange their schedules shows there's no apathy here."He said Bell leaves "big shoes, but he's another close friend, no doubt about that. He championed a lot of things and I hope I can pick up from that. He was a real champion of ethics reform and I hope to keep up with that."Adams said another priority will be economic expansion. "People don't want tax increases, and they don't want the spending per pupil to go lower, so the only thing to do is grow the economy."Adams served as a state representative from 2002-2006.