| Candidate John Swallow (center) meets with supporters during a brief stop in Emery County last week. |
John Swallow who is a candidate for the third congressional district house seat has been in Emery County talking and visiting with the county people. Swallow visited with Republican supporters at the courthouse on Sept. 3 and attended the Peach Days celebration on Sept. 7 in Ferron.
Swallow said, “I’m just a regular guy who grew up in rural Utah, when I lived in St. George there were only 15,000 people in the whole county. We moved while I was a teenager to an alfalfa farm in Spring Valley, Nev. where I attended high school in Ely and we attended church in Garrison, Utah. I grew up on the farm bucking bales and moving sprinklers. My grandfather is still farming the 600 acre farm with some help. I learned responsibility from a young age. I served a two year mission in Los Angeles, Calif., Spanish speaking. I graduated from Brigham Young University in 1987 and obtained my law degree in 1990.
“One time I sunk the hay wagon in mud up to the axle and it was loaded with hay. It was the middle of the night and I went back and woke up my dad and told him what happened and he said, ‘I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to get it out.’ So I unloaded every bale of hay and found a way to pull it out.
“I understand rural issues and am committed to the economic issues of rural Utah. I believe natural resources such as coal, timber and natural gas can be accessed and used responsibly while striking a balance to keep areas pristine and pure. I stand for dual use of public lands and want to help local economies to open up and get back to where we need to be. Local business people provide valuable resources.
“I am also interested in highway issues and want to serve on the resource and transportation commissions in Congress. We also need to invest in water development and continued use of water for agricultural purposes. This is an important seat to Congress and we need conservative leadership. George Miller from California is a ranking democrat and wants to drain Lake Powell, he also wants nine million acres of wilderness. We only have a five member Republican majority right now.
“My vision for rural Utah is to educate them here and keep them here. I am strong on tax issues and would have supported the Bush initiative to remove the death tax. On national security issues I would fight to secure a strong military to keep our nation as safe as possible. I want to keep our second amendment freedoms strong, I felt strongly about this issue while serving in the state legislature. America is in crisis, I will fight for a conservative agenda with smaller government and personal responsibility. The people in Utah can find a way to solve our problems.
“I feel very strongly about education. We are losing good teachers because they can’t afford to be in education. I support the Apple Initiative. The federal government owns 53 percent of the lands west of the Mississippi and 68 percent of the lands in Utah and we do not receive just compensation for these lands. The state can’t use those lands and they lose taxes on them. PILT payments do not make up for the taxes lost. Our state expends the smallest per pupil expenditures in the nation.
“I am stressing American family values, integrity and hard work. I am against partial birth abortions. I will be responsible and work hard to solve the problems and challenges in Utah,” said Swallow.