RaDene Hatfield RaDene Hatfield

Utah State Senate · District 16

A talk with the Utah County Democrat Delegates

May 3, 2008

Good Morning. How many of you in this room are Democrat Delegates for State Senate District 16—can you raise your hands? It is to you, the delegates, that I want to direct these remarks.

First I want to thank you for being here, for taking the time to participate in this remarkable democratic process. It is wonderful to see so many of you here! I am grateful for your willingness to participate in the government of our state.

I have gained a renewed appreciation for the privilege we have as US Citizens to participate in our own government. At Christmas time this year, our family traveled to serve in the remote mountains of Central America. There we experienced a country with an armed guard on every corner, a pitiful literacy rate, poverty like my children had never seen, and a reputation of murdering those who try to serve as judges or law makers in the land.

Contrast that to the experience I had just weeks ago as I stood with my family on the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg and the many memorials in Washington DC. Memorials honoring the people—the men and women who have given their lives to building or defending our free land. I shed many tears that week in Washington as I watched my sons and my other Timpview ‘band kids’ perform their moving musical tribute over and over again, and reflected on the blessed birth of our free country, of the sacrifices that have been made to keep our freedom alive, and of the work a head of us and our children to keep our free country strong.

I am grateful beyond words for the privilege of living in the United States of America and a feel a renewed sense of responsibility to re-engage as a participating citizen in the government of our state.

That is why I am here. I have had the privilege in the past couple of weeks to visit many of you in your homes. We have talked about issues like transportation, gas prices, and the quality of our air. We have talked about how our current Senator led the charge to give sacred tax dollars to the financing of non-accredited private schools. We have talked about his questionable ethics, of leading the legislature in accepting gifts from lobbyists, of traveling as a guest of special interest groups to learn more about private schools that are funded by vouchers, and of his trip to Italy with two lobbyists for companies that have made large contributions to his campaign and have benefited from legislation that our current Senator championed. We have talked about these things and more.

But today I want to talk about what I think this election will come down to: “Three E’s” Education, Ethics reform and Electability.

Like many of you I am first and foremost a parent. As a parent, I believe our community’s highest priority is providing a quality education for our children and grandchildren. I believe, and the recent voucher referendum verified this, that Provo voters want a state senator who treats funding public schools as a solemn priority, and will work in collaboration with all the stakeholders to find fiscally responsible ways to reduce class sizes and maintain the highest quality of teachers for our children.

This election is about restoring trust and an attitude of public service to our Utah legislature. To do this, we must take a hard look at the laws that govern campaign financing and the lobbyist/lawmaker relationship. A short hand way of saying this is “Ethics Reform.” I am appalled at the fact that the current Senator for our district has nearly $70,000 in his campaign account donated primarily by big business and special interest groups. I was stunned when I reviewed his campaign contributions report for the first 4 months of this year, and saw of the $23,000 in campaign contributions he has received, only one donation was made by an individual, only one donation made by a voter, only one citizen supported his campaign in the past 4 months. I learned that the incumbent’s campaign is being financed by special interest groups and big businesses that benefit from the way Bramble bullies legislation through in the Senate. It makes me wonder just who our current Senator represents. Is he the kind of representative our founding fathers envisioned when they established a government of the people, for the people, by the people?

I want my children to be able to look up to our state’s leaders like they do those founding fathers, those leaders who’s memorials they performed at last month, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln. I want my children and grand children to look to our State’s leaders as models of integrity and public service, not models of special interests and public bullying. I am not running to receive free Jazz tickets, expensive meals or more perks from lobbyists than any other legislator. In fact, I dragged my feet when others urged me to run. I don’t want to run against this Goliath—against the most powerful political player our state has seen in many years.

But in March there came a ‘tipping’ point, and I was finally persuaded by that same spirit that moved me to take on raising $50K to replace 16 year old marching band uniforms, or to help build the best family friendly Festival in the worldw—the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, or serve as the council PTA president, or any number of other volunteer positions I have held over the past 21 years&mash;that is the spirit of community service—a deep commitment and dedication to working for and serving my community. I believe we must restore a spirit of community service to our Senate seat, and help revive the Public Servant attitude that our country was founded on and this can only happen through Ethics Reform.

The last “E” in my shorthand look at this election is “Electability” An electable candidate is a qualified candidate. I am sure there are some that wonder if a woman who has been a stay at home mom for 21 years could be qualified to serve as a State Senator. I would like to remind those folks that before I made the decision to be a stay at home mom, I earned a master’s degree in public policy from one of the top government schools in the country. I excelled in my graduate work and had much practical experience as a student working in the Minnesota Attorney General’s office, on a legislative tax committee, and as an intern in Senator Jake Garn’s office.

Because of that ‘early’ education, I have years of experience listening and learning about legislative issues through that framework. That framework prepared others I learned and worked with to go on to become City Managers, Directors of non-profit organizations, commissioners in State Education Departments, and even a US Senator. I am electable because I am qualified.

Finally, in our town an Electable candidate is one who can receive bi-partisan support. As much as I might wish there were more registered Democrats in Provo, the fact is, whoever is elected in November will be elected by a large percentage of Republicans.

Because of my non-partisan work in the community, I am well known by many respected Republicans. Many of these Republican friends have pledged to support my Democratic campaign. I am excited at prospects of a committee of Republicans for RaDene. One friend told me that he will wear his Republican tie with a button that says “This Republican is voting for this Democrat” and go door to door with me this year. I find this truly remarkable.

Since the defeat of Referendum 1 and the recent stories in the media about the controversies in the Utah County Republic Party there is a tremor in the strong hold the Republican’s have on the voters in our town. I believe that this is the year that Provo voters will elect a Utah County Democrat to represent them at our State Legislature. I can be that representative because I am Electable.

There is much work to do between now and November. I was raised on a dairy farm in Hooper Utah. I know how to work hard. If you, the Democrat Delegates of Senate District 16 will nominate me to be our party’s candidate to challenge our current Republican Senator, I promise to focus on these “Three Es”—Education, Ethics Reform, and Electability, and will put in “farmer’s harvest season hours” to do the work it will take to win in November. Thank you.