"Police have to rely on their instincts," he said. "They have to rely on what it is that makes them uncomfortable." But too many officers find it is race and ethnicity they are responding to. He said that could be solved with a more racially diversified police force.

Skordas touted his own work in helping to write the state's first hate-crimes law, which he said was gutted and made unenforceable by Republican lawmakers. He said a workable hate-crimes law needs to be passed in Utah within the next year or two.

And Shurtleff spoke at length about his record helping the Hispanic community fight the so-called English-only law that was approved by Utah voters four years ago. Now that it is law, he said, he has found ways to work around it. For example, his office is not allowed to print documents in Spanish, so he has a volunteer who translates documents into Spanish and distributes them.

Major party candidates were not the only ones on hand. Personal Choice Party gubernatorial candidate Ken Larsen was allowed to give a speech, though his time was shorter than that given to other candidates, and he did not field questions.

"The first principle of Americanism is we are all equal," he said. "Not just if you are born in America or speak English or look a certain way. The second principle is that we all have certain rights — the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If it is your pursuit of happiness to come to America, you have that right."

He held up a photograph of "my girlfriend, mi amiga" — the Statue of Liberty. He read its welcoming message to immigrants from other nations.

"What happened to that?" he said. "What happened to that dream? Why is America closing the door?"

He said his approach to immigration would be that "everyone who comes is welcome." Once here, they would not be able to receive welfare for their first five years in the country. The American dream, he said, is "freedom, not free food, not free education, just freedom."

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E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com