Religion is likely to play big part in S.L. contests

In most places during election year, politics turn two camps — Democrats and Republicans — against each other.

In Salt Lake City, where the majority of voters lean Democratic and City Council races are nonpartisan, the politics of the races often break voters into two other parties — LDS and non-LDS.

This year, as 17 candidates, both LDS and not, vie for four open City Council seats, some want to keep "church talk" out of the campaign, while others are happy to bring it in.

Most candidates who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say they hope religion stays outside the political fray, while some non-LDS candidates wonder how affiliation affects the decision-making of LDS council members.

"I just hope that in this election religion won't be a hot topic, but I wouldn't back away from it," said Amy Jordan, 30, a Sugar House mom who is running in District 7.

That's a ditto for LDS candidate Janneke House, 23, who recently earned a master's degree in urban planning from the University of Utah after being involved with College Democrats.

"I don't want (religion) to become an issue during the campaign, but I'm sure it will," she said.

Jordan, whose previous political experience includes an internship with former Democratic state senator Pete Suazo, shares the view held by most LDS candidates — city government is about urban planning, downtown development, preserving open space and fighting crime — not the church to which someone belongs.

While non-LDS candidates don't dispute that view, they say religion does affect the votes of LDS Church members.

"I don't think it should matter. Unfortunately, all too often that bias does leak into their judgment," said Derek Dyer, 30, the executive director of the Utah Arts Alliance, who wants to unseat incumbent Eric Jergensen in District 3.

"I think a lot of LDS people would agree that having a 100 percent LDS City Council is almost bad for the religion in a way, because it adds to this kind of underlying animosity that LDS and non-LDS residents have towards each other."

Much has been made of the religious affiliation of current City Council members. All seven council members belong to the LDS Church, although some are more active than others.

The two most controversial issues to hit the council chambers over the past four years have involved the LDS Church, which lobbied heavily during both the Main Street Plaza fray and the Nordstrom relocation issue.

After a lot of community debate, the City Council overwhelmingly backed the solution that the LDS Church favored in both of those cases.