(Yesterday's column ran a profile on Jacquie Detton Capon, a candidate for mayor of St. George, Utah. Today's column looks at Ms. Capon's opponent, incumbent mayor Dan McArthur).

Three-term St. George Mayor Dan McArthur has been accused by his opponent, Jacquie Capon, of being a member of the city's "good old boy network."

As if that's a bad thing.

As far as the 57-year-old McArthur is concerned, being a part of St. George's "aristocracy" is high praise indeed. Where he came from got him where he is and, if he has any say in the matter, it will get him where he's going. "I've bought my burial plot here," he says. "I'll be here till I die."

Being a McArthur in St. George is like being a Kennedy in Massachusetts. The family's roots, political and otherwise, run as deep as the town itself. Daniel Dalton McArthur is named after his great-grandfather, Daniel Duncan McArthur, who was with the first group of settlers that were sent in the winter of 1861 by territorial leader and LDS Church president Brigham Young to the hot and barren southern Utah outpost.

The first Daniel McArthur helped lay out the streets, helped find water, was the area's first LDS Church stake president and was elected the city's first mayor.

As the city's current mayor, the second Daniel McArthur has helped lay out more streets, helped find more water, and, since first being elected in 1993, seen St. George through considerably more growth than his great-grandfather might ever have imagined. Well more than half of all the building permits issued in 143 years of city history have been issued during McArthur's 12 years in office.

If he survives another bid for re-election in November and wins a fourth term, McArthur doesn't hesitate in listing his priorities: "traffic and growth," he says, "those are the big two. But at the same time, we don't ever want to forget where we came from. We don't ever want to lose what I call the Dixie spirit."

It isn't easy for opponents to throw mud at McArthur, a welder by trade. His years in office have been as scandal-free as it gets for modern politicians. Tom DeLay he's not. He had to clean up a vacant lot he owned once when someone complained, and that's about as bad as it's been. No allegations of kickbacks, or double-dipping or graft.

Plus, as a part-time mayor, he's cheap. "Why pay a full-time mayor when you can pay a part-time mayor who works full time?" he asks.

He's making no predictions what might happen on Election Day, but does admit it is comforting to know that even though the percentage is going down, there are still a lot of his kin who will be marking their ballots.

"I remember a family reunion we had for Daniel D. McArthur's posterity when I was a kid," he says. "About 4,600 people showed up and St. George only had 7,000 people at the time."

But for every plus there is always a minus.

"The girl I liked in school was there," remembers Dan wryly. "Turned out she was my cousin. That was kinda hard to take."

When you're a fourth generation McArthur in St. George, it goes with the territory. Historically speaking, you come from a long line of good, old boys.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.