Fur's flying in Provo council races

PROVO — Autumn in Provo. The leaves are turning and the candidates are stewing.

Yes, it's another doozy of an election year in Provo. It's a catfight going into the November election — and some say a few candidates aren't playing fair.

Claims of biased debates that favor certain candidates swirl Provo's City Council election.

And at least two candidates claim they are being pigeonholed by their opponents. Steve Turley and Midge Johnson allege incumbents Stan Lockhart and Barbara Sandstrom are teaming up with newcomers Melanie McCoard and Cynthia Dayton.

And Turley and Johnson say the four are campaigning with an "us vs. them" strategy.

"It's all a slant to help some positioning," said Johnson, who is running against McCoard for the District No. 3 seat. "Nobody bunched us together except them. The four bunched together and bunched us up as the enemy."

Both Turley and Johnson said they are running independent campaigns and should not be grouped together as "the enemy." Johnson said the group is trying to split the election along zoning-issue lines.

The foundations of the campaign fight could be found within a group called "ProvoCitizens," which says it is independent and carries the mission of informing voters.

It was first organized with the name "Citizens for Zoning Restraint," and advocated property rights. They spearheaded efforts to fight against controversial zoning laws.

Roger Brown, a leader in the group, created an online form to compare the candidates. He touts it as an independent, unbiased forum to learn about the election.

But some City Council members and City Council hopefuls believe ProvoCitizens leaders wrote inflammatory questions that only pushed the groups' zoning agenda. Eight of the 16 questions asked of candidates are related to zoning issues.

"The questions themselves are phrased in such a way that they are tremendously biased and inflammatory," said McCoard. "They are trying to drum up fodder for their own cause."

Lockhart, McCoard and Sandstrom refused to participate in the candidate comparison.

Allegations of bias don't stop there. A planned debate Tuesday, sponsored by the Provo City Youth Government and the neighborhood chairs program, was cancelled after allegations that the format of the debate was stacked in favor of certain candidates.