State school board candidates chosen

Gov. Olene Walker announced Friday who will be on the November ballot for the state school board, the day after she decried parts of the process that got them there.

Walker chose the following State Board of Education candidates:

• District 7: John C. Pingree (i), and Jonathan George Jemming, both of Salt Lake City.

• District 11: Bill Colbert and Mark E. Towner, both of Draper.

• District 12 : Mark Cluff, Alpine; and David J. Adamic, Cedar Hills.

• District 13 : Brian F. Woodfield, Provo; and Thomas A. Gregory, Orem.

Elections also will be open in District 4, where Richard Sadler runs unopposed. Districts 1 and 8 each had just two candidates file: Phillip Geary and Teresa Theurer (i); and Janet Cannon (i) and Quentin Thomas Wells, respectively.

The governor selects school board candidates from a list of names forwarded by the State Board of Education Nominating and Recruiting Committee. The committee of 12, also appointed by the governor, has equal representation by business and education interests.

Education circles have feared changing from separate committees for each district to the single committee this year would favor business interests. Some say fears were realized when the committee voted not to forward the name of District 12 incumbent Mike Anderson. The committee also passed over former National School Boards Association President Mossi White, who sought the District 13 seat.

Walker addressed the unexpected action in her KUED monthly news conference Thursday.

"Unless there is a real reason to dump somebody, it is a real disservice" to not nominate an incumbent, she said. "If an individual has been elected by the people and without apparent cause is not chosen to be on the ballot, it seems remarkable. But I have not met with the committee to see what they were thinking."

Nominating committee representatives say they followed the law, which intends to diversify the school board. Up to half the committee's education representatives also apparently could not attend the final meeting, when votes were taken.

The nomination process, unique in Utah election law, was set in 1991 in hopes of ensuring quality candidates to a relatively obscure yet influential public body.

When asked if the process is democratic, Walker said Friday: "If changes or revisions need to be made, they should be done during the next legislative session."

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com; jloftin@desnews.com