Provo mayor race gets ugly

PROVO — The race for mayor in Provo is getting nasty.

Those who want to derail Mayor Lewis Billings' pursuit of a third term anonymously supplied the Deseret Morning News with a purported copy of his Brigham Young University grade report. They say he misrepresents facts about his college education, and Billings told the newspaper Tuesday night he will change his campaign literature.

Some who support Billings but oppose challenger Dave Bailey are pointing to Bailey's ties to a well-known Democrat because they hope it will damage him in heavily Republican Provo — even though the mayor's race is nonpartisan.

Individuals involved in these political maneuvers say they are acting independently — not as part of either candidate's campaign.

It's a familiar tactic in Provo.

Billings defeated Bailey four years ago to win re-election by 362 votes. That race was tense, but it didn't have as much third-party activity as this year's election or Billings' first run for mayor in 1997.

"This is definitely a darker race," Billings said. "This is getting personal."

He called the release of his BYU grades a "crime in our city" and said he has consulted a lawyer. He is calling for BYU to conduct an internal investigation.

The document is not a transcript but an academic summary. Either way, it is supposed to be private, protected by a federal education privacy law, university spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said.

The document shows lackluster performance by Billings as a freshman during the 1974-75 school year, but Jenkins wouldn't verify its authenticity because of the law. Billings said he couldn't either without requesting an official transcript for comparison.

Jenkins said if a university employee leaked the information, it could result in a termination.

Billings does not have a college degree and though he has not claimed to have one, some residents say he has overstated his educational credentials.

"I haven't seen his resume but I believe he fabricated his college background," said local developer Stephen Stewart, who on Tuesday launched www.saveprovo.com to comment on all of Provo's political races and express frustration that the city has withheld approvals for his development project.

"In this election and others," Stewart wrote in a letter posted on his Web site, "Billings has been plagued by the rumor that his credentials ('studying engineering and business at BYU' and being close to graduation) are distorted or even falsified. I challenge the mayor to come clean: Produce a BYU transcript. . . . "