Deseret News | Dolan — or Dr. Phil?

From Deseret News archives:

Dolan — or Dr. Phil?

By Shawn Mansell and Nicole Warburton
Deseret Morning News

Published: Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007 4:57 p.m. MST

| E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + -

Page:
1
2
Next >

Sandy mayor Tom Dolan earned a few new nicknames Wednesday: Dr. Phil, Colonel Mustard, Orville Redenbacher, and the Monopoly man.

The source of the new monikers? Some of his constituents, who were asked to identify photos of local officials, during interviews by the Utah League of Cities and Towns on politics and the governmental process.

At a meeting Wednesday of local mayors and legislators, the league presented a video with clips from the interviews. The league is using the video to kick off a public-education campaign about government. Details of the campaign, which will start in September, are still being finalized, said Ken Bullock, the league's executive director.

"It's easy to forget who does what and how it's paid for," Bullock said in an interview Wednesday. "People take for granted turning on the tap or flushing the toilet."

Story continues below

The also don't have much knowledge about local or state officials — at least according to the video presentation. Beginning in November, after the elections, the league interviewed a mix of about 150 people in the Salt Lake area, from University of Utah students to parents shopping at the mall. Some people knew the answers to the questions the interviewers posed, but as a whole, most did not, said Lincoln Shurtz, the league's legislative analyst.

Few of those interviewed knew who Dolan was. More recognized Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. from a photo, but one man said the governor and first lady Mary Kaye Huntsman looked like "tour guides."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, was compared to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, while one person said that House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, looked like a younger Donald Trump, only "fatter" and "without the hair." One young female respondent, however, did call Curtis "hot."

Curtis said he though the video was "cute." But he added that he thought it would be difficult to better educate the public about government.

"I think generally, there's more of an apathy from folks," Curtis said in an interview after the video presentation. "When you're a kid in elementary school, you learn these things. The difficult part is that you don't stay involved. So many things compete for your time."

If the video is any indication, the League and elected officials will need to do some heavy lifting to educate the public about government.

Besides the jabs at Dolan and Curtis, there were some other doozies among the answers from those interviewed for the video. When asked what a "municipality" was, respondents said it was "an ear bone" or a "jail," or "it's like a little city."