Buhler says he didn't vote for vouchers

Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Dave Buhler is taking issue with two mailers sent out by the Ralph Becker campaign that paint him as a past supporter of school-voucher legislation.

The mailers cite Buhler's favorable votes on four bills that Becker considers voucher legislation while serving in the state Senate from 1995 to 1998. All of the bills proposed the use public tax dollars to subsidize private schools, Becker said, making them vouchers — even if they were called something else.

"A voucher by any other name is still a voucher and still harms public education," Becker said.

Buhler says the mailers misrepresent his record, and he defended his votes Thursday during a press conference to announce his "to-do" list for education.

"(Becker) implies that I supported vouchers and voted for private-school vouchers when I was a member of the state Senate," he said. "This is simply not true. I'm against vouchers. ... The votes that Rep. Becker points to in my record are not voucher votes."

SB58 in 1995, run again in '96 as SB22, called for a private alternative schools pilot program to assist at-risk students. The bill called for $50,000 to be allocated to the state Board of Education to pay for those students to attend private alternative schools.

Buhler said he voted for the legislation because the money was to be used "very limited and defined circumstances," unlike the current voucher legislation.

The other bills had to do with education tax credits, SB61 in 1997 and SB115 in '98 — again is two versions of the same bill. The legislation sought to give an income tax credit for tuition paid to private schools. The determination of students who could participate in the program was to be made by local school boards.

"I trust our local school boards, and that's why I supported these bills," Buhler said. "To compare that to a voucher bill is like saying both a fly-swatter and a nuclear bomb are weapons of mass destruction."

Becker said he believes Buhler's legislative voting record on the bills are important to note because it highlights the differences between the candidates.

"The simple fact is that Dave voted with the Republicans for all of these bills," he said. "That fact is not disputed."

Buhler was joined Tuesday by former Gov. Olene Walker, a vocal vouchers opponent, encouraging voters to cast their ballots for the two-term Salt Lake City councilman.