Former School Board member Linnea Barney enters state Senate race

OREM — Linnea S. Barney, a former member of the Utah State Board of Education, is running as a Democratic candidate for the Utah State Senate in District 15 in hopes of restoring balance to the Legislature.

Barney said when she tried to work within the Republican Party as a moderate member, she was frustrated by the control exerted by conservative party members.

"It wasn't long before I realized that the moderate, mainstream residents of Utah County didn't have a voice in the state Legislature," she said. So when approached by Utah County Democrats to run, she decided to enter the race.

"In order to have a bipartisan system, it's better if you have two parties," Barney said. "What we have now is an oligarchy or something very much like it."

Since Barney served three four-year terms on the Utah State Board of Education and three years on the Utah Board of Regents and is a former PTA state officer, it's no surprise that education is at the top of her list of concerns.

"Legislators from Utah County have been doing their best in the last 15 years to systematically destroy public education in favor of parental control in home schools or neighborhood schools, but not in pubic schools," she said. It's an approach that discriminates against families that can't afford private education.

Barney faces an uphill battle. In 2006, the current office holder, Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, was elected to a third term with 68 percent of the vote.

E-mail: mhaddock@desnews.com