1st District candidates' backgrounds similar

Believe it or not, Utah's 1st District congressional race essentially pits King David vs. President Chester A. Arthur.

At least, the real candidates — Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, and Democrat Morgan Bowen — compare themselves, their challenges and styles to those two historical figures.

Bowen, an LDS seminary teacher who lives in Hyde Park, Cache County, refers to the Bible and David when he talks about his race. "It's David vs. Goliath. Goliath is the big money machine in Washington," he says of the 18-1 margin that Bishop has been able to outraise and outspend him.

He adds that Bishop has all the advantages and resources, and everyone expects him to win. "But sometimes you just have to stand up for something you believe in," and sometimes little Davids win. Much of his focus has been to attack the money going to Bishop, and the favors he says Bishop performs in return for it.

Meanwhile, Bishop — a former high school history and civics teacher and Utah legislator who has served three terms in Congress — defends himself against such attacks and compares himself to Chester Arthur, his favorite politician for his courage.

"Arthur was placed on a ticket as vice president to reward those who did not want public service reform. When James Garfield was shot, Arthur becomes president and does a complete turnaround. He wants to do what is right, even though it cuts him off from some of his old friends. He's not renominated," Bishop the history teacher says.

"I've always thought of that as kind of a model," he says. "What I really want to do is the right thing regardless of what the impact may be."

The stone Morgan slings most often at political giant Bishop asserts that he is essentially being bought by big-money interests, while Bishop insists he is interested only in doing the right thing like the courageous Arthur.

"We have a Congress that is bought and paid for, it's as simple as that," Bowen says. "We've got to change fundamentally how that business is done in Washington."

For example, Bowen points to how executives from Engineering and Software Systems Solutions (known as ES3) gave Bishop a total of $17,400 — about $1 of every $14 he raised — and he says Bishop helped it obtain an earmark in a spending bill worth millions.