It should be noted that the biggest Political Action Group in the state is the Realtors PAC. They endorse and support those candidates that will implement their goals and policies. One of their goals in Provo is to change our development process so the City Council no longer has the last word on development. This year they are supporting Steve Turley, Midge Johnson and Mark Sumsion. There is a reason why these three have raised the most money, and the Realtors PAC is one of the answers.

Dave, just because a PAC donates to a candidate does not mean that the candidate supports every position of the PAC. It means the PAC thinks one candidate aligns more with its interests than another. This is the purpose of a PAC and doesn't strike me as particularly sinister. The donors I would be worried about are the ones donating to everyone. You can be sure that donating to everyone is a sign of collecting favors to call due later.

It would be interesting if the Deseret News would give us the whole list of donors for each candidate, or point us to where we can find it.

Jarrod,

While it is true that donations don't equal results--Steve Turley and Midge Johnson have voted the realtors side quite often. If you compare Turley's goals from his initial race to the realtors platform, they look very similar.

At least there is some debate on the council. Steve Turley seems to be the odd man out most of the time. How many votes are 6-1 or 5-2? If Steve and Midge were not on the council we would only have one point of view which does not make good government. I just have to say, it is nice to have Steve Turley on the council because I am conservative and he is too. It is nice to have someone stand up for person property rights. I live a downtown neighboorhood and I support Steve Turley. The most important endorsement I have seen is the one he received for the Tax Payers Association.

Coy Porter all the way!!!

John, I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Dave said the Realtors PAC is big (true) and it supports candidates that support the same policies it supports (true). Then he said that one of their policies is to take the last word on development away from the city council (maybe - I don't know) and states that they are supporting Turley, Johnson, and Sumsion (true). The unstated implication that he is trying to draw is that these candidates therefore all support taking the last word on development away from the council. Somehow I doubt this, and I don't accept the PAC's donation as proof of the candidates' position on this issue.

Further, I wanted to point out that being supported by a PAC is not an automatic black eye for a candidate. If a candidate says "This is my position" and a PAC says "that's my position I want you to win" and gives the candidate money - that's how it's supposed to work. If a PAC gives money to everyone then later says "I helped you win do this for me" - that is not good. According to you, with Turley the former happened, which shouldn't bother anyone.