Candidate Question – Founding Fathers

cedarvalleysentinel.com sent a survey to each of the City Council and Mayor Candidates for the 2017 election. The questions included ones about roads, education, city issues, city strengths, as well as a few to get to know the candidates on a more personal level. Over the next few weeks, those answers will be published on cedarvalleysentinel.com. If you have missed any, want to catch up, or just review them again, you can do so by visiting the Cedar Valley Sentinel (formerly i84005) Election Center at http://cedarvalleysentinel.com/elections/. Feel free to share these articles on social media. Lets get the word out and increase voter participation in this election cycle. Eagle Mountain is a great city, and it can be made even greater by our elected officials, but they need input from the residents. Question: Do you have a favorite founding father? If so, who is it, and what is a favorite quote, or ideal that founding father had that you try to emulate? (It should be noted, that I did not define Founding Fathers, I left the interpretation of that up to the Candidates.) Jared Gray – City Council Candidate

Different then most, I was running around this area before it was even a thought of a city. One of the major land owners was Grant and Rose Smith. There are streets and subdivisions in our town named after them. When I think of Eagle Mountain, they come to mind. And in my youth working for Grant, he was like a father figure to me who I looked up to and admired. The Smith’s are founding fathers of this Cedar Valley going back multiple generations.

Melissa Clark – City Council Candidate

I have admiration for all of them and the sacrifices that they made to found this nation. George Washington has always been a favorite of mine because he had glory and power and people wanted him to be king and yet he said “No” and served only two terms. He truly put the good of the nation ahead of his on best interests.

Debbie Hooge – Full Time Mayor Candidate

I have great respect for our Country’s founding fathers. What they did was no small task. Although it is hard to decide, I suppose it would be George Washington. I chose him, because he had the will to stop the people who wanted him to become king. Power needs to be accompanied by humility and a desire to create something that is bigger than you. Washington could have decided America was about him. Instead he realized that the dream he was fighting for was for everyone who chose to call themselves Americans. It is probably one of the greatest legacies he could have given us; to quietly step aside when it was time.

Drew Curley – City Council Candidate

Being raised in Delaware and Pennsylvania, I was brought up at a very young age to respect the founding fathers. My personal favorite is Benjamin Franklin. My favorite quote, which is also one of his biggest ideals, is “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” He was never one to contentedly sit along the sidelines, and nor am I.

Jan Preece – City Council Candidate

My favorite Founding Father: I don’t have a favorite Founding Father, but I do love American History. The timeline leading up to the Declaration of Independence to me is fascinating and I love the history behind that document and how it came to be. I know everyone knows this first part, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. But my favorite part is the next few lines. “That to secure these rights governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principle and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” The power of government comes from the people whom politicians represent and this is a sacred trust.

Stephanie Gricius – Part Time Mayor Candidate

I’m going to go with George Mason. He refused to compromise on his fundamental beliefs, even though, for him, that meant not signing the Constitution. I love and support the Constitution but the lesson is still there. Compromise is good but not when it means compromising your most basic beliefs and values.

Jonathan Vail – Mayor Candidate

One of my favorite founding fathers would be Samuel Adams. He was willing to speak his mind freely and call things as he saw them. I try to emulate this trait in how I call a problem as I see it. If I think something is not right, then I say so. It is only by stating a problem, that we can all start a discussion on how to fix it. As for a quote from him that I like: “The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men.” –Samuel Adams (source)

Tyler Shimakonis – City Council Candidate

If I am going to pick one Founding Father I am going to choose Alexander Hamilton because of his commitment to his family, religious beliefs, and acceptance of other people. I also find it fascinating that in the duel in which he died many believe Alexander Hamilton fired the shot wide so as to not harm Aaron Burr. Even during his death he stuck to his principles. One of my favorite quote from a founding father that encompasses my beliefs is as followed: “If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?”- John Adams

Matt Visser – City Council Candidate

I’m not sure I have a favorite founding father. I believe they all played an important role in building our great nation. So I looked up some quotes and found a few i liked. I’ll share one that explains how I feel when I’ve tried to deal with government. “To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. ” – Thomas Paine What we need now, is people who are willing to listen. Even when we disagree on issues that make up our core values. We can find common ground somewhere, and try to understand the other point of view.

Donna Burnham – City Council Candidate

I am going out on a limb with this one by choosing Abraham Lincoln, who is not in the traditional sense, a founding father. But he did take a nation that was being destroyed from within and set it on a path to reunification. Lincoln understood how to work with people from diverse backgrounds—who often vehemently disagreed with him—by validating their concerns and coming together to find solutions to often overwhelming problems. I try to follow his example in my dealings with others. One of my favorite quotes is “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them friends?”