#EM2019 – Ben Porter – City Council Answers

Ben Porter – City Council Candidate

Give us a brief biographical sketch of yourself and your family. I wrote this in the third person for the Utah candidate profile page and am copy/pasting it here. For the record I don’t normally write in third person 🙂 Ben Porter was born in Murray, Utah and has since lived and visited all over the state. For the last couple of years Ben has lived in Eagle Mountain with his wife Vanessa and their five kids. After graduating high school, Ben joined the U.S. Air Force and served on active duty for four years, including two overseas tours of duty as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. After completing a four-year active duty term, Ben entered the Utah Air National Guard where he served for an additional few years. As an engineer, Ben has been active in the rapidly growing tech startup community of Utah. While tech can make our lives amazing and provides fertile ground for innovation, it is important to handle the economic externalities caused by it, particularly the tendency for housing costs to skyrocket. Politics and philosophy have been areas of interest for Ben for all of his adult life, particularly around liberty. While individual issues are varied and often quite nuanced, the general principle that Ben believes is that things should be done at the lowest/most local level as possible. If you are ever bored, Ben is also always up for a discussion about political contractarianism. Ben would love to talk more with you! Email ben@benporterforcitycouncil.com, find on Facebook, one of the meet & greets at the park, or we can schedule a time to grab a soda together. More information including meet & greet time/locations are available at https://benporterforcitycouncil.com/. How long have you resided in Eagle Mountain, and why do you call Eagle Mountain your home? I have lived here for two years. Initially we moved here because I took a job in Thanksgiving Point Park in Lehi, and we have always been “small-town” people. Eagle Mountain we hoped would be far enough away from Lehi that it would have a small town feel but close enough that the commute is not a nightmare. Now having been here for a couple of years, we love Eagle Mountain. There’s definitely a small-town feel here. The community is also great! My kids have found many friends and the other families have been very warm toward us. Decisions are made by the city council that you may or may not have knowledge of the ecology of the area and the possible repercussions of those decisions. What resources would you use to complete your due diligence regarding habitat and wildlife impacts? More broadly, there will be many decisions that come up where I would not have expert knowledge. In the tech and cyber security world this happens a lot, so I have had to deal with it quite a bit. I am a big believer in “know what you know, and know what you don’t know.” I try to live by that continually. When I don’t have a good understanding of a subject, I seek out experts that do and I try to learn from them and I carefully consider their advice. I do try to watch out for the fallacy of “Appeal to Authority” as well however. Simply being an expert in a subject matter doesn’t automatically grant you correct opinions, but it certainly does mean you should be listened to. As a city council member I will not make decisions blindly or ideologically, including regarding decisions that can impact things as important as ecology. Specifically regarding habitat and wildlife impacts, there are many resources available from the federal and state governments. I would absolutely make use of these resources. As issues come up, I try to be proactive in seeking out expert opinions and recommendations. What do you think is the role of non-disclosure agreements and economic growth? And how does it affect government transparency? Firstly let me say that government transparency is very important to me. Increasing it is one of my top priorities. That said there are cases where companies (particularly large ones) will require city staff to sign NDAs that prevent transparency as a precondition of business. There are various reasons for this that vary between competitive advantage and also board requirements. Most are legitimate reasons and are standard legal procedure. Unfortunately for those of us who value transparency, this is a fact of life. Even though I don’t like it, I acknowledge that sometimes there is no way around it. However, I will do what I can to ensure that only information that is absolutely necessary is kept secret, and that when the information is revealed it is done so in time for citizens to weigh in. After that fact, I will also push to release all the information so that there can still be accountability for past decisions, even if it is a bit late in that particular case to reverse it. The people are entitled to know what their government is doing, and to hold that government accountable if they aren’t acting in the people’s best interest and in good faith. What specific things do you feel that the city is doing exceptionally well? I feel that the city has done a good job at keeping taxes low, something I intend to continue. There will be a lot of temptation for city government to increase taxes, and I hope to be there to make sure that only necessary and appropriate things are budgeted and that we are stretching tax dollars to the absolute maximum. I hate taxes, and I want them kept to a minimum. What specific things in the city do you feel need substantial improvements? I’m not sure anything needs “substantial” improvement, but there are certainly things to do. We definitely need to address our growing traffic/congestion problems, and we need to continue bringing a diverse array of businesses to the city. Expanding our roadways and optimizing them is a high priority for me. Businesses can really help with infrastructure by putting the investment to build it out up front for construction. This can really help us get things done. For existing roadways that need expansion, I want to consider different proposals, including the possibility of bonding to get it done. Is the rural culture and feel of Eagle Mountain important to you? Eagle Mountain has a rural culture and feel, how do you think we can have growth and keep that feeling? Yes! The rural culture and feel is very important to me. I think to some extent tho, it’s unrealistic to expect to maintain a rural culture in perpetuity, despite sustained, rapid growth. However, this does not mean that Eagle Mountain in its entirety must lose the rural feel. We have a huge city geographically and we can (and should) use that to our advantage! We have plenty of room to maintain rural areas and sections, while still allowing other sections to develop commercially and suburban. Another important thing along this line is having abundant access to recreational opportunities outdoors. We have many hiking opportunities throughout the city and I will work to maintain that. With how much space we have, we don’t need to develop everything. I fully support the ridgeline building ban in place and will maintain that. We have many trails that I would like to preserve as well. Are there things city government should not provide for the people that it currently is? Why or why not? Now that the city no longer owns the gas and power plants, we are a lot closer to the proper role of government. While debate about whether a city should own it’s utilities is evergreen, I am not a big fan. I believe that the proper place of government is in regulating, not in owning/running. Regulation is also something to only be done where absolutely necessary. I very much applaud the city for doing away with the business license requirement. That was needless red tape in my opinion. If you’ve been in office and are seeking election, is there a topic you wished you had championed better, if so, what is it? If you are running but are not currently elected, what specific agenda’s would you like to champion though the office of city council and why? There is not a specific agenda that I have. I am running for a multitude of reasons. Some of the issues I care the most about are affordable housing, traffic management, and government transparency. I certainly intend to work on those issues if I am elected. Tell us something that sets you apart from the rest of the group of candidates? Probably the biggest thing that sets me apart from the other candidates is that I have a background in cyberwarfare and cybersecurity. Normally this would not be relevant to a city council race, but increasingly cyber-preparedness is becoming a big thing for governments, particularly municipalities. There was a city in Florida that got hit with ransomware and had to pay $600,000 in Bitcoin to get their data back. See: https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-city-paid-600k-hackers-shows-us-unprepared-for-threat-2019-6 As a member of city council, I could put my unique skills to work for Eagle Mountain. If Eagle Mountain had to hire a contractor it would be prohibitively expensive. I can help triage things and prioritize budgets, as well as provide technical guidance. I could (and am willing to) do this regardless of whether I win the race, but I would be much more involved in the details if I am elected. Mayor Westmoreland has done a good job so far preparing our city for disasters. I would be a good asset to add to the team to help prepare in other ways. What are your personal, political, and professional long term goals in regards to Eagle Mountain? My top goal is to have a great environment in which to care for and raise my kids. Keeping Eagle Mountain a family friendly place is very important to me, as is battling the skyrocketing cost of housing. Tremendous growth is anticipated for the city, and my goal is to navigate that growth in a way that leaves Eagle Mountain a great place to live, play, and work. I don’t currently have any long term political goals. I have never run for any office before and I don’t currently have political ambitions. What founding father (signer of the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution) has impacted your political philosophy the most and why? Do you have a favorite quote from a founding father? This is a very tough question! I have studied the founders and the Constitution quite a bit and they have all impacted me and inspired me in numerous ways. If forced to narrow it down to one, I would probably have to say George Washington. Washington was an inspiration in so many ways. He was a great man who truly loved his country, and sacrificed so much for it. I am struck by the words spoken by King George III of England about Washington. King George asked Benjamin West what Washington would do after winning independence. West replied, “They say he will return to his farm.” The king replied with, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.” George Washington could have been the King of America. Yet, he refused the throne and even chastised some (such as Alexander Hamilton) for even suggesting it. After watching the federal government struggle under the Articles of Confederation, Washington also answered the call of duty again, to create the US Constitution, and to serve as the first president of the United States (an important precedent-setting role). He did this despite wanting nothing more than to retire to his farm. My favorite (though possibly apocryphal) Washington quote is: “Government is not reason; it is not eloquence,—it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.” I also have to mention Patrick Henry, who I love and admire as well. Liberty flowed through his veins, much like I feel it does mine. His quote, “Give me liberty or give me death” speech was amazing and inspirational. He treated government like the fire that that Washington suggested it is. He would err on the side of too much liberty, as do I. Lastly Thomas Jefferson needs a mention. His ruthless rationality and skeptical mind made him an outstanding enlightenment thinker. His words have greatly inspired me as well. What service have you given to the residents of Eagle Mountain? While not specific to residents of Eagle Mountain, I did serve four years active duty military, including two overseas tours for Operation Iraqi Freedom, and then a few more years in the National Guard after that. This wasn’t entirely selfless as I used the opportunity to pay for college, and the medical insurance was very important for my young family at the time. But I could have achieved those in other ways as well. A deep sense of patriotism and love of country is what pushed me into military service. I also volunteer my time as an instructor in my Church, though this isn’t purely selfless either as I always feel I get more from the lessons and ensuing discussion as the instructor/facilitator than the attendees do. This also doesn’t serve all residents of EM, just those in my neighborhood. I also spend time picking up trash in the Eagle Mountain Bike Park, though this isn’t purely selfless either because I hike back there a lot and want to enjoy nature without encountering trash. I also have five kids, all under the age of 10. That requires a lot of my time outside of work. I guess the difficult answering this question comes down to what is meant by “service.”