In 1972, a young Stephen Sandstrom got on his bike and rode from his family's home in south Orem to downtown Provo -- without his mother's knowledge -- for the sole purpose of picking up and distributing material for then-President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign.

"I didn't know much about him," Sandstrom said. "But he was a Republican.

"I've always loved politics, ever since I was young."

Sandstrom is now in his third term on the Orem City Council, and he said he hopes later this month to become the GOP nominee for state House District 58. Republican voters will decide between Sandstrom and incumbent state Rep. Jim Ferrin, R-Orem, in the party primary June 27. The winner will appear on November's election ballot.

Among the issues being discussed are immigration and education funding, and Sandstrom says Utah has been "soft" on illegal immigration and hasn't done enough to pay for public schooling.

This being a political race, however, Sandstrom has launched criticism at his opponent for being a charter school advocate in the Legislature while also being involved in a charter school development business. Sandstrom has faced questions about his own business as well -- specifically, how he ended up with an unpaid federal tax liability of almost $129,000.

Education funding -- always a concern of voters -- is high on constituents' lists this year, Sandstrom said. Though lawmakers worked hard to pass an income tax cut earlier this year, Sandstrom said people tell him they'd rather see more school funding than receive a $100 or $200 reduction in yearly taxes.

"People are concerned about class sizes, they're concerned about the turnover of teachers," he said. "Our teachers only average two to three years in the state because our pay is so low. We have a very good core of older teachers right now who are going to be retiring soon, and if we can't attract and keep good, solid teachers, we're going to get into this cycle."

Lawmakers were able to pump some money into schools this year, he said.

"There was an increase, but with inflation, with the price of diesel going up for school buses, the cost of utilities, and everything else, a lot of the money ... did not get to the classroom," Sandstrom said. "It wasn't there for technology in the classroom, it wasn't there for teacher development. That's the kind of money we should put into education."

Utah also has made some missteps in dealing with illegal immigration, he said -- though he was careful to note that he has two legal immigrants (one from Mexico, one from Argentina) working for him at Sandstrom Associates Architecture.

"Our state has been quite soft on illegal immigration," he said. "We gave them the driving privilege card, which I'm opposed to."

The card allows illegal immigrants to drive legally and obtain car insurance but is not supposed to be honored as an official ID.

Sandstrom says he also opposes offering in-state tuition to children of illegal immigrants who complete school in Utah.

"We are actually facilitating the illegal aliens being in our state -- being complicit in it," he said. "My opponent has voted for all these issues, and that's where we differ quite a bit."

He also criticizes Ferrin's involvement in U.S. Charter Development, which builds charter schools, while also working on charter school legislation.

"I've been accused of bad politics, but if you're just discussing the legislative record of a sitting state legislator ... that's not being dirty," Sandstrom said. "Basically, approximately 50 percent of the legislation that Mr. Ferrin's ran during his entire tenure in the Legislature has been related to charter schools. We basically have a single-issue legislator."

He then read from his campaign literature: "He has not broken any laws or any House rules, but it's still a troubling public ethics issue when a legislator uses his position to focus on legislation that provides him with direct financial benefit."

Sandstrom's business became the focus of some unwanted attention when federal tax liens -- filed against Sandstrom in 2004 and 2006 for a total of $128,997 in unpaid taxes -- began circulating.

The latter lien, for $3,383, was filed in error and will be removed soon, Sandstrom said Wednesday. The rest comes from a period of time between 2000 and 2002 when the company's bookkeeper mishandled the job. That employee was fired.

"Some of it was negligent, some of it I was suspicious of the activity, but it's nothing I was ever able to prove," Sandstrom said. He said his attorney advised him simply to "learn a hard lesson" because it would be difficult to prove criminal activity.

He has since negotiated a settlement with the IRS and has paid more than $50,000 of the amount owed, with the balance likely to be paid off within a year, Sandstrom said.

"As far as I'm concerned, it is a non-issue. It's a resolved issue," he said. "Really what this is, this is an absolute personal smear against me."

Steve Sandstrom

Age: 42

Profession: architect

Hometown: Orem

Education: bachelor's degree in political science, BYU