Provo council races heat up

Provo Councilman Steve Turley continues to wield the weapons of campaigning, whether grabbing awards or blanketing the city with campaign signs.

He deftly gathered up a nod today from the Utah Taxpayers Association, a group that "promotes efficient, economical government and fair and equitable taxation." Turley was awarded "Friend of the Taxpayer," the first municipal official to receive this award in the association's 85-year history.

His citywide District 2 opponent, Coy Porter, is already on his heels after city firefighters recently endorsed Turley, despite the fact that Porter retired as their chief just months ago. Porter said he's been contacted by more than a dozen firefighters indicating they didn't agree with the endorsement.

But such endorsements or notoriety can carry a lot of weight, said Kelly Patterson, director for Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy.

"In some circles they argue it has more impact at the local level than it does at the national level," Patterson said.

That's because in a national election there are many places to track down information about candidates. In local elections, information is a rare commodity and knowing where a like-minded group stands can more easily influence voters.

While endorsements typically cut two ways -- if voters don't align with the group they could end up voting for the opponent instead -- in Utah County it more likely aids a candidate because of the area's homogeneity, Patterson said.

And while endorsements don't cost anything, other campaign methods do, as Howard Stone is finding out.

The Provo write-in for council District 4 spent most of Friday night and into the wee hours of Saturday replacing campaign signs that were being taken down almost as fast as they were being put up.

"It was quite a night," said Stone, who has about 150 signs.

About three weeks ago, 25 percent of his signs simply disappeared, he said, and he was forced to buy dozens more. However many signs Stone has pales in comparison to Turley, the undisputed king of campaign signs.

Turley said Monday he has a full-time person putting up about 25 new signs and replacing 25 others that have disappeared each day. In total, he has hammered Provo with about 1,000 signs.

"I think the benefit is that it's the cheapest," Turley said of why he uses so many signs to campaign. The signs are also being reused from four years ago, he said.

Losing signs may be the cost of doing business, but that doesn't mean Stone has to like it. He filed a police report, though he doesn't expect the perpetrator to be caught.

"They said some of the other folks that are running for council [are hit, too] but not quite as badly as I have been," he said.

Candidates also rely on direct mail pieces or door-to-door contact. In fact, most candidates contacted last week and Monday were knocking on doors when they answered the phone. That includes Porter, who with only 232 signs, said he's taking the grass-roots approach and finding out that Provo is a sizeable place when one is on foot.

"When you're driving around in a fire truck, it's not that big," Porter said.

Whether using old signs, relying on endorsements or simply using the old fashioned method of going door-to-door, the big spending potential of this year's election hasn't seemed to materialize.

Turley, who early on said he would spend $40,000 if needed to win, backed down Monday.

"Maybe that was a bold statement made by a headstrong candidate," he said.

The next deadline for campaign finance reporting is Oct. 30, a week before the election.