Karen looks at Orem like it’s a living, breathing organism. Dave looks at Orem like it’s a business.

Karen trained as a chaplain, has a degree in regional planning, and worked for 13 years with Community Action Services and Food bank, helping struggling populations. Dave has a degree in business management and has been a businessman for 40 years, helping people manage their wealth.

Karen cares about building Orem as a community. Dave wants to build Orem as a company.

The differences between the two candidates became very apparent at the debates. As Dave talked about Prop 2, he came across as a businessman. He talked about having a plan and vision for Orem and he was determined to execute it no matter what detractors thought. He attacked Stronger Together like it was a rival business, not a group of his constituents. It was clear that he felt like he was the CEO of Orem, and he had a majority of the “board” for a few years, so he could execute his vision as he saw fit.

And listen, if you actually are the CEO of a company, and you have a majority of the shareholders, you can do that. You can run your company as you see fit. There are repercussions for bad choices, though. If you come into a company as a new CEO and start changing everything and not all of your employees are on board, it will not go well. (Ask all the Orem city employees that left/were terminated after Dave was elected.) I can see Prop 2 through this lens, too.

I imagine his thought process was something like, “Oh, an Orem-only school district? That’s an interesting idea. Could work. Get me some data on it and we’ll see.” They found a questionable company to do a feasibility study. The majority of the “board” liked what they heard, and decided to make it happen.

But the city council isn’t the board. They aren’t the only “shareholders.” If anything, all the citizens of Orem are the shareholders. And even though many shareholders told Dave they didn’t want it, he took it to a vote anyway. 72% of Orem’s “shareholders” rejected the proposal.

But that’s what happens when you treat a city like a business instead of a community. Even now, Dave talks about Prop 2 like it was nothing more than a failed business idea. “The people voted, they didn’t want it, now it’s over. Move on.” In one debate, Dave talked about Prop 2. “No politician would take that on. It’s political suicide. It’s too complicated.” Dave admits that he did not look at it like a politician would, but as a business man would. He looked at the numbers, saw a perceived deficit, and approached it like a businessman. “Let’s bring it to the taxpayers.” There was no thought for what it would do to the living, breathing organism that is our community. Prop 2 ripped right through Orem and we haven’t been the same since.

When Dave was asked how he could bring unity amongst this division, he did not speak of unity at all. Instead, he chose to attack the 72% of Orem citizens that voted down Prop 2. He says he was attacked by Stronger Together from “Day 1,” even though Stronger Together wasn’t formed as a group until spring of 2022. “It’s difficult to bring people together when they are attacking you. When I have a vision of … creating the best city in the state… If that is my standard, that’s what I’m going to do. So if I’ve got people attacking me, I’m going to stick with my standard. It’s pretty much impossible to collaborate with people attacking you. That’s been my experience with the group Stronger Together, and somehow, that needs to stop.”

His vision, his standard, people attacking him, stick to his plans. Every bit of that answer was focused on himself, and how Stronger Together needs to stop “attacking him.” He didn’t talk about trying to unify, listen, understand, etc. In fact, Dave has never reached out to Stronger Together leaders to understand where they were coming from. Why would he, when he sees them as a rival business to crush?

The contrast between that attitude and Karen’s couldn’t be more apparent. When asked that same question about healing divides, Karen talked about training to be a hospital chaplain. She talked about empathy, peacemaking, and being there for people. Karen cares for others.

I really liked Karen’s suggestion that UVU’s peacemaking program and policy institute work together to heal divides with Orem as a case study. That seemed like a brilliant way to both build on the partnership Orem has with UVU, as well as heal the divides in our community.

As I look at the communities supporting each of the candidates, the differences couldn’t be more obvious. Dave’s ‘community’ has sent mailers and text messages maligning a private citizen — not a candidate, a private citizen. The attacks that have come from PACs supporting Dave Young have been smear campaigns of the dirtiest sort.

Karen’s campaign launch was a service project for Family Haven, a family support and treatment center in Orem. A meet the candidate night hosted by her supporters featured a food drive for local school pantries. There have been no negative mails or texts from the PAC supporting Karen.

Which kind of community do you want to be a part of?

When Dave attacked Karen for supporting tax increases during her tenure as a city councilor, she said that those increases were to give the police & fire departments raises coming out of the Great Recession. Karen cares for our public safety men and women.

When Dave attacked her for Community Action Services and Food Bank for bringing in less money than they gave out in recent years, Karen made it clear why that happened.

“Back during Covid, our community was very generous with Community Action Services and Food bank. We received over $2 million in donations, and I believed it was irresponsible for us as an organization to hang on to that money that you and other members of the community gave us to distribute. So we did have losses that year, but that is because we were distributing money to help other people.” Karen cares about the community, but also being a wise steward of resources.

When the candidates were asked about addressing affordable housing, Dave said, “Well, we can do some things, but other things are kind of a pipe dream… There’s only so much you can do. You can’t change fundamental economics.”

Karen talked about working on this problem for her whole career. She said cities can do something: look at zoning and supporting first-time homebuyer assistance programs already available. “Having a variety of housing products that allow people to afford a home is a priority to me.” Karen cares about people who want to buy homes in Orem.

At the end of the last debate, Karen’s closing remarks were a good summation of her outlook and approach to leadership.

“I’m a listener. … I’m a collaborator. I want Orem to be its very best. I want Orem to thrive. I am interested in what every community member has to say. I pledge to be involved in the community … to have community meetings and regular office hours. We have so many common interests. I would appreciate your vote on November 4. But the most important thing is that you vote. If I’m not your candidate, that’s fine. But I want you to vote. I want you to value the voice that you have in your government. But I hope you do vote for me.”

Karen knows our community is better and stronger when more people participate.

Karen cares and wants to build community. Dave wants to build a company and crush the competition. I invited you to consider what you want Orem to be and vote accordingly.

I vote community. I vote care. I vote Karen McCandless for Orem Mayor.

Alyssa May is a resident of Orem.