I have paid close attention to the activities of the Orem City Council and Orem politics in recent years. I have attended City Council meetings. I have listened to every political candidate. I have visited the websites of PACS on both sides of the issues. I have checked state law on some of the issues. I have read the statements of the State Attorney General on unsupported accusations.

In a letter to the editor dated Dec. 8, 2023, Virginia Sokolowsky outlines a number of complaints against the Orem City Council. Certain members have been accused of forming an unholy alliance and then working against public interest, infringing on the rights of others and pursuing personal agendas.

Unsupported, unjustified, and speculative accusations against public officials are unbecoming and potentially damaging to public interest. Such activities are particularly egregious when they are calculated to create division and damage reputations. In my opinion, these activities fit the very definition of “Intimidation, manipulation, contention, confusion … false information and deception …”

In my experience, many of the city council votes are unanimous and without confusion or contention. Such criticism is in fact unbecoming and undeserved.

If the newly elected City Council members are true to their campaign promises of no BRT down State Street, no more high-rise developments or widening and restriping of 1600 North and 800 East with a potential future loss of private homes, then the new Orem City Council will act in much the same way our current City Council has acted. It will be interesting to watch.

W. Wesley Parish, Orem

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