LOGAN – Just two days before a scheduled face-off against state Rep. Jason Thompson (R-River Heights), independent candidate Patrick Belmont has thrown down a gauntlet to his incumbent opponent and other state GOP lawmakers.
“A troubling pattern has emerged in Utah legislature,” according to Belmont. “When faced with conflict or uncertainty, legislators have often responded by centralizing authority, limiting who can challenge government decisions and moving forward haphazardly.”
As a result of that trend, Belmont believes that GOP awmakers have failed to foster a strong democracy and equally failed to grapple with the hard questions that should result in the process of good governance.
In a Sept. 7 social media post, Belmont cited those questions as being about the need for clearly identified state goals and the values that should guide sound decision-making.
Moreover, the most important question, he wrote, is “who gains and who loses,” not just financially, but in every way that matters.
Belmont is attempting to unseat Thompson to win the right to represent voters in House District 3 in the Utah Legislature.
Those opponents are scheduled to meet from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10 during a candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Cache Valley at the First Presbyterian Church in Logan.
The Sept. 10 forum will be moderated by Tom Williams of Utah Public Radio and will be streamed live on www.UPR.org
In addition to Belmont and Thompson, the forum is expected to feature candidates for Districts 2, 3, 5 and 7 on the Cache County Council; District 2 and 5 in the Utah Legislature; and Utah’s 2nd Congressional District.
A professor at Utah State University, Belmont is best known as a former vice chair of Logan’s Renewable Energy & Sustainability Advisory Board and a staunch opponent of recent policy decisions by the members of the municipal council that aligned with Utah’s “all of the above” approach to energy resources.
Given his expressed concern about its potential environmental consequences, Belmont is also one of many voices raised in opposition to the proposed Stratos Project data center in Box Elder County.
The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan, non-profit group founded in 1920 to promote voting rights and provide voter education to all American citizens.
The First Presbyterian Church is located at 178 West Center Street in Logan.