PROVO — Another Republican candidate for US. Senate for Utah, Jason Walton was a guest on KVNU’s For the People program last week. He acknowledged it’s a crowded field of individuals looking to replace Mitt Romney, but he’s excited to be a part of it.
“I’m a businessman, I’m not a politician, so I’ve actually never held political office, and I think that’s just one way that I’m distinguished. So, I started a business out of my garage years ago, and wasn’t able to pay myself anything for the first couple of years. (I) grew that business and fought against government corruption and big government. So, that’s just my perspective and that’s my experience, and now I look forward to being able to go do something about it,” he explained.
Walton now lives in Provo but grew up in Monticello, and area of Utah that can get overlooked when it comes to policy makers.
“My family was one of the six founding families in Monticello, back in the Hole in the Rock expedition. Actually, my great-grandfather, I’m only 52 years-old, but my great-grandfather was actually lowered over the cliff in barrels to set the charges in the Hole in the Rock expedition.
For the people up in northern Utah that don’t know about that, if you’re down from my neck-of-the-woods everyone knows about the Hole in the Rock expedition. So, I’m just proud of that heritage, I think of what it was like to be sent with one of six families to go where nothing existed, and to create a town.”
He feels that his background, from a small town in southeast Utah would serve him well on a high profile stage, such as the United States Senate.
“I know I don’t speak for everyone in San Juan County, but I mean….67 percent of Utah is owned by the federal government? Which is crazy, and when they put in the Bears Ears (monument) and other federal lands to say that ‘You Utahns, you don’t know how to take care of this, you don’t know what you’re doing – so we’re going to step up and do it for you.’ To some of us that’s offensive, and I think that we as Utahns know how to have a deep respect, that the land is part of us, and it’s part of our heritage.”
You can find out more about him at WaltonforSenate.com.
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