Carbon County Chamber of Commerce Provides Meet the Candidates Opportunity

For the October Carbon County Chamber of Commerce (CCCC) luncheon, a meet the candidates event was hosted for the upcoming election. This event was hosted at and catered by USU Eastern.

Candidates were given an allotted time to speak to the crowd and each were given the same amount of time to keep it fair. First up to speak was Oran Stainbrook, who is running as an Independent for State Senate District 26. Stainbrook, who is a born and raised Utah native, grew up learning the value of hard work, personal responsibility and self-sufficiency. He stated that it is at the core of his identity and used it to work his way through college, build businesses and bring the Kenilworth store back to life.

Stainbrook was raised LDS and said that Christian values are central to who he is. He always strives to embody Christ consciousness, which he said is loving your neighbor, being a peace maker and living a life in service to others. Stainbrook credited himself as a jack-of-all-trades with a wide variety of experience.

Stainbrook ended his speech by promising to stay in close contact with the people that he represents throughout the district, wishing to increase transparency. He is proud to call Carbon County home.

Following Stainbrook, State House of Representatives District 67 Christine Watkins, Republican, spoke. She is running for re-election in her position and stated that she always tried to make where she lives a better place, as she loves where she lives and tries to serve. Watkins stated that she is not in her position for fame or money, but the desire to give back. Watkins stated that she was the founding legislature for the Eastern Leadership Academy (ELA) for Utah and is working with the state program to find funding for the next session so everyone can participate.

Watkins stated that she considers it a game changer to educate and train leaders that are coming up. She is the chair of multiple committees and is very active in child welfare. Joe Christman, who is running against Watkins as a Democrat, spoke next and began by thanking the CCCC for the opportunity.

Christman touched on the function of the chamber itself, saying it is the most active in eastern Utah. The chamber exists to serve its members and cater to the community. Christman then stated that his priorities are the economy, energy, environment, housing, technology, taxes, regulations, workforce education, public education and more.

Christman has been involved in drug abuse and enforcement his whole life. He stated that there is a task force being formed and wants to be on that, as he is very in-tune to the fentanyl problem. Christman has been in law enforcement and medicine and said he believes the opioid problem is one of the biggest prohibiting factors of growth in the community.

Turning the attention to the seat of Carbon County Commissioner, David Palacios, a Democrat, was next at the podium. Palacios has worked in law enforcement, moving all the way from police officer up to town marshal, and has always enjoyed leadership roles. He retired after 20 years and came back home to Helper City. Palacios began work at Savage hauling coal as a truck driver before becoming the Operations Manager. He has been involved in the energy industry for a very long time.

Palacios credited himself as a good old-fashioned Carbon County Democrat, saying he is all about energy and fossil fuels, as well as alternative choices, though he believes that ideas need to ferment better there. Palacios stated that he thinks the power plant and coal is going to be here for a long time.

Energy and public safety is very important to him. For his entire life, Palacios has been in the service industry and he said that he feels if he can’t make a difference or do something rewarding to himself or helping others, he probably should not be involved. Part of his inspiration in being a commissioner is that he wants to help. He wants to jump in and take care of the community, the people that live and work here and the county employees.

Palacios concluded by saying that he will not have another job, he will be a full-time commissioner. Jared Haddock, a Republican, running against Palacios, then spoke. He began by saying that every person, regardless of their political party, is doing the best that they can.

Haddock acknowledged that government seems to be very divisive and he found that even just by filing, there were many that were already upset though he had not said anything yet, due to his party alone. Due to that, he began to wonder if he should back out and asked himself in the county really needed him. He stated that he then felt the greatest rebuke of his life. He spoke about his grandfather, who lost his leg in the war and said it was a privilege to give that leg and it would have been a privilege to give his life for the freedoms that America has.

Haddock said that he has respect for every person that is willing to run in any position, taking public scrutiny, then questioned if American can find a better way. To Haddock, one way to help boost America is through economic development.

For the position of Carbon County Assessor, Amy Schmidt-Peters was the first to speak. She thanked the CCCC and USU Eastern before explaining that she was born and raised in Carbon County. Her father was a coal miner and her mother was a traditional housewife and it felt good for her to have her mother always there. Schmidt-Peters said that her father was a hard worker who taught great values. She credited herself as a hardcore Republican that believes in small business opportunities and less government control.

Schmidt-Peters said she always learned to help out others and will be about helping in the Assessor’s Office. She wants to ensure that there are fair and balanced market assessments done while having a team that will provide great customer service. She has been in public school systems, taken care of reconciliation of accounts, ran state and government budgets and kept them accountable. She stated that her desire is to bring teamwork into the Assessor’s Office.

Her opponent, Robert Olson, was the last candidate to speak during the luncheon. He thanked everyone in attendance and everyone responsible for putting on the event. Olson, a Democrat, said that he feels that he is in a hotly-contested race that is close.

He stands for strong American values, believes in God, family, hard work and honesty. Most of all, he believes in Carbon County. Olson was raised in Price and graduated from Carbon High School and USU Eastern. He has a Commercial Certification from the state of Utah and a Residential Designation from the appraisal institute. Olson stated that he is the only qualified candidate to appraise residential or commercial properties in this county.

With 38 years of appraisal experience, Olson said he is the right choice for County Assessor. He is transparent in every way, is a problem solver with good communication skills and has appraised over 7,000 properties in his career. Olson is ready for the job on day one.

Four things that he wants to do for Carbon County are: providing fair and accurate assessments, training the office staff who have not been trained properly yet, saving the county money by not having to hire outside to complete the job and restoring integrity and public confidence to the Assessor’s Office.

This concluded the political presentations and, before ending the luncheon, CCCC President Taren Powell welcomed two new board members. They are Angela Woodard, representing Intermountain Electronics, and Brad Watson from USU Eastern.