Drew Clark: Johnson and Weld bring experience as well as character for Utah voters | Deseret News:
October 14, 2016 - "Politics is about more than policy positions. When electing our president, we also need to choose a candidate who brings character and experience in governance.
"Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, and Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, are the only candidates this year that meet all of these necessary qualifications. They are on the ballot in all 50 states. Among independent voters, they are leading in the polls over Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"As a Utahn who believes in common-sense conservative solutions, I’ve noticed a number of my friends express some interest in Provo native Evan McMullin, the former CIA agent who declared his candidacy for president in August. He seems to be a conservative, and his positions are superficially appealing to people of my political background.
"But here’s why I’m supporting Johnson, not McMullin: The presidency is about more than one’s positions. Executive experience in government matters, as does honesty. And while Trump and Clinton fail on both of these tests, McMullin fails on experience. He and his newly-named vice-presidential candidate Mindy Finn, a Republican political consultant, don’t have presidential-level credentials.
"By contrast, both Johnson and Weld were two-term governors. But that doesn’t mean they came to government via politics, the way Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton did. Johnson was a handyman entrepreneur who grew from a one-man shop to a 1,000-employee construction company in New Mexico. He ran for governor as a political outsider, and won.
"Weld’s first elective office was also governor. But he brought experience as an attorney at the highest levels of government, heading the criminal division of the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan. He came home to upset the Democratic lock on the statehouse in the land dubbed 'Taxachusetts.' Like Johnson, he also upset the state’s high-tax reputation. That was a great benefit to another former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney.
"In fact, Romney has said he would vote for Weld for president....
"McMullin isn’t even on the ballot in enough states to have even a mathematical chance at winning the White House.... According to Ballot Access News, he’s on the ballot in grand total of 11 states.... The electoral votes of those states total 84, not even one-third of what a candidate will need to win.... And his vice presidential pick will be on the ballot in exactly zero states.
"Instead, the McMullin presidential campaign has all the trappings of a vanity effort seeking to raise the profile of a person rather than speaking to a principled set of beliefs."
Read more: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865664793/Johnson-and-Weld-bring-experience-as-well-as-character-for-Utah-voters.html?pg=all
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October 14, 2016 - "Politics is about more than policy positions. When electing our president, we also need to choose a candidate who brings character and experience in governance.
"Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, and Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, are the only candidates this year that meet all of these necessary qualifications. They are on the ballot in all 50 states. Among independent voters, they are leading in the polls over Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"As a Utahn who believes in common-sense conservative solutions, I’ve noticed a number of my friends express some interest in Provo native Evan McMullin, the former CIA agent who declared his candidacy for president in August. He seems to be a conservative, and his positions are superficially appealing to people of my political background.
"But here’s why I’m supporting Johnson, not McMullin: The presidency is about more than one’s positions. Executive experience in government matters, as does honesty. And while Trump and Clinton fail on both of these tests, McMullin fails on experience. He and his newly-named vice-presidential candidate Mindy Finn, a Republican political consultant, don’t have presidential-level credentials.
"By contrast, both Johnson and Weld were two-term governors. But that doesn’t mean they came to government via politics, the way Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton did. Johnson was a handyman entrepreneur who grew from a one-man shop to a 1,000-employee construction company in New Mexico. He ran for governor as a political outsider, and won.
"Weld’s first elective office was also governor. But he brought experience as an attorney at the highest levels of government, heading the criminal division of the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan. He came home to upset the Democratic lock on the statehouse in the land dubbed 'Taxachusetts.' Like Johnson, he also upset the state’s high-tax reputation. That was a great benefit to another former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney.
"In fact, Romney has said he would vote for Weld for president....
"McMullin isn’t even on the ballot in enough states to have even a mathematical chance at winning the White House.... According to Ballot Access News, he’s on the ballot in grand total of 11 states.... The electoral votes of those states total 84, not even one-third of what a candidate will need to win.... And his vice presidential pick will be on the ballot in exactly zero states.
"Instead, the McMullin presidential campaign has all the trappings of a vanity effort seeking to raise the profile of a person rather than speaking to a principled set of beliefs."
Read more: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865664793/Johnson-and-Weld-bring-experience-as-well-as-character-for-Utah-voters.html?pg=all
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