Background Checks for Council Candidates?

David Lifferth, councilman in our neighboring city of Eagle Mountain has suggested future council candidates in that city be subjected to a background check. Click here for the dnews article. Hmmm, is that a good idea? No doubt Eagle Mountain has had its share of problems with elected officials. The problem with a background check (notwithstanding constitutional grounds), is it would have a chilling effect on willing and able standout citizens who would like to serve but unwilling for good reason to be subject to 1. Arrest and conviction records, 2. Division of Child and Family Services data bank, 3. credit report and 4. neighbor interviews. (All of which would have to be made public). Wheww, and we thought our dog ocassionally slipping out the fenced back yard and pooping on the neighbors lawn is a problem. This is certainly a case of the ends not justifying the means. Hey, what if someone has a minor skeleton in the closet, i.e. a compulsive shopper former spouse who ran the household finances into the ground or __________________________ (fill in the blank). Here is what a "background check" would reveal about me......

• Watches "Law and Order" too much, but doesn't miss Fred Thompson.
• Splurges occasionally on Rocky Road ice cream.
• Is obsessed with golf, basketball, traveling and city politics (not necessarily in that order).
• Likes recreational gardening (interpreted means anything less than an hour or is something the Mrs. or children can do).
• Once lived in Price and Moab (beautiful part of our state; southern carbon county of course is where the first moon landing was filmed).
• Sometimes runs out in pj bottoms to retrieve the paper from the driveway.
• OK, I did have a parking ticket or 2 at BYU (was late for a class I was teaching, couldn't find a parking place except in Lindon and gasp, parked in A parking). Was lucky I wasn't towed.

Comments

[David Rodeback]

Fun way to treat the topic of candidate background checks. More importantly, I thought I heard that the moon landings were filmed at Disney Studios, not in Carbon County. Not that there's anything wrong with that.