State House 2 candidate: Mike Petersen
Q: What makes you stand out from other candidates. Why should people vote for you?
A: That’s the heart of it, isn’t it? Yes. Well, that’s the heart of it. I think really, Jenny, the reason why folks would want to vote for me is because I vote in a way that aligns with how folks in Cache Valley, especially northern Cache Valley feel about things. I’m a firm believer in the U.S. Constitution. I’m a firm believer in our party platform, the GOP party platform. I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to read that, but the county has a party platform. It talks about families, talks about taxes, talks about private property and just talks about you know — there’s 10 or 12 points, and I appreciate them. It’s how I feel about things. I think it’s how most people feel and so on. And so if that’s— if you’re aligned with the Republican Party, and by the party, I mean, our platform, I don’t mean people. Because those people do their own thing, right? But if you’re aligned with the basic values of our party, then you’d want to vote for me because … because I’m willing to vote in a way that preserves your liberty in those regards.
Q: If you aren’t elected, then how will you still be involved and still serve the community?
A: You know, before I wasn’t— before I was elected, I did things like that. I’ve been on Community Council for Greenville. I was— I served for a number of years as a member and then as president of the Cache Valley Transit District. I served for probably six or eight years again, part of it as president of the InTech Collegiate High School Board. I’m sure there’ll be more opportunities to, to do that kind of thing. But I think it’s important that we all be involved in the community. If you want this community to be the way to reflect our values, you’ve got to be a part of it. So I don’t know exactly how it will be. But I’m going to do something.
Q: What do you think is the most important responsibility of this position, and how will you do your best to accomplish that?
A: I think the most important responsibility is to represent that as a state representative is to represent the constituents of Cache County. And again, I think that the majority of Cache County does believe in that Republican Party platform. And so the best way I can, I can fulfill my responsibility is to, is to honor that party platform. And I took an oath to honor the Constitution, the United States, and of the state. I think about that; in fact, I mean, I always — I almost always have it in my pocket. I like to think about it. I like to review, you know, what are the amendments, what do they really tell us? Sometimes I hear things out there, but what does it really say? So I like to— I think that my job is really to first and foremost to honor that covenant that I made — I mean, literally hold your hand to the square and say, you know, I will defend the Constitution of the United States of America, and the state of Utah, and I take that very seriously. Fortunately, again, that party platform I think it gives us more practical of how to do that, because I don’t think is anything on our platform that is unconstitutional. It just helps us to know how to put some of those things into play, if that makes sense for you. So that’s not really my … I think that’s my biggest responsibility is to make sure that I secure people’s — you go back to the Constitution — is to secure people’s liberty. What is the purpose of government? Right? It is to make sure that your inalienable rights don’t get infringed. That’s it.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish or change if you’re elected?
A: Yeah, so I’ll start my second term in January, and I’ve been very fortunate to be pretty successful in first of all, honoring that oath. And secondly, I’ve run several pieces of legislation, I think, to secure people’s liberty. And so one of them I’m going to this time will be, again to secure people’s private property rights. You know, in fact, our founders oftentimes said life, liberty and property. It wasn’t pursuit of happiness, it was life, liberty and property. It is necessary that people have control over their property, not just, you know, a piece of real estate, but even themselves. That’s part of the property. So I have a bill to help with that. I think that I have a bill that deals with Utah State that you might be interested in. I don’t know if you know of sound design or Sound Beginnings. It’s a program here on campus. What they do is that they teach young kids how to use cochlear implants, how to use hearing aids, how to be involved with the community as a large, not just the deaf community. They teach kids how to communicate. And I’m working to see if we can make sure that they stay funded and are able to continue in their work of getting these kids to be able to communicate with the community. Sometimes, you know, if you think about if you’ve had friends who are deaf or hard of hearing, sometimes they are— they end up sort of a little bit secluded, isolated because they don’t, they’re not able to be a part of what’s going on because they can’t, they don’t hear it. So, it’s important that we keep this program in place where kids can remain involved with their colleagues, with their cohort and, you know, have the kind of life they that they deserve. So a couple of things I’m working on.
Q: What is your favorite book, or at least the book that has influenced you the most?
A: Oh, boy. I have read … I’ll set aside scripture. And boy, that’s a tough one, Jenny. I’ve got — I’m reading three or four books right now, or I’ve just finished in “The Lift” and they’ve been on my mind a lot. So I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you the books I’ve been just finished. I just finished reading “The Lift” by Melinda Gates. Very interesting, much of it just really touched my heart, parts that I was like, I can’t go there. I just finished reading a book called “The Invincible Family,” by Kimberly Ells. She’s a Utah resident. A wonderful book about families and how to— and the attacks on the family. And how, what needs to be done to make sure that families remain intact. I just finished reading a book about— I don’t know if you’re familiar with Bill O’Reilly, and he writes a series called “The Killing” books. I think he’s got 12 books out right now. The most popular nonfiction series ever in history, something like that. At least that’s what he tells us. And I read several of those and one I just finished reading was “The Killing of England,” which is really interesting about the Revolutionary War and how those things all followed through. And I just, I’m just about halfway through a biography of George Washington, and it’s fun to learn about. Sometimes our founders are a little maligned sometimes — you know, we’re centuries away from where they were, and we have to rely on things that were written or said about them that may or may not be accurate. We have to rely on— we look at things differently than they did sometimes, you know; things are different. So I love reading biographies of folks to try to get a better understanding of who they really were and what they were really trying to accomplish. But I’m sorry, it’s hard to pick out a favorite or one that has been most influential. I would— I mean, on or off the record, I’d have to say this — scriptures are the most influential in my life, in my heart.
-Jenny.Carpenter@usu.edu
Featured photo by Elise Gottling