Saturday, December 19, 2009
Sen. Ben McAdams
Posted By Josh Loftin on December 19, 2009, 9:32 PM
Political junkies turned out in force to see Ben McAdams elected to replace Sen. Scott McCoy.---
Even last-minute shopping needs could not keep many Salt Lake City Democrats away from a special election for the Senate Distrist 2 seat Saturday. The Salt Lake County Council Chambers were overflowing with a crowd that, in large part, did not actually appear to be delegates.
Instead, they were supporters of either Ben McAdams, who eventually won, and Arlyn Bradshaw. People lined the aisles and crammed the doorways holding signs for one of the two candidates, and almost everyone in the chambers, delegate or not, seemed to sport either a McAdams or Bradshaw button.
Two other candidates, Brian Moss and Mark Towner, were also running, but neither of them had any sort of organized support.
As I detailed in a previous post, this was yet another showdown between old guard and new guard Democrats. And as with previous contests between the two factions of the party, the old guard prevailed again.
McAdams won on the first ballot, securing 69 percent of the 100-plus votes. The results were met with loud applause from the crowd, which included many county officials, legislators, and county activists.
As a new senator, McAdams carries the somewhat dubious distinction of working for two government bodies. He is also a senior advisor to Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, providing him with a major conflict on any city-related legislation or funding decision.
It is a similar conflict to the one that former Rep. Chad Bennion had when he worked as an administrative assistant to Salt Lake County Councilman Marv Hendrickson. It was a conflict that House Democrats, who were led by Becker at the time, were not shy about pointing out publicly and privately.
Of course, Bradshaw would have had the same kind of conflict, since he is the administrative assistant to County Councilman Joe Hatch.
As I noted in my previous post, my wife is a voting delegate in District 2. She did not have any input on this post.
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