Pete Ashdown vs Scott Howell for Democratic Senate Nomination

In the US Senate race, for the Democratic Nominee, I knew from the start that I was supporting Pete Ashdown. For starters, I was one of the ones rooting for him to enter the race again.

I met Pete during his campaign for the 2006 Senate seat against Orrin Hatch. I had never been involved in politics before. My not very well kept secret is that I actually had never registered to vote at that point. But, I read in a national technology magazine that Pete was running, and I knew instantly that I had to do something to help. In fact, that Wired article that changed my life forever, getting me involved in politics, is still up and available.

Among the many reasons that I despise Orrin Hatch are his stances on current technology issues. As I said, I wasn’t up on politics. Oh, I hated GW Bush with the best of them, but really didn’t feel I had it in my power to do a damn thing about it. But, here comes Pete, whom I knew as the owner of XMission, a company I was familiar with and adored, standing up to Hatch, and I was hooked!

Myself and my sons, Drake and Preston, marching in a parade with Pete Ashdown in 2006, holding the sign up front - don't I have amazingly adorable sons?

Having been raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, the last thing I ever want to do is knock on doors and ask someone to think or believe the way I do. However, I didn’t bat an eye when the campaign asked us to meet in Magna to knock on doors. I’d never volunteered for a campaign, and I sure as hell didn’t know what I was doing, but I loaded up my sons (then about 5 and 7?) and met the campaign in Magna, and went out for the first time. It honestly didn’t occur to me at the time to draw comparisons to this and my childhood – I just knew I needed to let people know that Pete was running, and I just knew they’d flock to vote for him.

I also have memories of volunteering at a convention – I’m sure now that it was the state convention – at the Salt Palace. I was so green that I didn’t even know that Pete was the only person these people were going to vote for. I showed up, asked what to do, and was handed a stack of literature, and asked to go pass it out. There were long registration lines, so I worked ’em, telling people how great Pete was and asking them to vote for him, along with passing this literature out. I remember someone asking me whether this was a statewide race, or just applicable to certain areas, and I was so very embarrassed that I didn’t know!

I certainly know a lot more now about how the whole campaign thing works. But, I’m as set as ever in my support of Pete Ashdown for Senate. I dream of having someone in there who has an intelligent response to these technology bills that come through, whether they are related to the RIAA, or to electronic spying, or just tech in nature. Someone who can speak with true knowledge on the subject, not just condemning the RIAA’s motives, but who can explain the impact.

There are numerous issues I agree with Pete Ashdown on – he’s my kind of Democrat. But, his familiarity with technology, as the founder of the first ISP in Utah, goes a long way with me.

I met his opponent for the Democratic nomination, Scott Howell, last week at the Politisauce dinner. I let Scott know I was a Pete supporter, and we didn’t really talk much more. However, last night I received a phone call from Scott. I’d seen the number calling me many times before, but always ignored it because I didn’t know who it was, and they never left a voicemail. Because it was so late at night (10 pm) I answered the call this time. I had a pleasant talk with Scott. I was impressed that he’d done his research and knew a little about me. However, he tried to portray himself as a tech candidate because he spent the last 20 (?) years working for IBM. But, working in sales is a far cry from understanding how the internet gets wired to your house, or exactly what would be required for your ISP to monitor all of your internet traffic and be responsible for any intellectual property laws that you might break. In addition, Scott Howell told me that (and I’m summarizing here) he knew that when you had friendships that you have to stick by them, so he understood my support of Pete, but that he hoped to have my support if he came out the winner at convention.

That last little bit offended me just a little. I’ve not based my voted on friendships, and I’m very frustrated at the “party insiders” who do vote that way. I vote for the best candidate for the job. I’ve noticed that the endorsement emails for Scott that I’ve received are from those deeply entrenched into insider politics (where the chosen candidate generally is the money candidate). I’d heard Scott Howell’s name in the past, but not enough that I could have even told you why I knew it. I’ve certainly not met him over the past 6 years of my deep political involvement. I’m sure that his previous service as a Utah Democrat was great, and I respect that he’s held office. However, I honestly didn’t even know Pete had any competition from the Democratic side until very recently (excluding Christopher Stout who is no longer running for the Senate seat, and while I consider him a friend, also, he knew I was supporting Pete). I don’t think he’s done enough to “deserve” the seat from the meaning of that word as used in insider politics, at least not in recent years. I’m not saying he’s not been there, but he hasn’t been very visible about it. A friend of mine decided to flip and support Scott recently, even saying how thrilled he was that Scott called every single delegate.

Well, how about Pete going to nearly every County Convention in Utah, in both this race and the last one, only being hampered by conventions held at the same time and/or day, making attendance at both impossible. I don’t know how many people Pete has personally called, so I can’t compare that.

But, what I’m saying is that Scott Howell’s calls aren’t enough to impress me, and his prior technology history, while it could be sort of useful, really does nothing to match Pete Ashdown’s knowledge of technology.

Scott told me (again, paraphrasing) that there wasn’t much difference between him and Pete, except that Pete had no political experience, while Scott had served in office before. Well, that just doesn’t do it for me, either. Remember how they said Barack Obama didn’t have enough political experience? Yeah, that line doesn’t work on me.

For many of the same reasons that I originally supported Pete Ashdown, I’m supporting him again today. In addition to finding him the best candidate on the issues, I’ve seen Pete at every major (and many minor) political events since his 2006 run. If you check out Pete’s campaign site, you’ll find a lot of information about where he stands on issues, along with where he comes from, and plenty of other things. If you check out Scott Howell’s campaign site, you’ll find a brief 1-page blurb about his “outstanding achievements”. I see nothing promising transparency in office, nor lists of where he stands on issues (Pete Ashdown’s Issues List is quite extensive). On that alone, Pete is, by far, the better candidate in my mind.

So, while I’d like to consider Pete Ashdown my friend, he has my vote because he’s a strong candidate, who speaks plainly to the issues, and I believe that he’ll kick some ass and take names this fall in the general election, and he’s the man I want for my next Senator.

Thanks for running, Pete. And thanks for getting me involved in politics in the first place!

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