Bob Springmeyer
Candidate for: Governor

Political party: Democratic
Birth date: July 1, 1943
Birth place: Provo, Utah
Current city of residence: Salt Lake City
Family members: Wife Gwen, daughter Liza, sons Will, Jon, and Rob, five grandchildren.
Current occupation: President of Bonneville Research
Education: B.S. in Economics, B.S. in Political Science, graduate study in Business Administration
Hobbies/Interests: Cycling, fly fishing, bobsled and skeleton sliding, Utah Arts Festival, Rotary Club, cycling, reading, tennis, community service, and gardening
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1. Using 150 to 200 words, please state your reasons for running for office. What compels you to take on this responsibility?  
    
   For generations, the American Dream has guided the aspirations of Utah residents. It's a dream shared across races, regions, and religions. If you work hard, you shouldn't have to struggle to support a family. If you get sick, there should be health care you can afford. You should be able to give your children a good education, with the opportunity of college for all hard-working students.
   
   Over the past four years, for too many Utahns, this dream has slipped away. I am running for governor because I believe that, together, we can do so much better, to make sure all people of this state move ahead, rather than being left behind. I, along with our nominee for Lieutenant Governor, Josie Valdez, am running on the platform of better government, better jobs, better education, and better health.
   
   These values are so much more than a platform. They represent a fundamentally different approach than we have seen during the past four years under the administration of Governor Huntsman. Our approach treats government as a framework to help people, rather than as a tool to promote narrow, selfish agendas that harm our state.
     
2. What do you consider to be the top three issues currently facing Utah? Please list them in order of priority to you (with #1 the most important) and explain why they are important to you and to Utah.
   
   Better education:
   
   The current state administration has betrayed the public trust by underfunding and undermining our educational system. The Legislature has siphoned off an estimated $600 million over the past few years for transportation. The net cost to our state of the much-touted voucher proposal, supported by Governor Huntsman and legislative leadership, would have been $60 million after the program was fully implemented. Furthermore, the effect of lower funding on our state’s children would have been disastrous.
   
   Better government:
   
   Ineffective, poor management has characterized the past four years of state government. To name a few examples, our current governor fired numerous experienced and knowledgeable economic development employees without notice. His four-day workweek, while well intentioned, was implemented without employee input. There have been reports of abuses in the Utah Division of Securities, where a former director essentially acted as judge as prosecutor in reviewing violations. Governor Huntsman implemented a flat tax that gave large tax breaks to the wealthy and has resulted in budget cuts to education this year. Finally, Huntsman evidently has ambitions for higher office, as he has not committed to serve a full four-year term despite a challenge from me to pledge to do so.
   
   Better jobs:
   
   For the past four years, the State’s approach to job creation has been to spend a significant amount of taxpayer money to bid against other states to recruit out-of-state companies to Utah. This approach ignores the importance of encouraging entrepreneurship and the growth of Utah businesses—the most important factor in creating jobs and ensuring a good livelihood for our residents.
    
3. What do you plan to do to address your top three issues?
   
   Better education: I pledge to reserve income tax dollars solely for education, in accordance with the Utah Constitution as it read for the majority of the last century. I will prioritize the needs of children and their families, rather than interest groups and the personal biases of legislators, in improving education in our state.
   
   Better government: If elected, I will conduct a thorough review of state government, to correct mismanagement and abuses, and improve efficiency. Throughout this process, I will rely on my thirty years of experience helping governments and businesses thrive and prosper. I will also fight to repeal the regressive flat tax, which has placed more tax burden on lower and middle income earners, and has stripped money from our education budget.
   
   Better jobs: I promise to create a Small Business Bureau, under the direction of the Lieutenant Governor, to foster entrepreneurship and the growth of businesses that are already located in our state. Our nominee for Lieutenant Governor, Josie Valdez, is a twenty-three year veteran of the United States Small Business Administration (SBA).
    
4. What are your most important accomplishments that would make you the most qualified candidate for office?
   
   I have built a successful small business helping businesses and governments throughout Utah thrive and provide better service. I always maintained payroll and generated many repeat clients. This work has given me an in-depth understanding of the strongest and most beneficial policies and practices to implement in state government, and has given me a strong understanding of the needs of our business community. I have helped raise four children who are independent, responsible, and good citizens. I maintain a life balanced with longtime friends, young athletes, business associates, and extended family. I also have excellent health, can still ski the double black diamond runs at Snowbird, and am the Utah Winter Games Skeleton Masters Champion.
    
5. What skills, talents, and strengths do you have that enhance your ability to be an effective office holder?
   
   Having owned and operated a management consulting business for thirty years, working to improve local governments and businesses, I have an in-depth understanding of key issues facing our state, and the best means to address them. I believe my extensive experience with local government and the private sector, combined with Josie Valdez’s twenty-three years of experience with SBA, would be an asset in improving our quality of life.
    
6. Why do you belong to your political party? 
   
   One way in which Democrats are distinct from Republicans is that Democrats do not fear government as an essentially negative force. I believe that government has a role to play in society when it can accomplish goals we value more efficiently than we could accomplish them as individuals. From corrections, to roads and transit, to education, government, when managed correctly, can do wonders for our communities. Mismanagement, narrow, selfish interests, and abuses of power, which have occurred over the past four years, make our communities less than they deserve to be. If elected, I will conduct a thorough review of state government and implement principles of good governance, with which government, in collaboration with residents, can improve the quality of life for the people of our state.