Summit County Council Member Kim Carson says she’s had some positive feedback from leaders at the Utah Association of Counties—after the Summit Council last week sent a letter complaining about inappropriate politicized comments at some UAC gatherings.
Previously, Carson has not identified the county official who interrupted a UAC meeting in late September, lobbied on behalf of President Trump and singled out Carson as a Democrat.
But on Wednesday, she did talk about him by name, since a UAC official has disclosed his identity.
The letter from the Council asked UAC officials to address the issue at their convention in St. George next month, and said a number of troubling incidents reflect a “culture” in the organization.
The letter was sent to UAC Board Chairman Victor Iverson. He said in a Park Record article that Garfield County Commisison Chair Leland Pollock had spoken up in favor of President Trump.
Carson told KPCW it was Pollock who had made the comments.
“He may not see it as doing anything wrong. But he definitely brought up that he wanted—that he was going to be writing an editorial, along with a state legislator, in support of the current administration, in light of the impeachment talks of the previous two days. And he asked people, he said, “Now this isn’t UAC, so I can’t, we can’t talk about the letter now.” But he did state that if people were interested in joining him, in signing that letter, helping to write it, that they should contact him.”
Pollock was quoted in the Record as saying that at the meeting he pointed to UAC members who supported Trump for his position on public lands, but he denied soliciting support for an op-ed. He also told the Salt Lake Tribune that he didn’t bully anyone at any time at the September meeting.
Carson said the op-ed about impeachment did appear in the Deseret News. She said she hasn’t talked to Pollock, but expects they might do so at the convention.
“Y’know, I want to emphasize that it wasn’t that the topic was the current administration. It was the fact that we were using UAC time to discuss, and he was using it to garner support for a personal partisan issue of his, political issue of his. That was inappropriate, besides the fact of him calling me out as, y’know, “our friend over there.”
She said since the Council’s letter was sent out, she has talked to the CEO for UAC, Brandi Grace, and also had a good discussion with Iverson.
“And they’ve talked about ideas for training and reminders at the annual conference. I also had a conversation with Brandi Grace, who’s the Executive Director of UAC. And we had a really good conversation. And she has been the recipient of comments that are gender-related. And she definitely has seen the behavior over the years, and has committed to me that there will be some training in place, and we need to work at changing the culture.”
Summit County Council Member Kim Carson
