Utah County Commission Seat B: Isaac Paxman, Carolina Herrin, and David Spencer
Utah County Republicans' three-way race for the powerful county commissioner seat.
About this position
The Utah County Commission is a 3-member body who represent all of Utah County—with over 700,000 residents. The County Commission makes legislative and executive decisions for Utah County as a whole, and works with local and state leaders. See Utah’s forms of county government.
County commissioners control zoning and development for unincorporated land in the county, oversee the Sheriff’s Department, manage natural resources and infrastructure on county land, and create legislation for the county. Their budget comes from county property taxes.
Learn more about the Utah County Commission and see Utah’s forms of county government.
Candidates
Isaac Paxman
About: Paxman has a Master’s Degree in Law and Taxation from Georgetown University and a law degree from BYU. He served as Provo’s deputy mayor for 8 years and currently serves as Utah’s Assistant Attorney General. He has several honors and awards associated with his law practice.
Top priorities (from website): Fiscal Discipline – Taxpayer Protection; Supporting Public Safety; Wise Investment in Transportation; Land, Agriculture & Water
Insights: Paxman has experience and education that would help him succeed in this role. When we met with him, we were impressed by his willingness to consider issues from multiple sides and not simply defer to the views of party leadership. Specifically, Mr. Paxman expressed a willingness to find the best solutions for the county’s needs, regardless of political rhetoric surrounding those solutions.
Carolina Herrin
About: Born in Brazil, came to Utah at age 13. She’s worked as a corrections officer, a Highway Patrol Trooper, and an undercover agent for the Utah Attorney General’s Office, working alongside ICE and DHS. She also holds office in the Utah County Republic Party, as chair for House District 63.
Ms. Herrin worked with current county Commissioner Beltran and was endorsed by him.
Top priorities: Fiscal Responsibility, Public Safety, Roads & Infrastructure, Transparency, Agriculture
Insights: When we met with Ms. Herrin, she focused on transparency, which we appreciated. She discussed moving the County Commission meetings to a weekday evening and holding public office hours. We appreciate these efforts and her depth of experience, along with her geographic diversity, having lived in fast-growing areas like Eagle Mountain and now Spanish Fork.
We are, however, concerned about some of her more partisan activities. First: Ms. Herrin was one of the larger participants in the effort to repeal Prop 4. At delegate meet-and-greets, she often touted being a big proponent of ICE. Ms. Herrin has shown herself to be incredibly responsive to GOP leadership and delegates; we’re concerned that her loyalty to party might outweigh her commitment to representing Utahns as a whole.
David Spencer
About: Spencer has served on Orem City Council, but lost his most recent reelection campaign. Other aspects of his career history are not available on his website.
Top priorities: Put Utah County citizens first; Create a Strategy & Innovation Department; Real transparency, not lip service; A county “Connect” portal for citizen engagement; Control government costs & hold leadership accountable
Insights: While on Orem City Council, Mr. Spencer promoted balanced budgets and keeping taxes low—the council was able to build new city buildings without debt by building in stages (we note there are pros and cons to this approach).
Mr. Spencer fought hard against high density housing and transportation infrastructure projects, claiming that these undermine family values. We feel that his emphasis on preserving neighborhood character may sometimes harm minority families and low-income families trying to make a home in Orem, and has resulted in a shrinking population. His behavior while on city council was not universally respected, and some report him yelling at constituents during council meetings.
Our Recommendation
We recommend Isaac Paxman in this race, both because of his more pragmatic problem-solving style that is not solely confined to party lines, and because of his years of relevant government and legal experience.
What’s next
The winner of the Republican primary this June will face Forward Party challenger David Hinckley and Democratic challenger J. Allen on the November ballot. (No primary elections for those parties).
Learn more about this race from the Lehi Free Press—note that several Republican candidates were eliminated before the primary election.