I officially got started in Park City politics in 2020, when the Park City Council, under Mayor Beerman and Councilman Henney, was marching toward transforming the Gordo Lot into a Class 1 solid waste facility. Anybody remember that alleged necessary path of progress? Remember how it got sorted out? The city respected the community opposition and, ultimately, we figured out how to move the bad soil for cheaper. Now we don’t have a Class 1 solid waste facility on the Gordo Lot.
Early June 2021, in the middle of this hot mess, I went down to City Hall to enter the council primary election. I promptly got annihilated by Toly and Rubell because each basically earned more votes than anybody in the history of Park City Council elections.
I thought about that election for the following two years and attended every City Council meeting I could manage in the meantime — y’know, just in case. I figured having more knowledge of the setting and topics might better equip me if I ran again. Even more critical, I was convinced I needed to get more door hangers out there with a personalized signature. So in 2023, I ran for City Council again. I hung 2,500 customized door hangers and doubled my vote tally from the previous election. I still lost. Arguably, the best sixth place I ever got.
I have lived what elections in our town are, not unlike some kind of trauma experience. I lost one very good friend because of the election of 2023 and it breaks my heart to this very day. I fear good old-time Park City friendships have been lost in this election, as well, and I wish those affected the very best.
Moreover, the tone overall in this election has been depressingly sad, filled with unsupported rhetoric and personal attacks. There have been partisan politics, out-of-town personalities, and just about every sitting Summit County Council member trying to influence our city’s election.
Finally, there is only one debate this general election. Shame on us for allowing that to happen. So now, we have what we have. Candidates running personality contests rather than substance-based campaigns. But let’s leave City Council aside for a moment.
The brave mayoral candidates speak of good times we will share in the future. To neither did I say how much I loved them, nor express the extent of my fear. Their bodies are delicate glass boxes at which the world begins to fling its stones. We all owe both of these gentlemen our gratitude and respect for running for mayor. There is no personality contest here. Both of these gentlemen are people we can hope our daughters and sons can emulate. I believe that to the bottom of my heart. We can win either way.
But today is also my son’s half-birthday. He is 9 and beginning his difficult march, To him the sky is welcoming, the road straight …. How am I to describe this City Council race? Upon reflection, with truth and honesty as my guide, probably something like this:
At Wednesday’s debate at the library, I asked, “Diego, you’ve said that if elected to City Council, you intend to keep your full-time job with the Community Foundation. That role comes with a professional salary and benefits, and the foundation also receives funding from the city. Given that, how do you justify remaining in deed-restricted affordable housing? And, how would you address the obvious conflict of interest created by being paid by both the city and a city-funded nonprofit while claiming to represent taxpayers impartially?”
Admittedly not a softball question, but not a dishonest question, either. Conflict-of-interest questions are fair game in public service, or at least should be.
After the debate concluded, I went to congratulate all of the candidates. I approached Diego, patted him on the shoulder, and put my hand out to shake and say good job this evening. Diego looked at me and tucked his hands into his sides. He said, “Not tonight.” As I stood with my hand out and my mouth open, he continued and said, “That’s what you get.” Those words are verbatim.
In my view, it is wholly unacceptable for someone running for public office to act in such a manner. Diego is not even elected, yet that is how he reacts to a tough question being asked. Refusing to even shake hands, and responding with snide dismissiveness, was telling. “That’s what you get.” I’ve never felt so alienated in our small town.
Where is my manual of instructions for this? Where is our map showing the dark places and how to escape them? I think of Jack Rubin, Ryan Dickey, Tana Toly, and Jeremy Rubell. I can never in my wildest nightmares imagine these people saying anything like that to me or anyone else. Respect for the constituents is a core value of Park City politics. What I saw tonight from Diego tells me everything I need to know.
Could clues come within letters to the editor in The Park Record? If so, consider yourselves warned on one hand, and then for fun ask yourself, “If there was a way to keep the rest of them (Rubell, Toly, Dickey, and Rubin) together as a team. Do I like that option…?”
P.S. Diego never did answer the basic question about conflict of interest.
John Greenfield
Park City