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Park City mayor will not endorse Rob Bishop or Donna McAleer

Jay Hamburger The Park Record

Mayor Dana Williams said this week he will not make an endorsement in the contest in the 1st Congressional District.

Democrat Donna McAleer, a Snyderville Basin resident, is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman Rob Bishop.

The mayor said it would not be smart to make an endorsement since City Hall will have a relationship with the Election Day winner whether it is McAleer or the incumbent.

"It’s my job to be able to work with whoever’s elected," Williams said.

He said he does not want to jeopardize City Hall’s relationship with Bishop through an endorsement of McAleer. The incumbent has been "very open-minded" and treated Park City fairly, Williams said.

A McAleer spokesman said the candidate wants to speak with Williams, but a meeting has not occurred. Bishop, a five-term congressman, has never asked for an endorsement, the mayor said.

McAleer in late June beat Ryan Combe, who is from the Ogden area, in winning the party’s nomination. McAleer dispatched Combe by a wide margin, and the results in Summit County were heavily tilted toward her.

The mayor’s office in Park City is a nonpartisan position. Williams aligns himself closely with the overarching principles of the Democratic Party, though.

Williams rarely involves himself in partisan politics, but he made a notable departure in 2010. In that campaign, Williams endorsed two Democrats in statewide contests. He publicly backed Peter Corroon in the gubernatorial campaign and Sam Granato in his bid for the Senate. Both lost to Republican opponents a little more than a month later.

The McAleer campaign wants to shore up support in one of the Democratic strongholds in the 1st Congressional District. The Park City area, particularly the city itself, has long been seen as being home to one of the state’s most reliably Democratic voting blocs. The city, though, makes up a tiny percentage of the population of the congressional district.


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