With Representative Marsha Judkins retiring from the house, the seat is open and two challengers are running.
Travis Hoban – Qualified through signatures
Travis is in his 2nd term on the Provo City Council (District 4). This covers NW Provo. He is also a precinct chair, state central committee member, and a delegate. Travis is also the CTO of Financial Technology Solutions, which has 150 employees.
When asked what books he is reading or has recently read, he mentioned
Everybody Lies
The Bitcoin Standard
Extreme Ownership
Gun, Germs, and Steel
Travis said that he already has a lot of skin in the game. Utah County didn’t prepare well for growth during the last 30 years. There are needs for housing, infrastructure, and transit and he understands both the current issues impacting the city and how legislation impacts the city.
His top priority is the housing crisis. He wants the government to get out of the way. Programs like the one for first time homebuyers are just increasing the demand without increasing the supply. And just because the program limits assistance to lower priced homes, it doesn’t mean there are any lower priced homes out there for sale. The program doesn’t address the supply side of the equation. They are worried about the interest rates being high. You can’t force them to increase the supply of homes.
He said there is an issue with outside investors buying homes and turning them into illegal rentals. This prices people out. Travis said that Provo went from 30% rentals in the 90s to 60% rentals today. The city needs more home ownership by individual families, not necessarily more homes. This is incredibly difficult to enforce. The city has purchased software to help track this but they don’t have an accurate housing audit. He also said that this is a macro demand issue.
Travis said that most in the legislature haven’t served in city government and he wants to be an advocate for local governance. He believes that he works well with others and will proactively reach out to city councils to understand their concerns and the issues they are dealing with.
Another priority for Travis is Geneva Road. He said that you are stuck there if there is an accident. He wants to widen the road, making it three lanes with bike bike lanes. It is a state road but the city has a huge vested interest. He said nobody has been advocating for the road at the state level.
Travis said that better representation is needed to get these projects done. He said he is the only candidate who has sat in the chair and had to make the hard decisions for the citizens.
Lisa Shepherd – Qualified at Convention
Lisa is no stranger to politics. She has been volunteering within the GOP for decades and has held positions from delegate to county (2009-2011) and state (2016-2019) party secretary. She has been on numerous committees and had 100% attendance for her first 30 years. Her favorite has been legislative district chair. Lisa has worked on and run so many campaigns that she has been able to do everything for her own, including her own artwork and messaging.
When asked what books she is currently reading or has recently read, she mentioned
The Utah Code
I’ll Love You Forever (to her grandkids)
Lisa received an associates degree in small business management and later got her bachelors in Political Science from UVU, emphasizing in Public Law with a minor in Constitutional Studies. She graduated from UVU Magna Cum Laude and at the same time as two of her kids with another graduating high school. Lisa has helped her husband run their small film studio and currently works as a senior policy advisor for Utah County Commissioner Thomas Sakievich.
She has many accomplishments during her many years of service in party politics. One that she is most proud of is getting rid of ex-officio state delegates, which are when elected officials and high level party officers automatically became state delegates in the party. She considers this an automatic vote for the incumbent and gives them a slight advantage. Another is a state party constitutional amendment specifying permitting the election of alternate delegates on caucus night so there is already an official list to choose replacements if people need to resign.
As a senior policy advisor to Commissioner Sakievich for the last two years, she has been able to see up close how the county operates. Her proudest achievement is doing the work to separate the clerk and auditor roles. She did a deep investigation into why they were combined in the first place, finding and going through the old typewritten minutes. Court clerk duties had been moved from the Clerk’s office to the court. She suspects there was some politics at play in asking the old clerk to resign though. During a work session, then clerk/auditor Gardiner said that she was spending significant time on one half of the job at a time. Two of the commissioners decided it was time for a split. Lisa said that the departments were actually able to reduce the total number of employees in those offices since the split. She believes the clerk’s office has added one new position and eliminated five since the split. The auditor department has done some restructuring from other departments, but has eliminated three unfilled positions.
Lisa continued to work for Commissioner Sakievich as he has been treated for cancer. There are a lot of things she can’t do for him, such as vote. But she attends various meetings and gets his approval on things. One thing she is looking into is if the commissioners are the ones that need to release checks after the PO has already been approved and the service performed or can the new county administrator do it? Is there a change that needs to happen at the state level to make things more efficient?
When asked what issues were most pressing for her to tackle, if elected, she said there were definitely some things she wanted to look into but didn’t want to go with too much of her own agenda. Being able to listen to others is very important for her. She has her own experiences but wants to better understand the struggles of others. She also doesn’t think that one person can do the job alone. Lisa would love help from constituents who are willing to let her know concerns about certain bills that they have.Personal liberty is very important for her and she doesn’t want the government having a heavy hand telling people what to do. One concern that she has from her time as a policy advisor is the lack of funding for public defenders. For the system to work properly, public defenders need to be properly funded so that justice can be better served.
Some committees she is interested in are law enforcement/criminal justice, government operations, and the judiciary committee. She spent a lot of time up at the capitol this last session attending these meetings or listening to them later online.
Lisa is ready to serve and has the relationships and knowledge to represent the district well. She said she will reach out to constituents with town halls and do deep investigations on the issues facing the district.