Grover and Gardner triumph in Utah County Commission races, Page B1.Candidates for the seven four-year county posts up for election didn't have to be lucky to win on Tuesday - they just had to be Republican.
Echoing the valleywide trend, the winners are all Republicans and most of them are longtime incumbents, according to final but unofficial voting results from Tuesday's general election.The winners will join the new Utah County Commission, which is also all Republican, since Utah County residents elected Jerry Grover and David Gardner to two posts up for grabs this year.
Randy Covington, who has worked in the county recorder's office for 16 years, is the new recorder. Covington defeated Democrat Joan Hill 73 percent to 27 percent for the four-year post.
Current Recorder Nina Reid opted against running for another term this year. In December, Reid will have finished her 26th year in the recorder's office.
"I feel really good about the results," said Covington, who attributed his popularity to serious campaigning, as well as aligning himself with the majority party in both the state and county. "We just had to get out there and let people know what this campaign was all about."
Covington said the difference between himself and his competitor is experience.
"Basically I have experience and she didn't have any," he said. "I'm part of what I feel is a tremendous office, and people recognized that. They were careful enough to check out our credentials, and I'm glad they did. We're going to do some great things."
Hill said she ran as a Democrat both to win the recorder's position and to provide some sort of competition for at least one of the Republican candidates. But in the end, that party affiliation could have hurt her more than any one issue.
"Being a Republican sure didn't hurt me one bit," Covington said.
Claude Richards, who ran unopposed, won election to the county assessor post and will replace Ron Smith. Richards has served as the chief deputy assessor, Smith's chief assistant, for the past nine years.
"I'm looking forward to working with the new people," Richards said. "This is a new experience for me. We'll all miss Ron, but we've all learned a lot from him."
Elsewhere, elections for the other five county offices up for grabs proved to be no surprise whatsoever. None of those offices changed hands from either the Republican Party or the incumbency.
County Surveyor Clyde Naylor will begin serving his fifth consecutive four-year term in January. Naylor also serves as the county engineer.
County Treasurer Leonard Ellis and county Clerk/Auditor Bruce Peacock will start their third terms next year.
Kay Bryson, Utah County attorney, won his second term, and county Sheriff Dave Bateman will serve his third full term. Bateman was initially elected to office in 1985 to complete the last year of Mack Holly's unexpired term.