OREM — Sen. Parley Hellewell, R-Orem, has announced he will not seek re-election in November.
Also on Friday, Rep. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, announced she will seek the District 15 seat Hellewell is vacating.
Hellewell said his decision to leave the Senate rather than seek a third term was in no way connected to Dayton's decision to go after the Senate seat.
Hellewell said a growing plumbing, heating and air conditioning repair and installation business, PPM Inc., and a desire to spend more time with his family and other aspects of life prompted his decision.
When contacted Friday, Hellewell said he wasn't even aware that Dayton had announced her candidacy.
"I tried to call her last night (Thursday) to tell her I wasn't running," he said. "I told other people who might have told her."
Dayton announced her candidacy in a news release sent late Friday afternoon. The release emphasized her position on issues such as traditional families. It did not state why she wants to leave the Utah House of Representatives. She was out of town and unavailable for comment Friday evening.
Dayton was appointed to the House in 1996 and won formal election that fall and has served five terms.
Hellewell believes that Dayton — who had been considering running for the Senate for months — would not have challenged him had he decided to seek re-election.
"I was the incumbent," Hellewell said. "I had a good reputation. I had no black points. I had no problems. I was well-respected."
Hellewell believes that Dayton will face other challengers in her bid for the Republican nomination in Senate District 15. Winning the Republican nomination has been tantamount to winning election in the past decade as Democrats currently hold no partisan Utah County elective offices.
"I like Margaret," he said. "She's a very good legislator. If she wins, I think she'll do a good job."
Hellewell has been in the Senate for eight years. Among highlights of his political career was the effort he led that killed a bill that would have banned the controversial "holding therapy," or coercive-restraint treatment used on emotionally troubled children.
The controversial therapy technique, blamed for the deaths of several children around the country, is not endorsed by any traditional medical, psychiatric or pediatric professional associations. Hellewell said he met more than 100 people who told him their lives had been changed by it. He felt that holding therapy had been lumped in with all bad psychotherapies.
Hellewell also successfully pushed a bill that requires the Legislature increase the amount of tax dollars funneled to the state's General Rainy Day Fund. The state nearly depleted the fund during the most recent recession, he said.
Hellewell unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor two years ago.
"That was a great experience; I learned a lot," he said.
Dayton placed Utah in the national spotlight last year with her legislation that snubbed the federal No Child Left Behind program. The bill, passed last spring during a special session, states that when conflicts arise between NCLB and the requirements of the Utah State Office of Education, the state's requirements take precedence.
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com