Political science prof wins bid for seat on North Logan’s city council
November 9th, 2011 Posted in OpinionNORTH LOGAN – Damon Cann, a political science professor at Utah State University, rallied with 608 votes Tuesday, which put him at the top of the six candidates in the Nov. 8 election for the three City Council seats up for grabs.
“I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the folks who have been helping me and supporting me along the way,” said Cann, 34, a four-year resident of North Logan. “I tried to be a listener during the course of the campaign and show people that I’ll do that. It looks like I will have a chance now to actually do that as a member of the council.”
Roger T. Anderson and Kristen Godfrey Anderson came in behind Cann, with 587 and 566 votes respectively, pushing out Brad Crookston, Chris Nelson and L. Alan Collins.
City Recorder Scott Bennett said according to the primary election, it looked like the general election would be neck-and-neck. He said the votes would show who residents wanted in office, and of the almost 5,000 registered voters, 22 percent submitted a ballot, up from the 14 percent who voted in the primary.
Bennett said 11 absentee and 13 provisional votes have yet to be counted. Since the gap between third and fourth place is exactly 24 votes, he said a tie is possible but fairly unlikely.
“I have tremendous respect for the three incumbents who are retiring and respect their service to the city. I don’t imagine racing in and making sweeping changes,” Cann said when asked what he plans to do once in office.
The three new council members will be sworn into office in January, but Cann said he’ll continue to attend council meetings as he has been, to stay informed.
“One of the things I campaigned on was with my background and my experience,” he said, “that I can be ready to serve the people of North Logan from day one. And I intend to make good on that promise by being up on every single thing that’s going on.”
USU faculty members have served on city and state governments in the past, including economics professor Randy Simmons, who served as mayor for Providence.
Simmons said he’s known Cann throughout his years within the political science discipline and supported his decision to run for local government.
Cann said throughout his academic career he’s studied politics and has always in some way participated locally wherever he’s lived, just not to the extent he will be in North Logan.
“It will allow me to share even more insights with students on how government works,” Cann said. “When I’m teaching them about local government, I can tell them ‘I’m living this right now, and this is what’s going on,’ and I think that’ll be a really enriching experience that I’ll be able to offer my students.”
The campaign has involved a lot of hard work for Cann and his supporters, and he said he and his family are happy to celebrate.
“We’ve already been eating cake and candy for the last three or four hours,” Cann said just minutes after he found out he won, “so now (the celebration) is justified.”
NW
Tags: 2011 election, city council, Damon Cann, North Logan, USU professor
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