Jim Dabakis
James "Jim" Dabakis is a former Democratic member of the Utah State Senate, representing District 2. He was first appointed to the chamber in December 2012. He was selected by party delegates to replace Ben McAdams (D), who resigned to assume the office of Mayor of Salt Lake County.[1] Dabakis did not file to run for re-election in 2018.[2]
On May 6, 2015, Dabakis announced he would seek the Salt Lake City mayorship in 2015. He told reporters that he was seeking the position because he felt he could make a larger impact as the city's mayor than in the largely Republican Utah State Senate.[3] On July 8, 2015, Dabakis announced he was dropping from the mayoral race.[4]
He previously served as the chairman of the Utah Democratic Party.[1]
Biography
Dabakis' professional experience includes working as an art dealer by trade. He is the first openly gay leader of a Utah political party.[1][5]
Committee assignments
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Utah committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Health and Human Services |
| • Revenue and Taxation |
| • Transportation and Public Utilities and Technology |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Dabakis served on the following committees:
| Utah committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Education |
| • Revenue and Taxation |
| • Rules |
| • Administrative Rules Review |
| • Legislative Management |
| • Rural Development Legislative Liaison |
2013-2014
In the 2013-2014 legislative session, Dabakis served on the following committees:
| Utah committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment |
| • Revenue and Taxation |
| • Administrative Rules Review |
Campaign themes
2014
Dabakis' campaign website highlighted the following issues:[6]
Education
- Excerpt: "Increase the severance tax - Utah’s is the lowest in the region at 3.3%. North Dakota is 11.5%. Wyoming is 11.4%. This is a gift from Utah school children directly to the pockets of the oil companies. (Numbers according to Montana's Headwaters Economics. Includes sales and property tax)."
- Excerpt: "Repeal The Flat Tax - I would repeal the flat state income tax (Utah seemed to work just fine before 2006) and I would work to change the constitution back to where the founders wanted it--with all the state income tax going to Utah schoolchildren. That would bring billions of dollars into Utah classrooms."
Environment
- Excerpt: "We need to change the emphasis of state government from the dying 20th century fossil fuels industry to the budding 21st century recreational tourist industry. Let's make Utah synonymous OUTDOOR RECREATION. We should be the world leader, everything is there--except the vision!"
Equality
- Excerpt: "Equality in pay between men and woman--lifting Utah off the embarrassing bottom of the pay discrepancy between the sexes."
- Excerpt: "Utah must seek wages that allow our citizens to work full time and have enough money to meet basic necessities. It means a minimum wage of at least $10 an hour."
Ethics
- Excerpt: "Utah should hold its public officials to the highest ethical standards. The recent situation involving our statewide officers has been an embarrassment. It is simple. We must strengthen our ethics laws, limit campaign contributions and expect the highest standards from our elected officials."
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2018
- See also: Utah State Senate elections, 2018
Jim Dabakis did not file to run for re-election.
2014
- See also: Utah State Senate elections, 2014
Elections for the Utah State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 24, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 20, 2014. Incumbent Jim Dabakis was unopposed in the Democratic convention. Jacquie Nielson defeated George Chapman in the Republican primary. Dwight Barrett was eliminated in the Republican convention. Dabakis defeated Nielson in the general election.[7][8]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Jim Dabakis Incumbent |
74.2% | 16,446 | |
| Republican | Jacquie Nielson | 25.8% | 5,724 | |
| Total Votes | 22,170 | |||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Jacquie Nielson |
60.3% | 1,012 |
| George Chapman | 39.7% | 666 |
| Total Votes | 1,678 | |
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Utah scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2018
In 2018, the Utah State Legislature was in session from January 22 through March 8.
- Legislators are scored based on the organization's mission of "promoting the principles of limited government, constitution, representative government, participatory republic, free market economy, family, and separation of powers."
- Legislators are scored based on their votes in relation to the organization's "mission to defend individual liberty, private property and free enterprise."
- Legislators are scored based on their votes on bills related to education.
- Legislators are scored based on their votes relating to environmental and conservation issues.
- Legislators are scored based on their votes on tax related legislation.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2017, the Utah State Legislature was in session from January 23 through March 9. There was also a special session on September 20.
|
2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2016, the Utah State Legislature was in session from January 25 through March 10.
|
2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2015, the Utah State Legislature was in session from January 26 through March 12.
|
2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2014, the 60th Utah State Legislature, second year, was in session from January 27 to March 14.
|
2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2013, the 60th Utah State Legislature, first year, was in session from January 28 to March 14.
|
The Libertas Institute Index
The Libertas Institute is a libertarian-leaning think tank located in Utah.[12] Each year the organization releases a Legislative Index for Utah State Representatives and Senators.
2013
Jim Dabakis received an index rating of 19%.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Jim + Dabakis + Utah + Senate"
- All stories may not be relevant to this legislator due to the nature of the search engine.
See also
- Utah State Legislature
- Utah State Senate
- Senate Committees
- Utah Joint Committees
- Utah state legislative districts
External links
- Official campaign website
- Profile from Open States
- Jim Dabakis on Facebook
- Jim Dabakis on Twitter
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Deseret News, "Jim Dabakis elected to McAdams' Utah Senate seat," December 1, 2012. accessed January 5, 2013
- ↑ The Salt Lake Tribune, "Salt Lake City Sen. Jim Dabakis to retire from Legislature at end of term," February 20, 2018
- ↑ Kelly Catalfamo, HeraldExtra.com, "State Sen. Jim Dabakis to run for Salt Lake City mayor," May 6, 2015
- ↑ The Salt Lake Tribune, "Dabakis drops out of Salt Lake City mayoral race," July 7, 2015
- ↑ The Salt Lake Tribune, "Jim Dabakis, citing health issues, resigns as Utah's top Dem," March 25, 2014
- ↑ Senator Dabakis campaign website, "Issues," accessed September 30, 2014
- ↑ Utah Lieutenant Governor, "2014 Candidate Filings," accessed March 21, 2014
- ↑ Utah Lieutenant Governor, "Utah Election Preliminary Results," accessed July 9, 2014
- ↑ GrassRoots, "2015 Legislative Report," accessed May 30, 2017
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Utah Legislative Ratings, "UTAH HOUSE Scorecard - Compiled 2015 Conservative Liberal Index," May 19, 2015
- ↑ GrassRoots, "2015 Legislative Report," accessed May 30, 2017
- ↑ Libertas Institute: "Legislator Indexes," accessed January 21, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by NA |
Utah Senate District 2 2012-2018 |
Succeeded by Derek Kitchen (D) |
