ST. GEORGE – The St. George City Council selected Bette Arial to fill the seat vacated by John Pike upon his swearing in as mayor of the city.
Arial was selected from among 25 applicants who were each given approximately 3 minutes to address the council in the open meeting.
Arial ran for the Utah State School Board in 2012, seeking to unseat incumbent Barbara Corry for the District 15 seat representing Iron and Washington counties. Although she lost to Corry in that race, Arial had prior experience serving on the state school board from 1997-2001.
According to her website during her 2012 campaign for school board, Arial has also been a part of various organizations that include the Arizona Strip Interpretive Association, Utah Humanities Council, Utah Foundation Board, Rotary International, St. George and Cedar City Chambers of Commerce and President of the Celebrity Concert Series. She also formerly worked as a senior adviser for the Sutherland Institute.
This is a preliminary report, further details of Thursday’s council meeting will publish separately.
St. George News Editor-in-Chief Joyce Kuzmanic contributed to this report.
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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.
You’ve GOT to be kidding me. They put in a senior adviser to the SUTHERLAND INSTITUTE?!!??? How did that not count AGAINST her? I am aghast, disgusted, and embarrassed that this town cannot pull its head out of its A$$ and come into the 21st century.
We can expect at least 4 more years of “The Good Ole Boys” politics and no progress.
Asinine.
Seriously. I was thinking ‘Well, maybe she’ll be ok,” and then I read the Sutherland Institute thing.
Great. Just great.
Thank goodness common sense prevailed and we didn’t get either of the two quacks many of you were pulling for.
Agree with SD, Sutherland institute alumni is a giant red flag. I didn’t have a dog in this race.