Show bennion announces intention to seek democratic gubernatorial nomination heber bennion jr secretary of state announced that he would be a candidate for the nomination for governor on the democratic ticket ile he is the only democrat that has anno announced bracz he will oppose gov J bracken lee in what is expected to be hectic fall election should he be elected the job of being governor will be nothing new to mr bennion he has served in that capacity for some i days since 1947 during the Tab absence sence from the state of the governor while he is a strong baliver in in economy and has scored a great record of economy in the operation of his office and other posts that he has held the secretary of state has never been accused 01 ol being penny penn wise and pound foolish he has been active in political circles since 1919 when he was elected as the first representative to the legislature from dagget county following the organization niza tion of that county later he served as county clerk and commissioner of daggett before returning to the legislature in 1935 for four terms he was elected speaker of the house in 1939 although he operates an ex stock raising business the ithe secretary of state has aduca alion tion close to his heart as a result of his early connections with school life in utah county where he served as principal of the high school and later as chairman of the school board in dagget he is at the present time a member of the board of regents of the university of utah and the board of trustees of the utah state agriculture college at logan legan in addition to these tasks and his own job as secretary ot state mr bennion serves as a member of the state board of examiners state library board loan commissioner board and the armory board mr bennion served as secre lary of state since 1947 it was in april of the year that he was appointed to fill a vacancy created by the death of the late dr E E monson in 1948 he ran fo for r and was elected to his first full term terin as secretary of state his record for economy in public office dates back to the time he was in the legislature when he was speaker of the house for instance he closed up all pending business before adjourning jo the session at considerably less expense than was required at either the prior or subsequent session during his administration of the tax commission costs were kept very low mr bennion has been a student of government for more than 30 years he was a member of the committee of nine that made an extensive two year sudy of the operation of all utah state government units and he sponsored legislation which led to some sweeping changes in t the he state setup set up and effected sub spanial savings to the tax payer for example the first B C road funds came out of this legislation he was appointed a member of the state tax commission in 1941 and became chairman of that organization in 1946 he achieved during his service with the tax body an excellent record for low cost of collections mr bennion was born in the pleasant grove community of utah county january 30 1888 17 1 7 ale jie was reared in area of salt lake county where he lived some 25 years H he is a graduate of the high school in salt lake city and of the at logan he later attended the university of utah and the university of california in church activities mr bennion went wend on a mission to ger miny for the church as a young man ile he has served as bishop of the manila ward and on the high council in daggett county the secretary of state has made his home in salt lake city ford for the past 10 years ile he is married to the former vera wendler of salt lake city they are the parents ot of four children and reside at ath avenue in announcing I 1 his candidacy for governor tte the secretary of V state state who by his rank in public office is the titular head ot of the democratic party in utah said he would wage an agres sive and enlightening campaign for the electorate of 0 the beehive state |