Great Day for Weber State...

After my last post about the Utah State Legislature, I guess some thanks are in order. First Thank You for repealing HB477. That vote will restore the people's confidence that their government has their best interests at heart.


Also, Governor Herbert signed into law two bills that authorize the issuance of bonds to build a new classroom and engineering building on Weber State University's Davis Campus. As someone who helped out in a very small way, I am very excited to see the building becoming a reality.

A great day for Weber State. Go Wildcats!

A Political Abomination

Mistakes happen...its a part of life, but when you are a elected official and your mistakes curtail the freedom of your constituents for your own political expediency, then that mistake is a political abomination and must be corrected. I am speaking of Utah's House Bill 477. This bill was passed in the last two days of the legislature with no deliberation or public input.

If you have not yet heard, House Bill 477 guts the Government Records Access and Management Act. Most notably it classifies emails and text messages sent by members of the State Legislature on publicly funded computers and cellphones as private information. This means that media and citizens will not have access to these communication. It also increases the fee for filing a GRAMA request significantly to make those pesky reporters and activists go away. Finally it requires us (the citizens) to prove why we need access to public (i.e. funded by MY tax money) records.

Although Governor Herbert should have vetoed this bill (thus abdicating his check on legislative power), he has decided to hold a special session tomorrow (March 25, 2011) in order to repeal this awful piece of legislation. While the Governor and the House of Representatives are on board, the Senate has stated that they will not vote for reform.

So what can you do? For those friends and family who live in the state of Utah, please contact your state legislators, most notably members of the Senate. You can find your legislators' information below:

House

Senate

Governor (keep the pressure up)

If you are not sure who represents you, please call or email me (or post a comment) and I will provide you with that information.

As an insurance policy, find out where you can sign a petition to put this bill on the ballot.

Remember the first three words of the U.S. Constitution, "We the PEOPLE". Our republic is about everyday citizens. It does not say, "We the State Legislature" or "We the Elites of the American Continent." Never underestimate the power of an individual willing to speak out.

My thoughts exactly...

George Will published an interesting column this week regarding the 2012 GOP candidates. He implores these candidates (mainly Huckabee and Newt) to get off the birther and other nonsense issues and tackle true problems of the day.

He is exactly right. If we as Republicans want to regain the White House, we need to develop sensible, free market alternatives to the President's agenda. Sadly we have buried our heads in the sand regarding key issues that matter (i.e. entitlement reform, health care, and climate change) and instead squander political capital on short term potshots such as the President's birth certificate. If we want to regain prominence and relevance then we need to offer solutions not rhetoric and govern not bicker.

As a side note Mr. Will narrows down the GOP field to five candidates including Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, Jr.

Higher Education vs. Medicaid

An interesting perspective from Dr. Matthew Holland, president of Utah Valley University. He wrote an op-ed piece in the Deseret News describing the coming choice between two demand sections of Utah's (and any other state's) budget. This brings us to a fork in the fiscal road: do we choose to invest in ourselves and future economic growth or avoid the entitlement spending problems that threatens to "crowd out" every other public concern.