Saturday, March 19, 2011

Did I do that?

Earlier this month I wrote about Utah’s HB477, the bill that made all our Legislator’s electronic communications private and exempted them from our own state GRAMA (Government Records Access Management Act) laws, even though they are sent and received on state owned (read: citizen owned) cell phones, computers and internet access.  It went from a blank paper, with nothing more than HB477 on it, to the Governor’s desk in less than 3 days, with no debate and no public input.  The Governor, a rubber stamp arm of the Utah GOP, signed it.

The public outcry was amazing.  The news media outcry was intense.  And, in my opinion, because the news media show no signs of letting the issue die before the next election, several legislator’s have done an about-face and admitted it was a mistake to vote for it.  One said he was actually blackmailed by the Republican leadership – threats to defeat any and all bills he introduced or co-sponsored, they wouldn’t even be allowed out of committee.  Another one fell short of claiming blackmail, but claimed he voted for it because he knew it would be harder for him to get bills introduced.  A couple other have come out and are calling for a recall vote.

It all reminds me of a fictional character from the 90’s sitcom “Family Matters”, Steve Urkle.  For those of you who never saw it, Steve was super-intelligent and a total klutz.  He was always destroying things, and his tag line comeback was always a oblivious sounding “Did I do that?”   Exactly what the illustrious lawmakers for the State of Utah are doing.  Ramrod an unethical and self-serving piece of legislation through, and when those pesky masses get all uppity and threaten their unbridled power, they look stunned and ask “Did we do that?”

Where were your cojones back before you knew your constituents would want them for your self-serving vote?

5 comments:

A Paperback Writer said...

Silly Max, don't you know that all state legislators have their spines removed before they take office?

Besides this idiot bill, the thing that gets me is that our *&^%% governor is STILL pushing through a nuclear plant in Utah. Even after this week in Japan. Cuz, ya know, Utah would never have an earthquake.
Excuse me, but just when did we citizens get to have any say in whether or not we want to live within 3000 miles of that?!!

Max Sartin said...

Now you went and did it too. You said "we citizens" and "have any say" in the same sentence. Din't you git tol' that ya can't say them two things in da same breath?
And just for the record, it could be up to 500 more years before the bigt quake hits Utah. (Just don't mention that it could also hit tomorrow.)

A Paperback Writer said...

And on a national level, why the heck are we attacking Libya tonight? WTC?! It's not like we don't have enough going on in Iraq and Afghanistan!

Max Sartin said...

Man, I was blissful in my ignorance, and you had to go tell me we just got ourselves into ANOTHER war. Seriously though, when is enough enough?

21 Wits said...

You bet I saw Family Mstters and I am a gigantic fan of Urkle he lit up the stage everytime he wandered in, pulled at his suspenders and opened his smiling mouth...that was real family entertainment....at it's best! Thanks Max for the memories!