Voice of Utah

An open letter to Speaker Greg Curtis, comments on some pending bills, and the latest in our Nutter Buttars Watch:

Dear Greg Curtis,

We hate to state the obvious, but it seems you need the reminder. You barely won your own election. It took an 11th-hour spending spree just to pull it out by an embarrassing 20 votes. Your constituents don't like what you've been doing. They are tired of the Greg Curtis-Tom Dolan cronyism. They're tired of your petulance and the threats against a County mayor who, whether you like it or not, is well intentioned and trying to do what he believes is right, rather than just bowing to the well connected.

For what it's worth, if you retaliate against Salt Lake County and/or Mayor Peter Corroon, we are committed to doing everything in our power to rally all Utah bloggers to the aid of your opponent in 2008. You may think that voters have short memories, but bloggers don't. Money, bodies, publicity--whatever we can offer your opponent, we will. Jay Seegmiller almost pulled it off last time without much help. It can be done. We hope other bloggers will make similar pledges, allowing Utah's blogging community to flex its collective muscle. Stop abusing your position and leave the County and Peter Corroon alone.

Voice of Utah

Renaming bills.Skimming through upcoming committee agendas, it seems that some bills should be renamed to more accurately reflect their content. Take the Material Harmful to Minors Act bill introduced by Scott Wyatt (R-Logan). The title doesn't do the bill justice. Wyatt wants to ban the sale of material to minors that contains vaguely defined "inappropriate violence". We suggest a more realistic title, such as the "Full Employment for First Amendment Lawyers Act," with a fiscal note of $500,000 (legal fees to the party who files the inevitable successful lawsuit).

Then there's the Age Amendments for Hunting Big Game bill filed by Rep. Curtis Oda (R-Clearfield). Under this bill, the age for a big game license would drop from 14 to 12 (or 11, if the licensee would turn 12 during the year). What this bill should be called is the "Desperate Attempt to Prop Up Wussy 'Sport' That No One Thinks is Cool Any More" Act. The Trib must be peeing its pants over this bill. The paper already devotes way more coverage to hunting than is warranted by the percentage of Utahns who still hunt. Now it can write about hunting (yea!) and legislation (yea!) in the same article (yea!).

Nutter Buttars watch, Day 1: Sen. Chris Buttars filed another bill today, but so far he's not yet living up to his nickname. The Private Investigator Regulation Act Amendments is a little vague but not loony. Under the bill, a private investigator in good standing in another jurisdiction (or who says that he is) can operate in Utah for up to 20 days upon notice to BCI and other requirements. The bill isn't clear whether the 20 days is total or per-case, but otherwise it doesn't cause palpitations. We know what you're up to, Nutter, trying to lull us into a false sense of security...