Truth in Politics = Accountability

Early this year, I was fortunate enough to be selected as a Salt Lake County Delegate for the Republican Party. I have mingled in politics a little over the years, but nothing substantial at all. I've written and called all of my representatives, including President Bush.

I have been extremely frustrated with my party because of their lack of response to the citizens who elected them and to their having placed all common sense on the side of the road. Locally, it was a thrill to go to the Republican Convention and vote for people to represent our party.

From the night I was elected as a delegate, my phone started ringing off the hook by those who were seeking the nomination for Senate District 9. Apparently the current senator was retiring. Good thing since no one that I knew had ever received any communication from him or even knew he was our senator. (Sherrie Swensen, SL County Clerk, redrew the lines which are completely unintelligible and have no common sense to them.)

I had a couple of the people in the race come up to the house and discuss some of the issues. One kept promising that he would be coming over but never quite made it. I received a lot of literature on their stances over the next few weeks.

I sat down with Wayne Niederhauser and Bryson Garbett and discussed their politics and stances. Wayne was heavy in his slogan of Accountability. He felt that the legislature should start with a zero based budget and that the departments should have to explain the need for their expenditures. I actually think that is a great idea because I truly believe that spending is out of control and those who are in office don't know how to restrain themselves. (Notice that Congress is trying to pass a line-item veto for the President. Only those who enjoy spending others money need someone else to keep them in line)

I spoke with Bryson about his previous experience as a House Representative and how that would be effective in the senate. He also indicated that we needed to pay teachers more in order to attract the best qualified. I agree with that wholeheartedly. He also talked about the state's natural resources and how the severance tax on them was extremely low and hadn't been reviewed in years. He felt that an increase on these resources, as they left the state, would be a great way to pour more money into the schools.

Well, the convention came and went. We had 2 votes in our district to see if one of the nominees could come up with 60% of the votes, thereby foregoing a primary election. Bryson and Wayne wound up as the two who would go to the primary, with Bryson falling 2 votes shy of the 60% threshold. It was really interesting after the voting was done, when I overheard two party political hacks questioning the audacity of those in Senate District 9 and why they couldn't come up with someone getting the nomination so there wouldn't be a primary. I guess they should have sent their memo to everyone BEFORE the votes so we could vote them out.

After more research and investigation, I decided I would support Bryson at the convention and in the primary, if there was one. There was. I walked the neighborhood with Bryson one night, introducing him to my neighbors. Many said they would vote for him and a few said he could put up a sign in their yard. I thought that was cool. I even took him to meet Mike Jerman who is with the Taxpayers Association. I knew this would be a long visit because Mike really likes to talk. It was a long visit and Mike asked Bryson about his severance tax idea. Bryson explained it and Mike indicated he thought it was a pretty good idea.

The day before the election, I received a letter from Howard Stephenson, a senator from the neighboring district and used to be our senator until the redistricting mentioned above. I have had exactly 1 conversation with Howard and let's just say I wasn't impressed with his answers to my questions. In the letter that Howard sent, he noted that he was supporting Wayne. He also lambasted Bryson's idea on the severance tax. He wrote that "the economic impact of the Garbett tax increase would be devastating. Not only would it increase the already record-high fuel prices for our cars and homes, but it would hurt our competitiveness, drive up the cost of extracting Utah's natural resources and force job cuts throughout the state." He went on to say that this increase would slow our economy.

Well, needless to say, I was completely unimpressed with Howard's letter and assertions. But more importantly, I was disappointed in the politics that were going on. Howard sent his letter the Saturday before the vote; it arrived the day before the vote which allowed no time for Bryson to refute the erroneous assertions by Howard. I called Howard that night, left a message. I called again in the morning seeking a response from him. Again, I left a message. Come to find out later when Howard called me at 6:47am, under the guise of returning my call and wanting to discuss the letter, he was out of town for the past week. Howard must have put all of the letters in the mail and then boogied from the state.

Since I couldn't reach Howard, I called Wayne to see what his take was on it. He indicated that he knew about the letter and agreed with its content. He stated that our gas prices would go up with a severance tax on the state's natural resources.

Bryson lost the election which was disappointing to me. Bryson ran a clean, honest race. I also thought that Wayne was doing the same until the letter was received. At that point in time, I knew that truth in politics in our senate district was a one way street. I don't look on slamming the other guy with fondness. If you can't run on your own platform, then your platform might not be good enough and you need to make changes. (Reminds me of many days sitting in meetings at work where people couldn't make their own arguments but had to degrade someone else just to try to make themselves look good.)

So I wrote Howard and Wayne letters indicating my distaste for their politics. An interesting note is that everyone I have spoken with thus far who received the letter, thought the exact same thing as I did regarding the purpose of the letter and lack of political acumen regarding Howard and Wayne.

So far, no response from Howard. I'm sure I will never receive one knowing the kind of politician he is. Howard is a big fan of gifts from lobbyists saying that there is nothing wrong with them and that the media is to blame for the public distrusting politicians. Seems to me that there is no need for a gift from anyone to a politician unless it is to buy access or votes.

Wayne apparently left a message yesterday and wanted to talk. I'll be interested in hearing his take.

I say truth in politics is long gone, but is something that must be demanded back from the people. Too many incumbents win reelection and they have horrible voting track records. They don't respond to constituents once elected and have their ears bent by special interests. Case in point, Senator Bennett disregarded the voters of Utah and voted for the Senate's immigration bill. Senator McCain did the same thing. Calls into their offices asked them to vote no on the bill, yet they still did because that's their point of view. Senator Bennett went so far to say about his vote on the flag burning amendment, that if the state didn't like his vote they could make a change. Well, he knows that is highly unlikely, being the incumbent.

However, apathy in our great state and nation are at all-time highs. Out of 3 precincts voting where I do, only 126 people came out to vote. That's horrible and downright ridiculous.

As I said in my letter to Wayne, your slogan was Accountability, and I'm holding you accountable for those who send letters on your behalf. I don't like your politics of personal destruction and distortion. You owe Bryson and those who received the letter an apology and an explanation!