Wednesday, July 09, 2008

It’s No Wonder That Voters in Utah Are Disillusioned

Don Gale Opines on the failures of Utah's "dominant political party"

By Curmudgeon

The Standard-Examiner this morning has a very interesting op ed piece by Mr. Don Gale, an editorial writer for KSL radio and TV.

Mr. Gale begins thusly:
July is the month we celebrate citizenship and patriotism and pioneers and other soul-stirring recollections of our great heritage. But Utah held an election not long ago, and fewer citizens showed up to vote than show up at college football games on a typical Saturday afternoon in September. It’s another indication of how badly broken the political system is in Utah ....
He then goes on to catalog the reasons he thinks the "political system in Utah" is "badly broken." It's a very interesting list.

One note: when Mr. Gale mentions "the dominant political party" in his list of particulars... and he uses that phrase a lot... he means Utah Republicans. Just in case you were wondering.

Chewy article. Worth a look.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blame politicians for disillusionment of Utahns

Anonymous said...

Holly Mullen has a similar column on the topic What's The Matter With Utah in today's City Weekly. Link here. From her column:

Irvine is a moderate Republican, a retired army general and former commander of the 96th Infantry of the U.S. Army Reserve at Fort Douglas. He served four terms in the House, from 1972 to 1980. “The Pleistocene era,” he jokes.... Over three decades’ time, he notes an erosion of legislative ethics, the steady growth of conflicts of interest and an explosion of favoritism toward lobbyists. The partisanship is nearly impenetrable, “probably unparalleled in Utah history,” he said. “This latest case [i.e., the Walker ethics matter] indicates there is a group in the Legislature who feels they can do anything they want. They do not feel constrained by law, nor by the body’s own rules and ethics,” Irvine said. “It’s clear they will go to great lengths to preserve their opportunity to wield and hold on to power.”

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