By Curmudeon
Interesting piece in the Salt Lake Tribune on Friday, illustrating just how high up in the Utah Republican legislative leadership the dry rot of corruption has gone.
Here's the lede:
Majority Leader Kevin Garn, R-Layton, whose son is a lobbyist for Southwest Ambulance, one of the companies engaged in the battle, says now that he may have made a mistake.Uh huh. "May have made a mistake ?" Curious about what that means in the real world where the rest of us live? The Trib explains:
Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, a member of the committee who voted for the bill, said he was told before the hearing by Garn that House leadership wanted the committee to pass the bill....So, the Republican leadership had not endorsed the bill nor asked that it be passed out of the committee. The Republican majority leader, having been caught telling his Republican colleague a lie in order to get out of committee a bill the Republican majority leader's son was lobbying to pass, Mr. Garn offered the following positively Bushesque drivel by way of explanation:
But House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, said he hasn't even read the bill and leadership has not taken a position on it. House Majority Whip Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace, was more direct when asked if leadership had a stance on the bill: "The answer is: No."
Garn said he "may have said" that leadership wanted the bill passed. "If I did, I wasn't representing leadership and probably what I meant to say or did say was that somebody from leadership thought it should get out."Uh huh. Republican leaders are now deceiving their own members in pursuit of family interests. Imagine that.
And will the Republican Caucus punish the majority leader for deceiving his own members to get a bill out of committee to assist his son, the lobbyist? Don't hold your breath waiting.
Aren't you happy to know that Mr. Garn, as majority leader, will be shepherding through the GOP's much touted "ethics reform" bills this session? Sleep well, taxpayers.
