The lower text summary comes from UEG's Utah Hero Kim Burningham, via an email we received at 12:56 p.m. today:
IntroductionDang! Ya gotta love these hard working and stunningly community-minded UEG people!
· Thanks to The supporters, the public, and to the executive committee and other key workers
· Overwhelming message: the public wants ethics reform (door to door, Arts Fest SG, Taylorsville library, Kent’s Market in Brigham)
Introduction to three main issues
1. Where we stand at the conclusion of April 15
2. Our delight at the temporary restraining order decision of the federal court
3. Our plans for the future * * *
Where we stand at the conclusion of April 15
· 77,000 signatures tabulated and delivered
· Other signatures turned in to local clerks: the number unknown
· Electronic signatures:
a. Many, whether the courts will determine they are allowed is unclear.
b. Wave of the future, but we suffered serious problems
1. In submission: in one location, they even refused to accept the copies of electronic signatures that we provided.
2. In keeping the web site open for people to sign
3. In long waits.
Our delight at the temporary restraining order decision of the federal court
· Yesterday in Federal court: request for a temporary restraining order
· Ultimately granted by Judge Waddoups, with an April 28 date set for the actual hearing
· I regard this decision as a victory for the rights of the citizens to privacy,
a. The right to remove names is not changed and appropriate.
b. But the decision to disallow public revelation of the names is akin to the sacred right of the secret ballot
c. This TRO is a move toward limiting harassment of petitioners throughout the State
Our plans for the future
· The game is not over!
· The drive to put the ethics reform initiative on the ballot has two deadlines
· Relative to deadline number one: April 15
a. In order to get on the 2010 ballot, yesterday’s April 15 deadline was our goal.
b. As I have explained, the actual outcome of that goal is not clear and will not be fully known for weeks.
1. The expectation that we would reach our goal in 26 of 29 districts is particularly challenging
· Relative to deadline number two: mid August
a. The law also says that an initiative effort has one year from the filing date to gain the necessary signatures (to put the issue on the ballot in November 2012 - Rudi).
b. deadline #2: We have four more months to make that goal!
c. At minimum, we are ¾’s of the way to that goal
Conclusion
a. Too close to call—we may not know the actual results exactly for some time
· However, the most challenging aspect of the requirements for passage of the initiative: the requirement that we reach the 10% goal in 26 of 29 Senate districts.
Basketball game analogy:
a. We have had a scrappy and tight battle to the end of the game
b. But like the basketball game where our team sinks the final bucket,
c. The game now goes to OVERTIME!
Open to questions:Kim Burningham 801-292-9261 krburningham@utahethics.org
Dixie Huefner 801-359-6705 dshuefner@utahethics.org
Let's all step up and give them three cheers!
And let's all hang in there people, and devote all our efforts to beating down our autocratic Utah legislative tyrants, just as the founding fathers of America beat down the tyrannical King George III, way back in 1776:
"Nothing of importance happened today." - King George the Third - July 4, 1776 diary entry.
