Fine editorial in this morning's Standard-Examiner, lambasting our "Republican-dominated Utah Legislature" for its latest heavy-handed effort to "restrict freedom of speech and transparency in government."
As a flurry of Utah Media sources reported yesterday, (See, e.g., (Deseret News, ABC 4, Tribune, Daily Herald, Fox 13, Standard Examiner), Utah neoCON Rep. John Dougall's GRAMA-gutting House Bill 477 sailed through the House yesterday with a 61-12 vote; and this morning our home town newspaper lets our secrecy-loving Utah legislature have it with both barrels:
This morning's editorial also make at least a decent effort to publicly identify a few of the "Top of Utah" legislators who voted to hide electronic communications behind a veil of secrecy, and to increase the cost to citizens who seek document production through GRAMA procedure. Unfortunately the Standard's list is incomplete. And it's in that connection we're pleased provide the full list of House members who voted for the latest GRAMA-gutting measure, straight from the Utah Legislative website:
And yes, gentle readers... the entire Weber County House Delegation voted in favor of HB 477. Remember... all of these House Reps will be telling you they're bulldogs for government transparency and enemies of big secretive government as they campaign in the upcoming 2012 elections:
- Brad J. Galvez (R) - House District 6
- Ryan D. Wilcox (R) - House District 7
- Gage Froerer (R) - House District 8
- Jeremy A. Peterson (R) - House District 9
- Dixon M. Pitcher (R) - House District 10
- Brad L. Dee (R) - House District 11
- Richard A. Greenwood (R) - House District 12
Who knows? Maybe some of you will decide to send them an email... you know... to let them know how proud you are of them?
Update 3/4/10 10:27 a.m.: Per his comment in the lower comment section, Dan S. provides a few other news items pertaining to this story:
As an added bonus we'll particularly highlight the above-linked KSL video, which we know our WCF readers (and multitudes of Dan Schroeder fans) will simply not want to miss:
Video Courtesy of KSL.com
And for those citizen activists among us who'd like to contact your State Senators to put the last-minute brakes on this ill-conceived GRAMA-gutting legislation, here are the pertinent State Senate contact links, along with some excellent and additrional "talking points," submitted by one of our concerned and well-informed Gentle Readers:
Don't let your cat get your tongues, O Gentle Ones.
