By: Curmudgeon
For those of us who appreciate a nice piece of creative fiction, there's a wonderful op-ed up this morning in the SE. It's called "Why Did He Vote For That?" and it's by Ogden area state representative Brad "Free Lunch for Me! Dee":
In it, Rep. Dee undertakes to convince us that he and his colleagues, the Republican majority that runs the Utah legislature, take their responsibilities v-e-r-y seriously, and that in deciding to vote how they vote, they rely not on lobbyists who've sprung for a hundred means for the boys in Salt Lake during the session, and not on major contributors. No, perish the thought! Rep. Dee insists that he relies more than anything else on what his constituents tell him, collected at pre-session meetings and by his survey of his voters.
He soberly explains how the voters instructed him on the budget, taxes, alcohol reform and immigration. And he ends this way:
We take our charge very seriously to represent you and to reflect the values and beliefs of our communities. Don't be afraid to reach out and let your legislators know how you feel about the issues of the day. We can't represent you if we don't know your views.Of course, we have to remember that while Rep. Brad "Free Lunch For Me!" Dee was composing his little hymn to his own integrity, he knew [be we did not] that he was planning to vote to gut the GRAMA law, and all but destroy Utah's "sunshine" law for public documents. Odd, but Rep. Dee seems not to have asked his constituents prior to the session or by his survey if they'd like government transparency gutted and more done in secret. Imagine that.
I know why he didn't ask his constituents that. Because when Mr. Dee and his cronies sprang the GRAMA gutting bill on us all, and rammed it to passage in 48 hours flat, a KSL/Deseret News poll indicated that two out of three Utahns did not want that bill passed, and nine out of ten believed restricting government records would hurt the public's ability to monitor the legislative process. But Dee voted for more secrecy in government, for making it nearly impossible for ordinary citizens to get access to the public documents their taxes paid people like Brad "Free Lunch for Me!" to produce.
Rep. Dee's little homily to his own virtue is entitled "Why Did He Vote For That?"
Damn good question, Rep. Dee. Damn good question. Tell us, why don't you, how voters at your town meetings and in your voter survey demanded that you repeal the Sunshine law, that they wanted less government visibility and accountability.
Update 3/6/11 10:52 a.m.: Here's Rep. Dee's contact information for those curious readers who'd like to directly ask him the obvious question:
"Don't be afraid to reach out and let your legislators know how you feel about the issues of the day," Free Lunch says. "We can't represent you if we don't know your views."
