Salt Lake Tribune: Mormon Church Lobbying in Utah’s Capitol — Hardball or Light Touch?

Hopefully the Trib will continue to keep the fire to the "800-poind Gorilla's" feet

Interesting story in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune, which follows up on our own our own March 20, 2015 WCF writeup, wherein we called into question certain troubling tactics which LDS leaders and their legislative lobbyists allegedly employ on Utah's Capitol Hill. Here's the Lee Davidson and Matt Canham lede, folks:

Former state Rep. Carl Wimmer has ignited a fiery debate within Utah's political circles by accusing the LDS Church of bullying Mormon lawmakers on such controversial topics as illegal immigration, alcohol and, likely, the new law to protect gay and lesbian residents from workplace and housing discrimination.
A couple of former legislators back Wimmer, who recently left the LDS Church to become an evangelical Christian. A far larger group of Mormon lawmakers — including former Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, who sponsored immigration restrictions the church disliked — say they have never experienced the kind of heavy-handed tactics described by Wimmer in a blog post.
The one-time Herriman lawmaker's claims range from meetings between LDS Church lobbyists and select lawmakers that he compared to Mormon priesthood interviews, to an allegation that his ecclesiastical leader contacted him directly to pressure him to vote for a bill favored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
At its core, debate about Wimmer's assertions show how individual lawmakers respond differently to political persuasion delivered in the name of revered religious leaders. And in a state where more than 80 percent of legislators are Mormon, LDS positions can virtually assure passage of a bill or stop it in its tracks.

Read the full story, folks:

• Mormon church lobbying in Utah’s Capitol — hardball or light touch?

Although this morning's Trib story really doesn't break any new ground beyond the anecdotal evidence which former House Representative Wimmer revealed in his original March 19, blog post, Trib staffers do shine the spotlight on this particularly distressing elemant which also raised our own eyebrows back on March 20:

Additionally, Wimmer said church lobbyists and House leaders conducted meetings to apply pressure that members derisively called "PPIs," or personal priesthood interviews, a name the LDS Church gives to private member consultations held by leaders, and which Wimmer had himself participated in as an elders quorum president.
He said he spoke with a House colleague who told him "what he had just experienced was an intense, closed-door meeting with select members of House leadership and LDS Church lobbyists who made it abundantly clear that when HB116 [the guest-worker bill] came up for a vote, he was to support the bill, period."

Here are a few probing comments from the Trib comments section:

Alex: "I'd say its on a level extremely higher than hardball."
Glen Bryson: "Can we please tax this ridiculous church already? I'm really sick of them using their power to influence legislation that doesn't have anything to do with them in the slightest. How in the blazes is a religion allowed to have lobbyists in the first place?"
Bretyss: "As I was reading what Wimmer said, I thought, "This has the ring of truth." Then when he offered to take a polygraph, the bell rang louder. Thank you, Carl Wimmer? I wish the LDS Church was as honest as you are now."

Kudos to the Trib for picking up on this story and exposing it to their extremely broad Utah reader audience. Hopefully the Trib will continue to keep the fire to the "800-poind Gorilla's" feet, on an issue which should have been broached years ago.

Former Utah House Representative Carl Wimmer: The Role of The LDS Church in Utah's Politics

Our take?  There's an 800-pound Gorilla on Utah's Capitol Hill

In the interest of kick-starting a possible Friday morning Weber County Forum discussion, we'll highlight this extraordinary expose' from the "An American Dream Revealed" blog, authored by former 52nd House District State Representative, Carl Wimmer.

Here's the lede, folks:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just passed a pro-LGBT piece of legislation in Utah.
Does that sound odd to you? It does to me, but it is essentially true.
For years, there have been those in the Utah legislature who have pushed for statewide legislation that would prevent businesses and landlords from prohibiting homosexuals from working at their business or renting a home from them; they called it a “statewide anti-discrimination” bill.
And for years the legislation failed.
Year after year the bill sponsor would bring the bill forward simply to have it die before it got off the ground, but this year was different. This year the most powerful entity in the state of Utah, the LDS Church, endorsed the legislation.
This year the legislation passed.
Having served in the Utah legislature, I have been asked several times what role the LDS Church really plays when it comes to Utah politics, and until now I have remained largely silent. While in the legislature I was a faithful member of the LDS Church; to speak of things that might bring embarrassment to the church would have been unwise, not to mention political suicide. Today, the issue is very topical with the recent passage of the pro-LGBT legislation, and I feel it is time to break the silence and provide some insight:

Fasten your seatbelts; and read up, folks as former Utah House Rep Carl Wimmer "spills the beans":

• The Role of The LDS Church in Utah's Politics

Among other revelations, Mr. Wimmer presents a eye-opening anecdote, concerning HB116, an extremely controversial 2011 LDS Church-backed bill, dealing with illegal immigration and proposing the issuance of state worker cards to illegal immigrants.

The night HB116 was debated for final passage was insane. There was intensity I had never felt before or after on the house floor. It was the intensity that comes only from political bullying, and it killed me to know that this time the “bully” was my own church.
I was approached by a younger representative who was on the verge of tears. He expressed to me that he had just gotten out of a “PPI meeting” and asked if I had had mine yet. I knew what he meant and I was sorry for him.
A legitimate “PPI” or “Personal Priesthood Interview” is conducted within the confines of the LDS Church. It is an ecclesiastical meeting between an LDS leader and a male member under their “authority.” When I was an Elders Quorum President, I held PPI’s with the elders under my charge. A PPI is used to check on the spiritual welfare of the man being interviewed, and to make sure they are on the “straight and narrow.” But that is not what this legislator meant…
What he had just experienced was an intense, closed-door meeting with select members of house leadership and the LDS Church lobbyists who made it abundantly clear that when HB116 came up for a vote, he was to support the bill, period.

"So, what role does the LDS Church really play when it comes to Utah politics? From my experience, it all depends on how badly the church wants a specific piece of legislation passed," says Mr. Wimmer.

Our take?  There's an 800-pound Gorilla on Utah's Capitol Hill.

A Weber County Forum Tip o" the Hat to former State representaive Wimmer, for forthrightly providing this useful "insider's insight" into the often enigmatic interworkings of our Utah State legislature.