St. George junket offered to The Tribune
To "Google" oneself is no longer just an act of vanity. In this day and age, it has become a necessary act of self-protection.
How else is one to know that, say, one has been offered a bribe by a member of the Utah Legislature?
OK, so it isn't really a bribe. It is more of a junket.
When I called him, Rep. Stephen Urquhart quickly backed off any suggestion that his invitation for the members of The Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board to visit St. George and environs included an offer to pick up the tab.
The lawmaker from St. George was upset about our editorial "A bad plan," opposing the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act for being, basically, too much growth and too little conservation. He wanted us to come down and look around and see, he believed, just how much the bill from Sen. Bob Bennett and Rep. Jim Matheson was needed.
Maybe we'll go. Maybe not. If we do, we'll pay our own way.
To a legislator, letting someone else pay for a trip is an acceptable method of gathering information. To a journalist, it's a bribe.
Read the rest of this column here.
-- George Pyle
How else is one to know that, say, one has been offered a bribe by a member of the Utah Legislature?
OK, so it isn't really a bribe. It is more of a junket.
When I called him, Rep. Stephen Urquhart quickly backed off any suggestion that his invitation for the members of The Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board to visit St. George and environs included an offer to pick up the tab.
The lawmaker from St. George was upset about our editorial "A bad plan," opposing the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act for being, basically, too much growth and too little conservation. He wanted us to come down and look around and see, he believed, just how much the bill from Sen. Bob Bennett and Rep. Jim Matheson was needed.
Maybe we'll go. Maybe not. If we do, we'll pay our own way.
To a legislator, letting someone else pay for a trip is an acceptable method of gathering information. To a journalist, it's a bribe.
Read the rest of this column here.
-- George Pyle
5 Comments:
You guys need to lighten up on Urquhart. You could have easily told him privately that journalists don't accept these types of offers instead of making a big deal about it.
I'm sure it was an honest mistake, but I guess you guys can't pass up the opportunity to kick a conservative Republican.
"Kick a conservative republican?" Is that the new phrase for "shoot a sitting duck?"
Mr. Pyle,
I appreciate that you and the Trib Editorial Board are entitled to your opinion. I hope you also know that I don't hold it in any higher value than any other person or small group of people. You are no authority on anything outside of journalism as far as I'm concerned. You certainly are no authority on Washington County - even if you've been here recently - you haven't lived here. You don't know our leaders, you don't know our efforts, you don't know our economy.
Therefore, I think it'd be appropriate for you to shut up on this issue until you are educated sufficiently.
Additionally, I think you are disingenuous if not dishonest in how you've "reported" Steve Urquhart's invitation to arrange a visit down to Washington County. It's hard to believe you would call his offer a bribe. It was a classless move on your part, and you should be ashamed of yourself. But you probably aren't. It really says something about who you are and what ideals (or lack therof) you and your newspaper represent.
The Trib should apologize. This really was a cheap shot. This is something you would expect from the bush leaguers at the Provo Daily Herald.
Kind of reminds you of when Clinton federalized a huge swath of land in Utah, at the end of his administration, without having a clue what it looked like or how it would affect the area. He also did this without state input. That poor policy was struck down in court.
It seems what the senators are trying to do is responsible and generous to the environment. Environmentalists will always have complaints. They just don't like development of land, period.
Take the trip, Mr. Pyle. But while you're there, be open minded.
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