Drawn and Quartered
When you are the 800-pound gorilla, like the Republican behemoth in the Utah Legislature, you get to be a bully, if you so choose, and the Republicans obviously choose to do so.
First, there was talk that the Legislature would not help pay for needed renovations to Union Pacific's railroad tracks to rid a Salt Lake City neighborhood of dangerous train activity if Democratic mayor Rocky Anderson got any credit for it.
The Republican-dominated body finally came around after an intervention by Salt Lake County Republican Chairman James Evans, a former state senator. And when the announcement was made, nary a word was uttered about Anderson's efforts until Democrat Rep. Ralph Becker got to speak.
I wrote in a recent blog how the Legislature is preparing to pass a bill giving the Salt Lake County Council, which has a Republican majority, the right to hire its own attorney over the objections of Democratic County Attorney David Yokom, who says only his office can legally represent the council.
That bill, sponsored by Sen. Darin Peterson, was dubbed jokingly as the "poke-em Yokom" bill.
Now comes "Poke-em Yokom" Part Two.
Senate Bill 266, sponsored by Sen. Mark Madsen, would preclude a county attorney from bringing a case against one of the public officials he represents. He would have to refer the case to the attorney general.
That, of course, is in response to the county's misuse-of-public-money prosecution of former Republican Mayor Nancy Workman which GOP officials claimed was a political persecution and vendetta against Workman by Yokom.
What's interesting is that the sponsors of both "poke-em Yokom" bills are Republicans from outside Salt Lake County. Peterson is from Nephi in Juab County and Madsen is from Lehi in Utah County.
What's also interesting is there has been no proposed legislation to prohibit a county attorney to use his or her county's law enforcement personnel and equipment to spy on his wife in another county, as Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson, a Republican, did not too long ago.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly
First, there was talk that the Legislature would not help pay for needed renovations to Union Pacific's railroad tracks to rid a Salt Lake City neighborhood of dangerous train activity if Democratic mayor Rocky Anderson got any credit for it.
The Republican-dominated body finally came around after an intervention by Salt Lake County Republican Chairman James Evans, a former state senator. And when the announcement was made, nary a word was uttered about Anderson's efforts until Democrat Rep. Ralph Becker got to speak.
I wrote in a recent blog how the Legislature is preparing to pass a bill giving the Salt Lake County Council, which has a Republican majority, the right to hire its own attorney over the objections of Democratic County Attorney David Yokom, who says only his office can legally represent the council.
That bill, sponsored by Sen. Darin Peterson, was dubbed jokingly as the "poke-em Yokom" bill.
Now comes "Poke-em Yokom" Part Two.
Senate Bill 266, sponsored by Sen. Mark Madsen, would preclude a county attorney from bringing a case against one of the public officials he represents. He would have to refer the case to the attorney general.
That, of course, is in response to the county's misuse-of-public-money prosecution of former Republican Mayor Nancy Workman which GOP officials claimed was a political persecution and vendetta against Workman by Yokom.
What's interesting is that the sponsors of both "poke-em Yokom" bills are Republicans from outside Salt Lake County. Peterson is from Nephi in Juab County and Madsen is from Lehi in Utah County.
What's also interesting is there has been no proposed legislation to prohibit a county attorney to use his or her county's law enforcement personnel and equipment to spy on his wife in another county, as Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson, a Republican, did not too long ago.
Cheers,
Paul Rolly
11:31 AM
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2 Comments:
That's a fair point. Bryson should have been thrown out of office for misusing his county's resources.
When has the Salt Lake County Council ever cared about the people they represent? The answer is never.
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