Woodshed for Buttars
The last couple days should give heart to citizens who think they have no voice at the Legislature.
After Chris Buttars made outrageously racially insensitive remarks in the Senate, the NAACP called, citizens wrote letters to the editors, bloggers raged and students read protest poems in the Rotunda. Still, it seemed the senator would ride out not only the "black baby" controversy and earlier homophobic remarks, but an unrelated revelation that he had used his position to attempt to pressure a judge to rule in favor of a campaign supporter.
It seemed business as usual in the Utah Legislature.
But Sunday, Buttars appeared at Calvary Baptist Church and apologized face-to-face with many of the people he had hurt.
Monday, the senator suffered the belated wrath of GOP senators. Though they supported Buttars publicly, some say privately Buttars' behavior had brought disgrace upon the entire Senate. Senate President John Valentine stripped Buttars of his chairmanship of the Judicial Confirmation Committee.
House Speaker Greg Curtis had already made it clear that Buttars' bill to prevent Salt Lake City from offering a domestic partner registry was not welcome in his body as long as Buttars' name was attached. Now, the bill has been taken over by another senator and rewritten. It's future still is uncertain.
As far as having any impact on Buttars, the man — that's a different story. Remember the throwback who speechified: "This baby is black, I'll tell you. This is a dark and ugly thing," then described those who complained as a "hate lynch mob" and "those people"? Monday, Buttars described his reception by the Calvary Baptists to the DNews thus:
After Chris Buttars made outrageously racially insensitive remarks in the Senate, the NAACP called, citizens wrote letters to the editors, bloggers raged and students read protest poems in the Rotunda. Still, it seemed the senator would ride out not only the "black baby" controversy and earlier homophobic remarks, but an unrelated revelation that he had used his position to attempt to pressure a judge to rule in favor of a campaign supporter.
It seemed business as usual in the Utah Legislature.
But Sunday, Buttars appeared at Calvary Baptist Church and apologized face-to-face with many of the people he had hurt.
Monday, the senator suffered the belated wrath of GOP senators. Though they supported Buttars publicly, some say privately Buttars' behavior had brought disgrace upon the entire Senate. Senate President John Valentine stripped Buttars of his chairmanship of the Judicial Confirmation Committee.
House Speaker Greg Curtis had already made it clear that Buttars' bill to prevent Salt Lake City from offering a domestic partner registry was not welcome in his body as long as Buttars' name was attached. Now, the bill has been taken over by another senator and rewritten. It's future still is uncertain.
As far as having any impact on Buttars, the man — that's a different story. Remember the throwback who speechified: "This baby is black, I'll tell you. This is a dark and ugly thing," then described those who complained as a "hate lynch mob" and "those people"? Monday, Buttars described his reception by the Calvary Baptists to the DNews thus:
"There must have been 30 or so ladies that gave me a hug and wanted a picture with me. Which I found a little shocking. They're a wonderful people."
1 Comments:
Do you suppose this is Buttars' first exposure to real black people? Ignorance can certainly breed hate.
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