Man with a mission
Tribune columnist Rebecca Walsh knows well Roger Cutler, former top attorney for SLC, then West Jordan. When she doggedly reported on the city's controversial 1999 sale — on Cutler's advice — of part of Main Street to the LDS Church, the church angrily branded Walsh a "mischievous reporter." Rough language for the church's website.
Cutler also fought in the Utah Supreme Court for the city's right to pray before council meetings. He still thinks he was correct on the issues, Walsh says. "That's the weakness of a man who had an encyclopedic knowledge of municipal law and a blind spot when it came to religion."
Deeda Seed, one of two council members to vote against the Main Street sale, says:
Cutler also fought in the Utah Supreme Court for the city's right to pray before council meetings. He still thinks he was correct on the issues, Walsh says. "That's the weakness of a man who had an encyclopedic knowledge of municipal law and a blind spot when it came to religion."
Deeda Seed, one of two council members to vote against the Main Street sale, says:
Roger Cutler was very into political expediency regardless of the law. On Main Street, he got it wrong. And the repercussions were enormously painful for the community.Brian Barnard, who faced Cutler in the prayer case, asks his own question:
Should a city attorney act in support of the constitutional rights of the citizens? Or simply do what he is told to do by those who have appointed him, the elected city officials?"Cutler soon will represent LDS Church in Germany as a missionary on legal issues. He must consider it a dream job.
1 Comments:
I wouldn't know Roger Cutler if I walked into him. But I find it amusing that he gets the blame for the pro-Mormon positions the city has taken in recent years. City attorneys may have a certain power but it's the city councils that ultimately decide the issues. If the SLC Council was too gutless or stupid to decline Cutler's advice, that's their problem. And let's not forget it was Mayor Rocky Anderson who caved in at the end on the Main St. Plaza mess. He gave it away in exchange for a few acres on the west side for troubled kids. BTW, what's going on with that Rocky dream project these days?
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