Legislative session quiet so far -- except for Buttars

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Feb 29, 2008 | by Bob Bernick Jr. Deseret Morning News

The Utah Legislature has four days to go before adjournment at midnight Wednesday.

And by the standard of previous sessions, this one has been mild.

Of course, setting the final budget and rushing to take final votes on hundreds of bills, tempers will wear thin, along with patience.

Still, some of the previous hot-button issues are missing -- private school vouchers, bank/credit unions, major tax reform, any number of "moral" bills.

In part, the day-to-day relatively quiet work of the Legislature this session was loudly shunted aside by the foot-in-the-mouth disease of Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan.

I'm guessing that only a few times during the annual 45-day session do everyday citizens pay much attention to what's going on in the Capitol. But many Utahns certainly heard about Buttars and his comment in floor debate that a bill was a black baby, and an ugly, dark thing.

Even before that flap died down, up came a letter that Buttars -- then head of the Senate's judicial confirmation committee -- sent to a judge last May complaining about a decision that went against a friend of Buttars.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, a tax attorney, replaced Buttars as chairman of that committee this week, although Buttars remains on the panel that reviews judicial nominations that come from the governor.

Anyway, aside from Buttars' sideshow, things have worked relatively routinely in the 2008 Legislature.

It still waits to be seen exactly how much of a tax cut Utahns will see, what kind of pay raises public education teachers will get.

It's an election year for all 75 House members, for half of the 29-member Senate and for GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

Huntsman already has said that he will serve only two terms, assuming Utahns will send him back to the governor's office this year. And so this may be Huntsman's last public campaign (although rumors remain that Huntsman may still want to run for the U.S. Senate in 2012.)

It is never too early to look to higher office -- and it is clear that some GOP leaders in the House and Senate are raising money and grooming themselves for a bigger run.

But that is still years away.

Over the next four days, lawmakers will be struggling with a dwindling budget, how to fund billions of dollars in road construction and reconstruction, how to provide health insurance for 300,000 Utahns, what kinds of economic development can soften the clear downturn in Utah's economy and so on.

Soon Utah's lawmakers will be going to their constituents asking for their continued support.

It would be nice if voters take advantage of the Web, and if they aren't paying some attention now, at least use free archives to Google their House and Senate members, read some stories about the Legislature and individual legislators and see if what they are doing individually and collectively meets with their approval -- and whether these people deserve their vote this year.

Historically, more than 85 percent of legislators who seek re- election win.

Polls by the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV show that 60 percent of citizens can't name their House or Senate member.

With today's technology, such voter ignorance is unnecessary.

By and large, the Legislature does the people's business in an acceptable manner -- and certainly the 104 part-time citizen lawmakers are overworked and underpaid.

But they also are responsible to you. And voters should take a little time to learn about the Legislature and their individual representatives and senators.

Democracies work best with citizen participation and open and fair government.

Deseret Morning News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com