Why is it that Representative Carl Wimmer (R – Herriman, District 52) constantly manages to piss me off? He seems incapable of making a sound decision that advances democracy.

On the surface H.J.R. 8 looks like a good little resolution – it is short and sweet. and discusses something that seems straightforward enough. The resolution states the following:

The right of the people to vote by secret ballot is fundamental. The right to vote by secret ballot in an election under state or federal law for public office, on an initiative or referendum, or to designate or authorize employee representation may not be infringed.

As the Utah Amicus points out this bill actually prevents delegates from being held accountable to the people who elect them for representation come party convention. In other words this bill prevents people from knowing that they are actually being represented. As crazy as this sounds, one could make the argument that this is a slippery slope to having committee meeting votes closes or, dare I say it, actual floor votes closed?

As the Amicus further points out, this is a way to further weaken unions – this bill would have a chilling effect on voting to create a union because it creates an atmosphere where union bosses would not have to reveal how they voted for any particular issue.

In short, this is a bad resolution that appears to be good – after all, who would think secret ballots are bad? I was fooled myself – in an effort to try and keep up with what is going on on the hill, I often write posts set to publish in the near future. I wrote this post on Sunday with a positive spin, thank goodness I came across Craig Axford’s post.