One of the sad, simple, facts is that many people simply do not understand our democracy or how it works, and one of the reasons is that we simply do not invest enough time and resources into educating students about our system in the first place.

Thankfully Representative Morley (R – Spanish Fork, District 66) has proposed HB 220 – Civics Education Amendments to help reduce this problem and make people more aware of the most basic information needed to understand how our government works.

The bill itself is a bit vague, but it is a step in the right direction. It states that American History classes must discuss various forms of government and the American republic and provide a thorough study of documents such as the Constitution and the Deceleration of Independence.

I am a firm believer that this should be the beginning, not the end of civics education. The more people know about how the system works, the better, as it is a very complex process that can easily turn people off despite the fact that government literally affects all of us.

Urgency Score:

Click here to contact Representative Morley.

Earlier today, I discussed the importance of using technology to further advance our democracy; but this strong advocacy should not be confused with my desire to do away with traditional means of government to communicate with the public.

Well, two years ago, during a special secession, it was decided that legal notices that required public input would not need to publish an announcement in local newspapers if the newspaper was in Counties of the First or Second Class. Confused? Well, basically that gobbledygook means that if there is a public meeting in Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, or Weber County, the government does not actually have to alert you of it through the traditional route of placing the notice in the newspaper. Local, county, and state government would only have to announce the public meeting via a special website announcing the meeting.

Now, as I said before, I am all about technology being used to further our democracy – but this does not mean that technology should inherently replace traditional means of communicating with the public. Sure, it may be a good idea to replace the town crier with a website, but not necessarily to drop public meetings in lieu of a Twitter conversation.

Well, it appears that Senator John Valentine (R – Orem, District 14) agrees with me. He has proposed SB 105 – Legal Notice Publication Requirements. The bill proposes that the original law passed back in 2009 be repealed. Valentine is basically saying “if you have something the public should know about, you should do all you can to make sure the public knows about it.”

The idea of a website announcing public meetings is a good thing, but it should not act as the only means of communication. I have to admit that I wouldn’t inherently know where to look online to find information regarding public hearings, despite being both an internet and political nerd; even if I did, it doesn’t mean that it would be the first place I would look if there was an issue I cared about. The simple fact is that far too many people are still not internet literate enough to justify eliminating notices from newspapers.

Urgency Score:

Click here to contact Senator Valentine.

Amendment A is a solution to a problem that does not exist, and it has the added benefit of possibly harming our state.

Amendment A sounds nice enough – hell, it even sounds like it is un-democratic to vote against it.  Its language is simple:

 Shall the Utah Constitution be amended to specify that elections currently required to be by secret ballot include elections under state or federal law for public office, on an initiative or referendum, or to designate or authorize employee or individual representation?

I mean, who doesn’t want our elections to be private, is our right to feel our vote is our own, free of coercion.

But did you catch that last line? By adding ”(secret ballots include elections) to designate or authorize employee or individual representation,” legislators are subtlety attempting to harm unions and take on the federal government.

You see, this amendment was prompted by Congresses potential passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, an act that would make it easier for unions to form. As the Salt Lake Tribune explains:

Under existing law, if 30 percent of employees sign cards saying that they want an organizing election, a union can petition the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to conduct an election by secret ballot. If the union gets a majority of the votes, the NLRB certifies the union.Under the “Employee Free Choice Act,” the NLRB would certify the union if it could get more than 50 percent of the workforce to sign the cards. The election by secret ballot would be eliminated.

Business, naturally, fears that this would give union bosses the potential to coerce people into publicly supporting the formation of a union. In an attempt to circumvent this, the Utah State Legislature is trying to pass Amendment A to change our Constitution.

But here is the rub – the Utah Constitution already says that all elections are required to be secret. The only problem is that the union issue has never been challenged in state court and, therefore, never defined.

As an added bonus, if the Employee Free Choice Act were to pass, it doesn’t matter what our state constitution says due to the fact that federal law always trumps state law. Since our legislature loves taking on the federal government, it is only natural that we will spend God only knows how much defending a losing battle – I suspect a judge would just snicker, render his verdict, and move on.

If the Employee Free Choice Act does not pass (and it is looking like it won’t), we have created a solution to a problem that does not exist. Anti-big government people, where are you on this one?

I do love the grand platitudes Representative Wimmer and Senator Stephenson use to defend their proposed amendment. Hell, if you were to read it you would think that the Lord himself has tasked Wimmer and Stephenson to protect democracy herself.

Vote no on Amendment A. At best it is useless, and at worse it could cost Utah a good chunk of change.

As many of you either knew or could easily figure out – I have been working for the Fair Boundaries Initiative over the past four months.  Last Thursday, we finally submitted our signatures for final counting and, though nothing official has been released, I can tell you that we probably received half of our legally required goal of 95,000 signatures.

Now that I am free of the shackles, so to speak, I feel the need to tell the world how I feel about the initiative process in Utah.

It is unconstitutional.

Yes, unconstitutional. The state constitution states in Article 1, Section 2 that “All political power is inherent in the people; and all free governments are founded on their authority for their equal protection and benefit, and they have the right to alter or reform their government as the public welfare may require.”  One of the ways we can theoretically do this is through the referendum process if and when our government fails to act.

Ah, but our government has acted – to halt the referendum process.

Three laws are now on the books that severely limit the ability for people to petition our government.

1. Petition gatherers need to collect signatures equivalent to 10% of those who participated in the last gubernatorial election.
2. Petition gatherers need to collect 10% of signatures in 26 out of 29 senate districts
3. Petition gatherers must submit petitions to the various county clerks on April 15, however you can remove your signature up to one month after submission.

There are also a few procedural items that make the task even more difficult.

1. A signature may be deemed invalid, even if it is legal, if it is not submitted to the proper county clerk.
2. Electronic signatures will be counted by some clerks but not others.

Now, Fair Boundaries was extremity popular. In fact the Deseret News reported that two out of every three people supported the indicative and its goals, yet it still failed to reach its legal goal – why?

The laws in this state make it too difficult for people to petition their government and are, there fore, de facto unconstitutional.

As a point of fact, the nonpartisan Citizens in Charge gave Utah a grade of C- in the ability of its citizens to pass a referendum, however this document was clearly published before the rules were changed to up the required distribution to 26 out of 29 senate districts and to remove signatures. I would imagine that with this added information it would drop to a D- by the groups standards.

I also find it interesting that the very legislators who claim to be doing the will of the people get so frantically upset when the people wish to do something as patriotic as participating in their democracy.

The initiative process should be difficult, but not impossible. Sadly, it appears that only large sums of money, and not grassroots efforts can prevail in this state.

We as citizens have to ask ourselves if we want our democracy to be so blatantly bought and sold as to prevent the citizenry from ever participating in it.

Fair Boundaries was only disliked among the political elite who stood to loose something from making the system more equitable. The only reasonable objection I ever heard from a citizen was “who chooses the commission that sets up the boundaries in the first place?” Indeed, people should ask those questions – however most felt that it was an improvement over the current system.

So, sadly, Fair Boundaries failed. I will close with a story I have about the late Senator Ed Mayne that I have told in the past.

While working as Senator Mayne’s intern, we had a discussion about a bill he was running regarding health care spending for people with disabilities.  The bill was doomed to fail – and he asked me if it would.  After saying that it had no chance, he replied “I know it won’t pass; but damn it, it is the right thing to do.”

During the campaign I kept on my computer monitor a post-it note from a donor that made it all worth while:

Fair Boundaries was the right thing to do and I know that, in my own way, I have done something to help the state I love.

And 50 years of prosperity followed…

All too often, it seems as though I am attacking Republicans for the sake of attacking Republicans on the “Bills to Watch” series – but I am not above giving credit where credit is do. Indeed, Representative Christopher Herrod’s (R – Provo – District 62) HB 278 – Government Records Access and Management Amendments is one of those good bills that never seem to get enough credit.

This bill would allow the transmission of government records to be distributed to individuals through electronic means if the requester wishes to receive the information electronically and if the information exists in an electronic format.

In short, this bill would allow people greater access to how their government works.  Furthermore, the bill would reduce paper usage and make it much easier to search the mounds of information that can come along with making government records request.  Finally, this bill would reduce government costs as fewer resources would need to be used to do the peoples business.

I am glad to see that there are efforts being made to make government more available and bills like this should be encouraged.

Click here to send Representative Herrod a piece of electronic mail.

Tonight I will be on the KRCL FM 90 discussing various bills being discussed on the hill.  Joining me will be Misty Fowler over at Saintless, and I am told one other person…yet to be named.

So tune in to 90.9 FM at 6:00 PM or click here to listen online.

http://fairboundaries.utahpetitions.org/

Go sign the Fair Boundaries Initiative petition now. Your vote is your voice. With only days until the start of the legislative session, you can send a clear message to our representatives and the power brokers demanding to have your voice heard by signing the Fair Boundaries petition…ONLINE!

That’s right, online. No hassle, no need to hunt down a petition, simply CLICK HERE and follow the steps. Even if you think you’ve already signed a paper copy, check the site to make sure we have your name.

I want Fair Boundaries to hit its target of 95,000 signatures during this legislative session, and with your help, they can!

This year the Utah State Legislature will begin the statewide process of redrawing congressional and legislative district boundaries. Without your signature, politicians will continue to meet behind closed doors and protect their own political agendas without having to worry about repercussions, challenges from other candidates or the will of the people. If we don’t get the Fair Boundaries Initiative on the ballot, it’s quite possible that your vote WON’T COUNT for future state and local issues that matter to you most. We have an opportunity to change this process. Don’t be fooled by the detractors, this is an issue of fairness that crosses all party lines and affects everyone. Your signature will help tell your state officials that we, the people, want a more open and honest government.

Do you think your vote should count? Do you think politicians should NOT select their voters? Help us send a clear message to the Utah State Legislature that we need a change in our current redistricting process.

CLICK HERE NOW

After signing – send the link on to family and friends throughout the state.

If you have questions, please visit www.fairboundaries.org.

Tuesday’s predictably abysmal voter turnout once again shows that people fundamentally don’t care about our democracy.

I grow tired of the excuses of “I had something else to do” or “I am not informed enough to vote” as they only further this point.  We ask our citizens to vote twice a year – on average it takes no more than five minutes of your year to actually vote and, perhaps, an hour over many, many months to become informed about the issues. I am honestly baffled by people’s utter lack of regard for the very government that affects them on a day to day basis.

As an example, the fate of Salt Lake City rests in the nine vote lead Soren Simonsen currently holds in Salt Lake’s 7^th City Council seat – will the city maintain the more liberal course Simonsen offers, or will opponent Lisa Adams act as a moderate tie-breaker on the council? Regardless of your political affiliation, you have to admit that the nearly 13,500 people who didn’t vote in that race arguably had a greater impact on the fate of the entire city when compared to the 3,500 who did.

But perhaps that is to abstract.  Let’s talk turkey.  The Public Safety Building passed by a near two to one margin – a solid victory indeed, but one has to wonder if the 86,000 plus residents who didn’t vote honestly don’t care if their taxes go up over the coming years.

Well, we know the answer.  People will inevitably complain that government doesn’t represent them, that taxes are to high, and that services are not being provided – but I severely doubt that even a majority of the people who raise their voice down the road participated in Tuesday’s election.

In my mind a few things need to be changed in order to get the participation numbers to at least pathetic levels.

First and foremost, we need to make it less difficult for people to vote in the first place.  In Utah, the legislature has been far too eager to make life difficult for those unfamiliar with the election process but who still wish to participate. We need same day registration and to abolish the ID rule for all voters; furthermore, we need to give county clerks the proper resources they need to ensure that people not only have a place to vote, but know that an election is coming up in the first place and how to vote.

Second, we need to change our attitude towards voting.  Specifically, I am referring to the media trying to make voting cool – well guess what, it is not cool.  It is a chore and we need to think of it as such.  Think about it, people generally will substitute one fun thing for another if it comes along.  If voting is “fun” but going to the movies is more fun, guess what most people are going to do? No, voting needs to be seen as a chore – but, instead of throwing out the trash to maintain the home, we are voting to maintain the republic. Chores imply responsibility, fun implies whimsy.

Third, we need to improve civics education.  Most people don’t participate in government because they simply don’t know how to…most people don’t even know what the three branches of government are or what they do, yet we expect them to make decisions when they know full well that they don’t know what they are doing? Children should receive appropriate levels of civics education in 1^st, 4^th, 9^th, and 12^th grade as part of a well rounded curriculum and the FCC should mandate that public airwaves be used to educate the adult population during times when people are actually watching and listening.

Finally, we politicos need to realize that participating in government isn’t the top priority for everyone. Sure, we can sit back and chew the fat with our colleagues until the cows come home, but that does nothing beyond ensure that we stay in an echo chamber and that people continue to tune us out. I say we take the time to reach out and talk to people who are not inherently active. You know these people, they are the friends and neighbors who never seem to vote despite you yelling at them. I challenge you to talk with them rather than talk at them…and don’t make it a political discussion, make it a civics discussion; allow them to decide who they should vote for.

As reported the other day, Utah GOP Chair Dave Hansen is fiercely opposed to Utah’s Fair Boundaries initiative, and though this is one mans opinion, it is a sign of growing disdain for the will of the public from the Republican Party leaders.

Fair Boundaries appears to be catching the brunt of Utah GOP’s rage.  On Thursday, September 10, Fair Boundaries was attending the University of Utah’s “Conservative Day” in their attempt to gather signatures for the petition to place their cause on the ballot. Approximately ten minutes into the event Legislator Becky Lockhart (R-Provo) verbally confronted Mark Nelson, a volunteer for Fair Boundaries, and, along with the University of Utah College Republicans, made it clear that Fair Boundaries was no longer invited to the event. The organization is a confederation of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents who wish to change Utah’s redistricting process to lessen the effects of gerrymandering – the term used to describe suspiciously shaped political boundaries that favor one party over another.

In a statement written statement, Fair Boundaries was “disturbed by the incident” and explained that Conservative Day was sponsored by the University of Utah.

But this is only the most recent and outlandish action by Utah Republican leaders. Speaker of the House, Dave Clark (R – Santa Clara), has consistently shown opposition to an independent commission, claiming that the only thing to come from an independent panel are lawsuits and that legislators are inherently better qualified to choose their voters because they know the districts better.

On a less obvious level, then Lieutenant Governor Herbert’s (R) office authorized a $1 million fiscal note on the initiative using questionable assumptions about how an independent has no back knowledge when compared to the Utah State Legislature.

On the flip side, it should also be noted that former Senate Majority Leader, Curt Bramble (R – Provo) interrupted town hall meetings that discussed the other main initiative going around the state concerning ethics reform by shouting questions to panel memembers when all other attendees patiently waited their turn to speak.

No one doubts that Republicans are the majority in Utah, but the majority of observant voters also know that they are disproportionately represented in the Utah State Legislature. One has to wonder why Republican leaders are so opposed to redistricting the boundaries of Utah’s political districts, despite the fact that 60 percent all citizens surveyed in a recent Deseret News/KSL-TV Poll support a redistricting commission and a whopping 85 percent want ethics reform – they are even going against their own party: a Dan Jones and Associates poll showed 60 percent of self identifying Republicans supporting the redistricting initiative.

The trend is clear – there is fierce opposition in the halls of power about the initiatives and the reasons for this are many and varied.  The paternal nature of the legislature combined with the desire to maintain power means that spats like this should be expected at least until the initiatives fail or go before the voters next November.