Utah County's Legislators

This morning in the State House chambers a drama played out on SB239 that demonstrates what is terribly wrong with the members from Utah County.

The chief purpose of the bill is to fund I-15 reconstruction through Utah County – a main objective of Utah County legislators. The bill would hike car registration fees by $20 -- a horrible regressive tax that ill serves Utahns.

Utah County members voted against the bill to oppose tax increases. Fair enough. But they still want the benefit.

They are hypocrites that ask us to allow them to be ideologically pure but do not fail to provide for the pragmatic needs of our community. It is a position held for decades going back to the founding of the Utah Transit Authority. The irresponsibility of Utah County legislators has led to more stalemates on good transportation planning in Utah than any lawsuit by environmental groups.

Bob Bernick of the Deseret News reports that House Speaker Dave Clark left the vote open for 20 minutes, and even walked off the floor while the vote was open, because most of the Utah County delegation was voting against it. After it was voted down, Clark called for a caucus. But the Utah County representatives wouldn't even attend the caucus, going off to talk among themselves. Clark, glowering when he didn't see the Utah County delegation attend, then called the House back on the floor to continue work on other matters. House Majority Leader Kevin Garn said that tens of thousands of jobs would be lost and Utah's economic infrastructure greatly harmed if I-15 in Utah County were not built.

Utah County legislators are not part of the solution. They are the problem. The citizens of Utah and Utah County deserve much better.

Shame on them!

(Note: Seven hours after their tantrum of the morning, they came back to reconsider the bill. Goody, now we get a tax increase in the middle of a recession.)