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2 Comments:

 Anonymous said...

And don't come back.

3/01/2007 12:27 PM  

 Anonymous said...

Thanks, folks: Legislators get high marks for hard work
Tribune Editorial
Article Last Updated: 03/03/2007 03:02:28 PM MST

Between the opening and closing gavels of the Legislature's general session, lawmakers put in 45 strenuous days trying to shape Utah's future in hundreds of ways, large and small. For that we commend them.

It is difficult duty being a state legislator, stressful and often thankless. And the work product is frequently a target of criticism, not least from the editorial board of this newspaper. So, yes, sincere thanks is due our 75 representatives and 29 senators, and to all the legislative staffers and volunteers who did their bidding.

We have written dozens of editorials during the session examining issues of great weight and moment, such as public education funding and private school vouchers, transportation, tax policy, surplus spending and a soccer stadium in Sandy. Some legislation struck us as shortsighted, unnecessary, potentially damaging to the body politic, and we said so. We also decried the secret, members-only lawmaking that is the bane of single-party rule.

All of this pointed punditry may have given the impression that we believe the Legislature seldom gets it right. Not so. With a record $1.7 billion budget surplus softening all the normally knotty funding choices, lawmakers were able to do a great deal more good than paying more to educate our children and build highways.

For example, the attention that legislators devoted to the disadvantaged was better in many respects, including restoring Medicaid dental and vision benefits (though just for a year), providing health insurance for 12,000 more children, and trimming (though by no means eliminating) the waiting list for disability services.

Legislators also wisely brought back eminent domain as a tool to eradicate urban blight. And they finally enacted modest ethics reform that halts their heretofore secret acceptance of Utah Jazz tickets from lobbyists.

Much else deserves praise. But it wasn't just what legislators did, in many cases, to improve the public weal, but what, in too few cases, they chose not to do when various among them advanced ideas one might gently describe as feather-headed. Like emasculating the Utah Transit Authority. Like spending millions of tax dollars to make an anti-abortion statement. Like forcing the children of undocumented workers to pay out-of-state tuition.

So, for all their hard work and dedication, Utah's lawmakers deserve thanks, no matter what we or those who elected them think about the sweet and sour fruits of their labors.

Sincere thanks is due our 75 representatives and 29 senators, and to all the legislative staffers and volunteers who did their bidding.

6/06/2007 7:41 PM  

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