After two bills sponsored by Rep. Becky Edwards passed the House on Monday, two of her Republican colleagues, Curtis Oda of Clearfield and Carl Wimmer of Herriman, placed 24-hour holds on the bills before they could be sent to the Senate.
When Edwards, R-North Salt Lake, learned of it, she approached her colleagues. Oda told her he put a hold on her HB153, which sets up a system for recycling electronic products, because he wanted to make sure members of the industry were on board with it.
Wimmer told her he had meant to place a hold on the same bill, for the same reason, but accidentally held her other passed bill, HB169, which provides for input from refineries on local government rezoning decisions.
The bills had gone through standing committees and had substantial time to be vetted on the House floor before passage. So why did Oda and Wimmer still have to question industry folks?
Their pettiness was just part of an orchestrated harassment of Edwards and other Republican representatives who refused to vote for HJR24, Oda's joint resolution to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot designed to do away with any kind of affirmative action programs. The holdouts prevented HJR's supporters from getting the two-thirds vote needed to amend the state constitution. The harassment became so intense that House leadership stepped in and told the lobbyists and lawmakers applying the pressure to back off.
"The reason leadership was willing to get involved is (the holdouts) have been significant team players on a host of difficult issues," said a source inside the House. "Leadership was not willing to leverage that group.
The entire process surrounding HJR24 is questionable. The resolution passed the House Business and Labor Committee the morning of Feb. 12, a Friday. Then it had a short hearing at noon before the Constitutional Revision Commission, which did not approve it. But even before that hearing, the resolution had been placed on the House calendar for a floor debate the following Tuesday. That was the next day of business because the Legislature didn't meet on Presidents Day.
Commission members had questions about the process and how it might affect health programs designed to protect women, like breast cancer screening and domestic violence programs.
"We wondered why something as important as changing the constitution was being rushed through like this," said one commission member.
The holdouts were pressured mercilessly. Petitions were passed around in their districts claiming they were bad Republicans. While the petitions bore the logo of an elephant, implying GOP sponsorship, the State Republican Party knew nothing about it. Word spread that it was the Utah Young Republicans, although GOP State Chairman Dave Hansen said that wasn't so.
There is a dissident Young Republicans group, led by Brian Chapman, who was a campaign strategist for Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Provo. Dayton's name is on at least some of the petitions as a contact. Which begs the question: Why is a Utah County senator butting into the internal affairs of House districts in Davis and Salt Lake counties?
The chief lobbyists for the resolution, Jeff Hartley and Chris Kyler, were hired by the American Civil Rights Coalition of Sacramento, Calif., a group behind Ward Connerly, who has pushed for constitutional amendments banning affirmative action in several states, including Utah.
Connerly reportedly has received millions of dollars in consulting fees from associations representing public building contractors opposed to policies that insure some money for public building projects will go to businesses owned by women and minorities.
Questions about these types of relationships have made reasonable heads at the Legislature say slow down and study this a little more.
