This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
New U.S. Rep. Mia Love recently sent her first taxpayer-funded fliers to her constituents in Utah's 4th District, letting them know she wants to hear about their concerns so she can better serve them.
The mailers contain her email address to her U.S. House office and a telephone number for her Washington, D.C., and West Jordan offices.
But if you try to phone that local field office by punching in the provided number, you're wasting your time.
That number's wrong.
The correct number is 801-996-8729. The flier listing transposes the last two digits.
Meanwhile, fliers include a four-question survey for constituents to fill out and return.
The first and fourth questions are straightforward:
No. 1 • "Do you support a bill requiring an audit of the Federal Reserve (including its relationship with foreign investors, funding facilities and operations)?"
No. 4 • "Do you think Congress should raise the current 18-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax to help pay for new infrastructure projects?"
But Nos. 2 and 3 are trickier:
No. 2 • "Do you believe a simpler, fairer tax code will encourage a healthy economy and create jobs?" It doesn't offer what would be cut in a simpler tax code and to whom it would be fairer.
No. 3 • "Has your access to quality health care changed in the last year?" That's all it asks. If your access has improved, you would say yes. If it has worsened, you would say yes. If it hasn't changed, and you answered no, it could be interpreted as a failure under Obamacare, just as it could be interpreted that way if you answered yes.
Love resorted to generalities and clichés — and the experience of an unnamed constituent whose deductible, she says, is now $6,000 so she can't access health care — in blasting Obamacare on the House floor this week.
One reader suggests that all of Love's constituents call her field office number (the correct one) and let her know if their health-care access is better or worse, even though she didn't ask for that, so she'll really know.
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Kill the messenger • Rep. Brian Greene, R-Pleasant Grove, became the target of a social media firestorm over comments he said were taken out of context and didn't represent his intentions concerning a bill that would define as rape sexual contact with an unconscious person who is not able to give consent.
Greene questioned if the language of the bill might have unintended consequences and put a married person in jeopardy of rape charges for having such relationship with an unconscious spouse.
Those comments gained nationwide attention and set off an impassioned reaction against Greene.
He clarified his comments the next day and said they were taken out of context. He said he always had supported the bill and its intent and was just questioning whether it could be worded better.
To Greene's credit, he acknowledged he could have chosen his own words better and apologized for any pain he might have caused. "I should have been more careful," he said. "I want to take ownership for that."
But that's not the way you do it in the Utah Legislature, a couple of Greene's conservative House colleagues contend. Don't take ownership. Blame the news media. Better still, blame the liberal media.
In response to an email Greene sent to his colleagues apologizing for any embarrassment he may have caused the body, Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, wrote: "Don't let it get you down. Media sensationalism."
Oda is known for firebombing-type emails to constituents who disagree with him on an issue.
Also responding to Greene's apology was Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, who has made headlines for sponsoring legislation that may help his own nonprofit groups.
"Media taking things out of context to sell papers. Who knew such things could happen?" He then passed on a famous quote: "If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed — Mark Twain." (Some doubt the origin of that quote.)
I have another famous quote for legislators: "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter" — Thomas Jefferson.