This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Heaven help us to elevate the trite, rhetorical messages that Gov. Gary R. Herbert subjects Utahns to in his fifth grade level of lectures on "doing the right way does matter."
This year Herbert signed off on some of the most misappropriated bills handed to him from the 2016 Utah legislative sessions. Senate Bill 246 gives away $53 million to a flawed deep-water port to export coal from Utah. House Bill 232 will clutter Utah's scenic byways with billboards. Senate Bill 43 gives 8th grade students the option to take a course on gun safety and how to make a phone call. Maybe the most egregious is House Bill 338 on Juneteenth, a date to recall when the day the last American slaves were freed after the Civil War.
The governor's past comment, "Utah can and does show the way to more civil politics," certainly simplifies the complex problems locally and nationally that we are struggling to address. Utah's governor and legislative body seems to vacillate between child-like hot air and the manipulating of laws to the point of senseless activity.
Is there an adult out there somewhere who could move into the governor's mansion?
Rosemary A. Holt
Salt Lake City