This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
The people of Utah demand very little of their congressional leaders. And that's what they are getting.
This past year very little has been accomplished. It is virtually impossible to point to a piece of legislation that has benefited anyone from Utah or any of our institutions. The least our representatives could have done (as all of them are Republicans) would be to attend the Republican National Convention which begins Monday in Cleveland.
There, they could not only cast their votes for (or against) an individual who could be the next president of the United States. They could also meet with fellow convention delegates, develop a party platform and strategize in other ways that could be helpful to our state and nation.
Being an elected representative of the people means representing their interests in any and all available forums, not just those they control, those that will make them look good.
The fact that Reps. Jason Chaffetz, Chris Stewart and Mia Love will not even bother to attend the convention suggests that they have little real interest in helping their constituents from Utah.
This is particularly true of Chaffetz, who generally seems to have little trouble finding the nearest TV camera, yet can't be bothered to travel to the place that, for the next few days, will have the largest concentration of media in the world.
None of our representatives are in such a tight re-election contest that their campaign could not spare them for a few days. Chaffetz is clearly not worried about any need to touch base in his district, as he is off on an international junket.
All three of them undercut their own cases by avoiding any association with the convention, its far-right platform and its hyper-controversial likely nominee, Donald Trump. All of which they should either embrace openly or explain their objections to the voters.
On that score, Sen. Mike Lee scores some serious courage points. Right or wrong, Lee stood up for his ideals by attending not only the convention but taking an active role in the deliberations of the party's Rules Committee.
There Lee — and his fellow delegate wife, Sharon Lee — represented Utah Republicans who overwhelmingly rejected Trump in their caucuses last March. They led a last-ditch effort to give convention delegates the freedom to stop and think about what they are about to do to their party, and their country. A chance to be active representatives of those who elected them and consider if they should really nominate a candidate who personifies none of the traditional Utah Republican values and threatens to drag the whole of the GOP down to a disastrous defeat come November.
Lee, along with Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Rob Bishop, will be where they should be next week, representing their fellow Utah Republicans, working either to ratify the party's decisions or to make them better. And owning the result.
Their services are badly needed in all such forums. If they don't see that, they shouldn't have run for office.