Rep. Carl Wimmer was outraged at reports about his relationship to alleged Ponzi scheme scammer Rick Koerber and he knew exactly where to go to vent his rage at the liberal media, Democrats, government investigators and anyone else who doesn't fit his definition of a true Patrick Henry patriot.

The Herriman Republican appeared on "Red Meat Radio" recently to denounce the press, including me, for having the audacity to report he was helping Koerber, who was desperately trying to demonize the State Department of Commerce for gathering evidence of his alleged criminal dealings.

Let's see. Wimmer arranged for Koerber to meet with the Utah Attorney General's Office and then-House speaker Greg Curtis, asked for a legislative audit of the State Securities Division investigating Koerber, and appeared on Koerber's K-TALK radio program to extoll his virtues as a true conservative.

In addition, Koerber asked for volunteers through his FreeCapitalist.com Web site to distribute campaign fliers for Wimmer last fall and offered free hamburgers at the Iceberg for anyone who showed up. He also was one of the most generous contributors to vouchers advocate Parents for Choice in Education, which has given Wimmer more than $12,000 in his two campaigns for the House.

Why would anybody get the impression they were friends with a penchant for helping each other?

Wimmer was chagrined at me for not checking with him before I reported his aiding of Koerber, who recently was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme, the result of the State Commerce Department's investigation.

He told the hosts of Red Meat Radio, which airs Saturday mornings on K-TALK, that he would do the same thing for any resident, noting he personally paid for lunch at the Curtis meeting. So if you have a problem with state government, call Carl Wimmer. He'll not only set up a meeting with a state honcho for you, he'll buy lunch.

Uh, except for Chance Williams, who asked Wimmer, a former cop, if he would sponsor legislation to impose stiffer sentences for repeat offenders. Wimmer wrote back that he wouldn't have anything to do with Williams because he ran against Wimmer's friend, Rep. Mike Morley, R-Spanish Fork, in the Republican primary last year and, according to Wimmer, he ran a nasty campaign.

So Wimmer will help anybody except Chance Williams.

Well, except Clark Newhall, a licensed physician and attorney who invited legislators to a free screening of Michael Moore's "Sicko." Wimmer wrote back and strongly asserted he would not have anything to do with that.

Of course, Wimmer's claims of altruism, and his description of Commerce head Francine Giani as "the most corrupt department head in state government," went unchallenged. That's because he was appearing on what basically is a right-wing safe house, where ultra-conservative politicians and Republican sugar daddies can say anything, slander anyone, without backing it up.

Red Meat Radio's hosts are Sen. Howard Stephenson and Rep. Greg Hughes, both R-Draper, who claim they are "setting the record straight" while actually promoting a narrowly constructed right-wing spin. They provide a scary insight into what would happen if the mainstream media ever goes out of business, as they admittedly wish for, and elected politicians become their own press watchdogs.

Once they had EnergySolutions President Steve Creamer on their show. And he boasted that his hazardous waste repository in Tooele County was so safe you could put the dirt from there into your grow box.

Stephenson was so enamored he reacted with his best Curly-of-the-Three-Stooges impression: "Ooh, ooh, ooh" clap, clap, clap. "Ooh, ooh, ooh" clap clap clap.

But when a Tribune reporter accurately quoted Creamer's claim on the program, EnergySolutions' P.R. machine strongly complained, because she should have known that Creamer meant the dirt would be safe in 100 years, even though he didn't say that.

The reporter should have known that what happens on Red Meat Radio stays on Red Meat Radio.