Letter: To back up his words, Herbert must denounce gerrymandering
(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Gov. Gary Herbert holds up a book of laws passed by the 1918 Utah Legislature as he gives his State of the State address in the Utah House of Representatives in Salt Lake City Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018.
Dear Gov. Herbert,
In your State of the State message you said, “This is Utah’s unique spirit of collaboration. It is based on a moral commitment that when we say ‘We the People’ we mean all the people.”
If you really mean those words, then I implore you to denounce the undemocratic and immoral gerrymandering in Utah that has ensured that all six members of Congress are Republicans. When Democrats are not represented in our national delegation, not all the people are included.
In addition, in the state House of Representatives there are 62 Republicans and only 13 Democrats. Republicans do not outnumber Democrats by a margin of nearly 6-1 as the makeup of the state House implies. If you do not work to end the gerrymandering in this state, I must conclude either that you do not mean what you said or that you don’t consider Democrats to be people.
H. Jarold Weatherford, Alpine
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