It is time to drive the money changers from our temple. Utah is the only state where the lobbyists have their own offices within the statehouse. In the bowels of the Senate office building there is a room, a large room, where lobbyists may go, to entertain, to cajole, to bribe.
These are professional, well-heeled lobbyists; you and I are not welcome. There is something unseemly about lobbyists living cheek-by-jowl with senators and representatives. It’s the very image of the Biblical money changers in the temple. You want legislation, pay us and we’ll see you get what you want. We know whom to bribe. EnergySolutions paid $67,700 and got $1,720,000 in tax exemptions per year, forever. That money came from the education fund — money sorely needed by our schools.
No other statehouse has a den for the snakes and vipers that are sucking the lifeblood from our system. It is time to drive the money changers out. The Capitol Hill associates lease is up June 30, 2021, and it should not be renewed. It is time to purify our temple.
Dennis Read Hanks, Salt Lake City