If one listens closely, most every movie offers up at least one nugget of wisdom. Jurassic Park was no exception, but more on that later.
In 2018, Utah voters passed Proposition 4 creating redistricting standards, one of which was to minimize divisions of counties and municipalities. It also created an independent redistricting commission to guide the Legislature’s redistricting process. The commission then recommended three alternative maps to the Legislature.
In short order, Utah’s GOP-dominated Legislature neutered the new law, then ignored it and the commission’s suggested maps altogether and created their own redistricting map. The result? Salt Lake County — which is minority GOP and LDS — was split into four congressional districts and is currently represented by four LDS Republicans, none of whom reside in Salt Lake County.
Enter Utah’s courts and a string of court defeats for the Legislature, the most recent of which prohibits Utah from using the congressional maps that split Salt Lake County into four districts, etc., and directing the Legislature to create new maps that follow the Prop 4 law.
The response from Utah’s GOP “leaders?” Outrage. Judicial activism. Judicial hubris. And … laughably … a pledge to follow the will of the people.
From my vantage, having lived here for 50 years and appeared before the Legislature, no one tops Utah’s GOP Legislature when it comes to political hubris and seizing power. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve seen wisdom on the Hill, but it’s been fading in recent years and, when it comes to bringing Utah’s non-GOP/non-LDS citizens to heel, it’s nonexistent. Redistricting “the Utah way.”
Which brings me back to Jurassic Park (paraphrasing) and the GOP-dominated Legislature: “You were so preoccupied with the fact that you could that you didn’t stop to think if you should.”
Craig Coburn, Holladay
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