The fundamental purpose of our work is to maintain open and transparent government by keeping the electorate informed. Though some find it hard to believe, our state is home to a diverse population of backgrounds and perspectives. Utah citizens put a great deal of trust in local government to ensure that everyone is represented equally.
When elected government officials abuse that trust, whether by acting in accordance with their personal beliefs instead of the law, accepting “gifts” in exchange for political favors, indulging the influence of outside groups or by making important decisions in closed caucus meetings, ABU is there to speak out.
Hold the recapture canyon trespassers accountable
Tim DeChristopher spent almost two years in prison for an act of civil disobedience when he peacefully disrupted a BLM oil and gas lease auction in Salt Lake City. The BLM aggressively pursued charges against DeChristopher. He broke the law and went to prison for it. Earlier this month, a …
The week in letters: Bundy and Blanding
Federal lands policy took up much of the space in this week’s letters to the editor across the warming state of Utah. But a brief letter on voting rights is certainly worth your time, too. Bundy’s ‘nutcases’ may use women as shields So here is Cliven Bundy, building his myth …
Herbert sounds sensible on land use in Nevada
The Better UTAH Beat airs Tuesday afternoons on KVNU’s For the People. Podcasts of previous episodes are available here. —– Today’s Better UTAH Beat is not about a rancher in Nevada who has been ripping off taxpayers to the tune of one million dollars over the last two decades. It isn’t about …
Holyoak: Hatch, Lee forsake vulnerable Utahns
Senators Hatch and Lee continue to demonstrate animus toward working Utahns. Isaac Holyoak, communications director for Better UTAH, argued in an op-ed this weekend in the Salt Lake Tribune that Utah’s senators are actively working against Utahns. With a combined 42 years in Washington, D.C., Senators Hatch and Lee are …
The week in letters: AG Sean Reyes doesn’t get it
Homework hassles (and a teacher’s reply), AG Reyes’s mean-spiritedness and legalizing drugs in this week’s letters to the editor across the well managed state of Utah. Enough with the homework already I go to public high school, and I have had enough with all of the homework the teachers are …
The week in letters: How to purchase a politician
An itemized price list for politicians, the social science behind the Deseret New’s coverage of same-sex parenting, and how a timely windfall helped pay for the State Capitol Building in this week’s letters to the editor across the finally-sunny state of Utah. Where is the price list for politicians? I’m …
Campaign finance changes distort democratic processes
The Better UTAH Beat airs Tuesday afternoons on KVNU’s For the People. Podcasts of previous episodes are available here. —– Unless you’ve been living off the grid, you probably heard last week that the Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional various limits on campaign donations. In McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme …
Lee and Hatch turn backs on 20,000 unemployed Utahns
Salt Lake City–While the vote to extend unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed passed the Senate with bipartisan support in distant Washington D.C., here in Utah, over 20,000 unemployed Utahns are left wondering why Senators Hatch and Lee voted against the measure. Maryann Martindale, executive director of good government group …