With the Legislative session now a month behind us, it’s a good time to reflect not just on what happened, but what we want the Legislature to look like in the future. Utah has long resisted implementing meaningful ethical standards for public officials. As a matter of fact, a few years ago lawmakers decided to […]
Utah’s conflict of interest problem Read More »
A few years ago on my way home from work, I came upon an older woman balancing a bag of groceries on her walker as she headed for her apartment. I quickly offered a hand and she and I went up the steps together as I carried her groceries. As I walked away, I felt
Serving the one and serving the many Read More »
This article originally appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune. Read it in its entirety here. The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court has once again reignited political debates about the future of Roe v. Wade, with many conservative lawmakers itching to see it overturned. Roe affirms a constitutional right to privacy inherent in the 14th Amendment which protects the right to have
Overturning Roe isn’t the way forward Read More »
Over the past several weeks, the United States has been having a long-overdue conversation about policing, including calls for police divestment. As one Dallas police chief expressed back in 2016: “We’re asking cops to do too much in this country. We are. We’re just asking us to do too much. Every societal failure, we put
The free market can’t solve all our problems Read More »
In January of 2018, I attended a panel aimed at millennials to better understand Utah’s Legislative Session. It had been nearly a year since I had graduated from law school, and I was still struggling to find work and searching for purpose. I felt too shy to show up to an event where I didn’t
Some lawmakers are already doing the work Read More »
The Legislature will kick off a special session to deal with the impacts of COVID-19 this Thursday, and we want to be sure you have all the information you need to get involved. The session could go for up to 10 days, and will be held entirely online. The historic nature of the special session
Digital special session Read More »
What a whirlwind the two weeks have been. (I say that figuratively. Mother Nature, if you are reading this, please do not get any ideas.) In the midst of a pandemic and the largest earthquake Utah has seen in decades, state and local leaders have responded in rapid and productive ways. They deserve a tremendous
The breaking point of individualism Read More »
Recently, I read an article (of which it seems there is no shortage these days) lamenting the partisan divide in our country. It used a couple examples from a new study to show how conservatives and liberals misunderstand each other: Democrats tend to assume Republicans don’t believe racism exists (most do), and Republicans tend to
I want to be proud to be an American Read More »
This commentary originally appeared in the Deseret News. This weekend, Republican state delegates will vote to elect a new chair of the Utah Republican Party. It’s a messy, time-consuming process that most voters don’t pay attention to, and often know nothing about. It’s a convention likely to be dominated by ideological battles over SB54, the
Guest Opinion: The Utah GOP suffers from its hardline stance on immigration Read More »
It can be tough to know if your legislators are doing a good job. State representatives tend to slide under the radar, and local elections just aren’t as sexy! We get it, but we also believe supporting good local candidates is the way to make your vote go the distance. Our 2019 Progress Report can
Have you checked out Better Utah’s new Progress Report? Read More »