In April, 2011, the Utah legislature declined $100 million of federal money to continue unemployment benefits. Explaining the Legislature’s rationale, Utah Senate President Michael Waddoups said “It’s tax money, and people need to be weaned off of the government paying for everything. [Refusing to continue to extend unemployment benefits] is a motivation for people to get back to work.”
Really? So 100,000 unemployed Utahns need a motivation to go back to work? We were offended by Waddoups’ comments, so BETTER UTAH went to work.
We gathered the leaders of Utah Working Families, Crossroads Urban Center and the Coalition of Religious Communities to demand an apology from Sen. Waddoups.
On April 13th, a small group of individuals, led by Nick Holland of Utah Working Families, marched up to Senator Waddoups’ Capitol office to hand him our letter demanding his apology.
The response was overwhelming. Coverage included:
The Deseret News, The Salt Lake Tribune, ABC4, and Fox 13
culminating with this Salt Lake Tribune editorial calling on Waddoups to resign.
