Ms. Warburton has decided she knows best how to deal with the unethical behavior by some of our elected legislators in Utah. Specifically, her plan is to do nothing and leave any remedial action on unethical behavior for the Utah legislature to police itself.
Ms. Warburton in her attack on the UEG petition clearly indicates that, like so many of the legislature members that oppose this petition, she does not understand the desire of most Utah citizens to reform a system that encourages payoffs from lobbyists and favors big business and developers.
Mrs. Warburton's "position paper" has been refuted point-by-point in other forums, yet she continues to spout these untruths, half-truths, and outright misreadings of the petition as if she actually believes she is still correct.
First of all Ms. Warburton is a political activist who fully supports the existing Real Estate/Developer backed legislators that have lost touch with the people of Utah. She supports those legislators and candidates that personify the no limit growth and political favors that have resulted in the degradation of our open spaces and our unique Utah lifestyle.
We must all ask ourselves, what is it that Ms. Warburton and many of our elected legislators fear regarding the Ethics Petition? If we can improve our legislative process by removing the unwanted lobbyists’influence and payoff politics, won’t that be a benefit to all?
Anyone that feels fear from ethics reform can attack a petition and try to discredit it. They are missing the point. There is a rising wave of active citizens in Utah that are fed up with “pay as you go legislation” and unethical behavior from many of our elected officials. Our Utah legislators have already demonstrated their disdain for meaningful ethics reform.
If the UEG petition is successful in gaining the necessary signatures to be on the ballot then the citizens of Utah will decide if they want strong ethics reform. It may also force the Utah legislature to pass meaningful ethics reform before the election or suffer the wrath of voters who have been painfully learning over the years that in Utah, lobbyists and money talk, and the big money wins every time.
It is no accident that the incumbent powers in Utah tried to exclude electronic petition signatures, but were recently handed a defeat in a courageous ruling by the Utah Supreme Court. Ask yourself, why would these incumbent politicians fear the electronic signatures of Utah citizens? It is obvious that they fear too much participation by the citizens in government decisions. How do you feel about that?
Larry Zini
Frank Cumberland
