OCR Text |
Show House Speaker Answers Charges By Governor Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives Sheldon Brewster, Brew-ster, Democrat of Salt Lake, this week answered charges by Gov. George D. Clyde of "deliberate obstructoinist tactics" by House leadership. In a statement Speaker Brewster Brew-ster said: "My fellow Americans I wish to express my appreciation apprecia-tion for this opportunity to answer certain charges made by the governor impugning my motives mo-tives and those of certain members mem-bers of the House of Representatives. Represen-tatives. "I have either been a member! of, or have followed closely the actions of, the Utah Legislature for over 20 years and I have never seen a group in the House of Representatives more dedicated dedicat-ed to their duty and responsibility, responsi-bility, and more representative of the interests of the people of the state than the 33rd House. "They have spent more hours in committee work and in open session than any previous legislature. legis-lature. Sacrificing time needed for personal affairs, they have devoted every week end visiting various parts of the state obtaining ob-taining first hand knowledge. "I have tried my utmost to work amicably with the governor gover-nor on his program so far as my philosophy of government would permit. I had hoped to spare him this, but he has asked for it, so ladies and gentlemen, here (Continued on Page 8) House Speaker Answers Charges By Governor (Continued from Page 1) are the plain, unvarnished facts. "1. Utah has not yet lost its fine credit rating, but we are practically broke. The reserves which have been built up over the years are shrinking and have been depleted and we are faced with the necessity of increased in-creased taxes, including additional addi-tional property tax starting this year in order to cover the skyrocketing sky-rocketing appropriation bills. "2. Over the past ten years expenditures ex-penditures have been increasing at the alarming rate of 12 per cent per year. Consequently, very little is left for capital improvements im-provements which keep falling further and further behind. "These things compelled me to agencies and institutions have mushroomed all out of proportion propor-tion in the number of employees and salaries paid. Ten years ago there were only 157 employees in the state receiving over $350 a month; now there are over 1500 such employees, many of whom receive in excess of $1000 a month. "Now my proposal is to permit only, 44 per cent of the bi-annual budget to be spent pending further fur-ther legislative action. This will give us about a year to deter- mine the actual needs of all concerned. con-cerned. I believe the people of this state would rather have less government than more taxes. During my forthcoming term in the Legislative Council I hope to do something about state finances. fi-nances. "Today the House passed a new tax bill, upon which the Governor Gover-nor demanded our action. This bill is going to affect every man, woman and child in the state, as well as everyone who visits our state. Now, every time you have any laundry or dry cleaning done or any shoes repaired, your car or television repaired, or any other service, you are going to poy 2 per cent service tax. I voted against the bill because I oppose additional tax measures, and I intend to devote the next two years of my time in an effort to curtail the state's spending orgy. "When I was Speaker of the House in 1941 the annual income was $30,000,000. Our annual income in-come today is over $150,000,000 so obviously we have sufficient income if it is wisely spent." recommend that we follow the sound business practice of appropriating ap-propriating state funds on a yearly basis instead of two years. This is currently the procedure in most of the states. No business would dare try to anticipate its income and expenditures 2 and a half years in advance, as we are attempting to do. It is a fact j that governmental departments, |