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Show i I I 'DOUBLE TAKE' Now Its Our T urn We have watched with hijh interest the performance and performances of Salt Lake Countys number one fight manager in the position of county commission chairman this past year. In the fight game Mr. Jenson would be ideal - and apparently was. In politics our year of observation must lead us to the conclusion that he is less than ideal. There are many things to be admired about Marv J enson. He has worked hard and conscientiously at his commission job. He does not bow to public pressure - which is somenot particutimes beneficial and sometimes not. Although commands who human warm a he is articulate being larly high loyalty from his people because of his human qualities. He declares himself insensitive to public criticism - but most of his rash moves come about because of his high sensitivity to criticisim in the press. Last week, in a dramatic gesture, he cancelled his subscription to the Deseret News. He appears to feel maligned by an irresponsible powerful press. He insists that the same rules apply to him as apply to Commissioner Creer. He implied that the favoritism of the Deseret News for John Creer derived because the Executive Editor of the News is the bishop in John Creer' s ward. The'se are inane comments. - or when ; When a public official makes a mistake in a job ' For reasons we have yet to fathom, public officials - from LBJ down to the Salt Lake County boondocks have evolved the theory that public officials, elected or appointed, are Immune from critical opposition from the news media. In part, I believe, this comes about because of the servile position many reporters have been satisfied to take with public officials as a source of a sort of "You public information butter my bread and IU spike your And public officials punch attitude. have come to expect only praise. Some of us in the profession refuse to wear the shackles of spite and silence imposed upon us. We are repulsed by Journalistic lickspittle. Some of us who are dedicated in large part to critical opposition arouse, from time .to time, peculiar reactions in public servants , to spirjBone in his department makes a mistake it is easy misthe make the press the scapegoat since they reported we take. It is easy to put up a smokescreen. Marv Jenson has done in the matter of the . This is what dismissal of Jim Kimball. .The smokescreen issue concerning Persyl Richardson (see page one story) isn't real. Mr. Richardson wasnt fired - he was transferred. Today he heads a department (licensing) over which Mr. Creer has jurisdiction. Mr. Kimball was fired - plain fired. The matter of whether or not Mr. Kimball was competent to perform as purchasing agent was not at issue. We have watched Mr. Kimball at work - we believe him to be highly competent. people with the qualifications and ability of Jim Kimball are badly needed in public life. Governments from county through federal have too few of them. Mr. Kimball is well educated for his job and performed with skill. Commissioner Jenson won't confirm that - but he neither can nor did deny it. So Mr. Kimball was fired not because he performed badly - but because Mr. Jenson wanted to find a way to get to Mr. Creer. .With that kind of instability how can we expect top notch people to work for Salt Lake County. 'In answer to your change about equal rules Mr. Jenson -we have reported Mr. Creers extravagence in his office. Wo could also report your relative extravagence in the furnishing of offices at the County Highway Department wlere a couch -- was -- purchased in February for 4209 but . wouldnt fitirdhdmromfor which was intended so sat: under a tarp in a garage for several weeks because somebody forgot to measure the room and because the vendor wouldnt take it back. .. We have criticized Mr. Creer - and plenty for many areas of unfortunate judgement. We shall then, Mr. Jenson follow your dictum and use the same rules. Hut Mr. Creer is not the issue - you have attempted to make him an issue. The dismissal of Jim Kimball is the issue this week. If you could have proved or even indicated that he was unfit it would be a different story. But your reason is that you had been embarrassed by a misunderstanding over a $69 chair, a car and some badges. That to us, Mr. Jenson is the issue And sadly it represents politics at its worst. . Opinion, Please? DO YOU HAVE AN multi-purpo- se facility. The project, in the bag and ready for funds, was placed in critical hazard last week because of dissension and jealousy within the Community ty Services levels of . Action-Communi- administration. vThe City Commission, fearful of becoming involved in a location debate between two major pockets of poverty voters, rescinded their once-grant- ed resolution approval for the project. . The issue of j ealousy and conflict within Community A c tion; the lack of communication between Community Action and Community Services Council,' after the damage was done, was quickly resolved. . , CAP Board of directors has urged the City Commission to re -- approve the project. They have indicated there will be no objection to giving Central City priority over Northwest CAP for a multi-purpo- se facility. City Commission discussion of the project this week failed to receive the full support of Mayor Lee, who seems to find rejection of federal funds more appealing to voters than is service to the poor. Perhaps Mayor Lee is unaware that the poor of Salt Lake City this year are being taught, by local citizens, to vote for mayor next year. Mayor Lee says he doesnt want to be 'bound at this time, when NOW is the time, or never. The poor people in Central City have become 'action people. They will be consoled only by action, not by words. The poor have little to think about, Mayor Lee.. ..theyll remember next year how you vote this year for a Community in Action. 4VV 'f THAT SLC SHOULD LAW SIM I think they're overdoing this thing. shouldnt be so strict. If people vent to read these materials they will do so despite lavs. They Brott Carriage Lane A. H. 2219 ILAR TO THAT RECENTLY PROVO? I think it would be worth conside ring. We must get obscene literature off the mewstands and out of reach of children and young people. J. Reese Hunter 4577 Wellington PASSED IN Its the parents responsibility to keep their children out of movies that are undesirable, but for magazines, it would be good to keep them from children since those who want to obtain the literature still could. Mrs. Robert McFarland 5801 South 1220 East If the laws would be effective, then I would be for them. If this matter were legislated lt would be permanently effective. Mrs. Mary Blonquist 7103 Brookhill Dr. rFoIHIcaJ Coxomsn! HOWS THE LITTLE LADY DOING MR. CANDIDATE ? By Norman Rosenblatt Poor Vote Could PickN extMayor The poor people of Salt Lakes Central City poverty area this week appear to be as uncertain of Mayor J. Bracken Lee as a friend of the poor as Mayor Lee seems to be uncertain of the support he will give the badly needed Central City FEEL Dear Mr. Candidate, short time ago you suit me a circular in thn mail. As you may recall I am a delegate to the county convention. I appreciate your having congratulated me on becoming a delegate, it was a close election and rm looking forward to the excitement Saturday... particularly the part where you told me I typified the best in American Citizenry.... J liked that. Your little circular was nice. I liked your picture on it. ..a bit of a smile, it doesnt look too silly, yet its just pleasant enough to have a little homey appeal You mentioned your principles. Thats good. You stand for honesty in government, economy, business-lik- e operations, response to the needs of the people, planning; a merit system... and no more (that last was a clever touch.) Funny thing...J have this friend, name of George. He belongs (forgive the expression) to the other party. Hes a delegate ana got a letter from your opponent boasting how he would build on the past....ln other words honesty in government, economy, business-lik- e operations, response to the needs of the people, (he dida t say anything about A ' bit-pav- ers bit-pav- You then though). list your background. Fm impressed. Youre a businessman.. ..that's admirable. I guess be so good if you were running for County attorney, or sheriff.....but for this office its a good idea. Of course business is pretty complex these days. Goes all the way from my friend George's one man barber shop down die street to General Motors, and I guess business experience can mean a lot of things.....but its good, Fm still Impressed. You then mention your church affiliation. Youre LDS and you list a number of offices in the Church. Since I dont happen to believe that religion has very much to do with performance in political office that part didnt interest me too much....but lt is nice to see youre a church man. You talk about your long and active affiliation with the party...Jm glad to see that. i At tiie end of the nice little circular you mention your wife Jane and the five kids. Now thats the pArt Fd like to know a little bit more about For example, Mr. Candidate, Fd like to ask ' how do you react when jou arrive home from a day of your valuable business experience and two or three - of the kids are fighting to the last breath over' the possession of a highly valuable bag of rocks? Perhaps on a day when your wife Jane has Just about had it shes half out of her mind with exhaustion and ays 'take over honey. What do you do????? Do you ref use? Do you get mad? Do you settle it sensibly and calmly by getting two more bags and dividing the rocks? Do ou take the kids away for an hour and J et the little lady have a rest and a Sardo bath while you and the kids find some more fascinating rocks or do you just blow up, throw the rocks away and send the kids to their rooms?? I blow those sound like silly questions. But they might tell me more about how'll you react to situations in government than your business experience and principles. I 1 have a few other questions. know you wont have time to answer them personally to me by mall before the convention, but maybe you could like exactly touch on them there what changes would you suggest in the countys flood program? What changes, if any, would you suggest in the countys archaic system of handling money and records? What kind of budgeting systems would you like to see introduced? Specifically what efficiencies could you establish in county government? What services would you cut tobring about the economy youve talked about? What is your feeling on metropolitan Sjvemment, cm inter-loc- al coopera you understand long-ran- ge capital improvement financing and do you have plans to institute it? There are a few more, but those might do for a start. Anyway I wish you the best of luck ...And on second thought maybe for the primary campaign you ought to the necktie in get a new picture that old one is Impossible. Very truly yours, A Delegate criticize. Recently, for example, we were enclosed with the Salt Lake County Sheriff. From our meeting we learned that those who differ with him are traitors. They are unfair. They write only lies.... all lies. They undermine efforts at good law enforcement. The sheriff raises his voice - almost to a shriek. He threatens. He cant understand why we hate him when once we were such good friends with common objec- tives. He assumes that our objectives have changed. He assumes too much. But, he remains among my favorites of those who resist critical opposition. Another among my favorites is Marv Jensen. Marv, he has assured me so often, is a dedicated public official. He doesnt need his job. He makes great sacrifices to the public. He has reminded us many times of the extent of his sacrifices. Marv has many great plans for our future. He does so much himself in the public interest because there is no one else to do them. Then - we observe that Marv has failed to make the sacrifices he expects to make we observe that Marv has failed to implement the plans he has and he pouts. He becomes planned withdrawn from open communi bitter We are not quite welcome cation. in his office. He is too busy for us. When we ask for specific information, it is not yet developed. It develops for a competing news media the minute we leave his presence... .if he is not peeved at the other news media. 1 1 gain the distinct jmpression that Marv Jenson reacts- - to.oppositiWJSupfc as does my 2 12 year old son. Most delightful of those about whom I write critically is Brack Lee. Brack, I think, can absorb more negative reportage than any local political figure I know. Even when lt must hurt deeply. Brack remains the perfect gentleman in the face of journalistic adversity. He communicates. He continues to give his honest opinion or his full knowledge of public information in response to professional inquiry.... ..until he gets fed up. About once every two or three months. Brack has had lt. He has been publicly chastised to his maximum capacity and He istrikesi back he strikes back. publicly.... at the public luncheon meeting or at the City Commission meeting. He approaches the peak of his loquacious capacity. He lets me have it with both barrels and when he has spent his ire, he resumes his role as the professional public servant. Brack Lee is among the few local political figures who anticipates and is receptive of critical opposition. Like Phil L. Hansen, Brack Lee can turn critical opposition to his own public advantage. Less receptive even than are elected officials are those appointed to public responsibility. And among these whom I like is McCown E. Hunt, chairman. Salt Lake County Civic Auditorium board. Ed Hunt leaves with me the impression that the proposed civic auditorium is an instrument of private enterprise and he owns 51 of the stock. Ed Hunt responds to critical opposition with arrogance; with some rudeness; with some insults. On the first day of recent public criticism of HIS project, the Review was promptly eliminated from the list of those notified of upcoming board meetings. The Review is not called as are other publications, with details of board meetings unattended. Ed has bushy eyebrows and he puckers them. He peers over the rims of his glasses and he squints at you. He displays his spleen by making nasty remarks about people he thinks you might rely upon to support your opposing position. What delights me most about Ed Hunt though, are his mash notes. I can only guess what goes on in the mash notes Ed passes around at public meetings. At a recent board meeting, for example, the board members were seated around the board table at a I took my place on (me of meeting. the very uncomfortable chairs reserved for the news media. Ed puckered his brows. He squinted at me over his I experienced my usual glasses-apmild chill at such reception at a public meeting. He hurriedly scribbled a note at the bottom of his note pad. He tore off the note, folded it and pre-meeti- ng d Ptilished every Thursday by Greet Western Neva, Inc. 2245 South West Temple, Salt Utah 84 1 1 5 Phone- - 487-74- C ItT, SMl(efnnsMoewrry.rw Uke again scribbled on the folded paper. He starts the note moving along the bucket brigade of board members. As the note passed in front of me, I saw written on the folded paper the one word: 'Hogle. And there, at the lower end of the table, sits Jim Hogle, board member. He has not beat at those of the previous meetings I have attended. I know who Jim Hogle is....but who am I? When Jim Hogle opens the folded he glares at me sud yellow paper denly, as though opening the fold had activated a piston on a cam shaft, forcing his gaze in my direction. Ed Hunt is an exciting adverYes and amusing. sary The ways of Democrats this election year are delightful to behold. Recall our little item on the record keeping procedures of the sheriff's department civil division? That item gave impetus to some very, very strange Democratic befogment of issues. For example, even before The Review made its public exposure of the civil divisions procedures, an" employee of that same division, an accountant,pre-sumabl- y qualified in such matters, made the very same disturbingdiscoveries that beset The Review. This youthful accountant, this civil division employee so sorely needed in the sheriffs establishment, presented to the sheriff a detailed report of errors of procedure (we have a copy) identical to those related in The Review, and he made some very sound and very commendable proposals by which the situation might be perman- mrfPftpH tUb issue raised by The Review was the failure of the sheriff to implement those corrective proposals. Along comes - not the sheriff - not Lt. Harry Holley, who commands the civil division, I guess - along comes a female employee to announce that she has retained a lawyer affiliated as consultant for some years with the DemoThis cratic County administration lawyers firm has been hired - and, at whose expense? - to conduct an audit of the records. Such a delightful befogment! A lawyer to conduct a financial audit? nt Assuming that the to a Democratic county commission will undertake to really audit the records.... may we trust he will not settle for mere matching of figures altered into the records with totals turned over to the county treasurer? ,Weve experienced enough of that type of auditing in our valley. nt to We trust the Democrats will send, return postage prepaid for return information, inquiries to out of state lawyers to determine ing lawyer-consulta- lawyer-consulta- 'ftaUnwmti; ewtf edrcfiye& fepf J those , lawyers will, id fact, match amounts actually received (as did The Review before reporting the case). nt to We trust the Democrats will match actual details on the records with entries required by state statutes; that he will match fees charged and mileage charged with fees and mileage authorized by state statutes. Weve heard, in the interim, that the county attorneys office has conducted a .'complete investigation of the whole affair and came up blind as a bat. To this we can only echo the suggestion of Willis Muse, GOP County chairman, who suggested an 'unbiased investigation. Meanwhile, unlike the sheriff, we think this lawyer-consultand county attoris a crock of ney Unlike our sheriff were willing to place considerable reliance on the people he employs - until, by their performance, they raise doubts. unlite our sneriff,' It appears, we re favorably impressed by the investigation and cQrrective recommendations made by the civil division accountant. Bob Hueter. lawyer-consulta- ant yak-shee-- ah. Couple of weeks ago a fellow named on the Associated was in our town to make a speech and he made it. A point made by Mr. Miller and overlooked in daily press reporting here, was the observation thatSalt Lake dailies are tob reluctant to become involved in controversial news developments., ...and aint that strange? Hardly has the Millershadow vanished over the horizon when Marv Jens reveals that the Deseret News (what other evening daily do we have in our town?) now has gained the enviable stature long since reached by The Rocky Mountain Review (the only controversial) weekly). Marv said that The News has taken to We would reporting the sensational. add that informing the public of unwise purchases made by unwise procedures is 'seiisational, and we hereby acclaim the Deseret News for recognizing the need, at times, for sensationalism; for recognizing the benefit to our community that can come from a daily competing with a weekly newspaper in news gathering. We trust it will prove some consolation to Earl Hawkes, News publisher.... and none to Marv Jenson....to know that The Review benefits from its continued subscription of the News at the office.... that to match Marv Jensons cancelled home subscription, I have, for the first time in 21 years Utah residence, entered my home subscription to the Deseret News. Miller.,.. .top man Press totem pole Entered is second class matter nt the Post Office at Salt Uke City, Utah aider the act ot March 9, 1878 Siitxrrtptlnn 75 20 per year |