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Show Misleading Facts The Public Forum Gien Desperate to have the public believe that Proposition 3 was not given a fair hearing before the Legislature, the Haven Bar-lohas given us some misleading and factually inaccurate information In a recent KSL rebuttal, Sen. Barlow told us that a majority of the Senate Judicial Committee had voted against the Proposition 3, the revision of the Judicial Article. He led us to believe that after a hearing the committee had voted not to support the measure. In fact, the Joint Interim Committee on the Judiciary overwhelmingly endorsed the Judicial article. There were only two dissenting votes. Earlier, the measure had been unanimously endorsed by the Constitutional Revision Commission. Sen. Barlow further stated that the measure removes from the constitution the right of the Legislature to remove judges for cause.' He said that, under Proposition 3, the Legislature would have no power to get rid of bad judges. Sen. Barluw knows better. Proposition 3 carries three ways to remove judges. First, by impeachment of the Utah House of Representatives and conviction of the Utah Senate (a majority vote in each house is required); second, by the recommendation of the judicial conduct commission and approval by the Supreme Court, and thrid, by a negative vote of the people in the uncontested retention elections required by Proposi- Trihune Readers Opinions S-- tion 3. It seems that Sen. Barldw, having been overruled by the overwhelming majority of his colleagues, has taken it upon himself to distort the facts in order to suggest that the measure didnt get a fair hearing. Where was Sen. Barlow when the dozen or so public hearings were held? Where was he when the special session of the Legislature was called for the express purpose of addressing constitutional issues? Hasnt he taken time to read the amendment? Apparently not. The facts are that Proposition 3, the revision of the Judicial Article, has been carefully considered and endorsed by virtually every public leader in the state. Utah nters should vote overwhelmingly for it at the polls. THORNLEY K. SWAN Retired Senior District Judge, Second Judicial Court, Davis County HONORABLE Road of Red Tape Based on the information included in your story on Oct. 16 in The Tribune concerning Mrs. Catherine Smiths desire to sell her land, the government's position is no less than an obscenity. An woman is trying to sell property, and it is being blocked because of a project which is expected to be completed around the 108th anniversary of her birth! And the project is a road. She probably wouldnt even be allowed to have a drivers license to use the highway if she were still alive by that date. Let the government build her a highway to Alaska with its red tape. And I would appreciate your passing this along to whichever governmental agency is most crucial to the decision. Our representatives need to know that at least one person they serve is thoroughly disgusted with their attitude in this case. M. LEE SUITOR GOP Been Tried At the recent UEA convention political forum. Norm Bangerter was asked, What would you do as governor that Mr. Owens could not do? His answer was, As a Republican, I can work more effectively with the Republican-dominate- d Legislature. Give me a chance to show you what Republicans can do working together. If we dont produce, you can lay the blame at our feet. Inasmuch as Mr. Bangerter has proclaimed himself as always having been a friend to education, its interesting that not one educational organization sees him as such. It may be interesting to see what Republicans working with Republicans have done in the past. The last 20 years of educational advancement in this state have been the result of Democratic Govs. Cal Rampton and Scott Matheson working with Republican legislatures in all but two of those years. Prior to them, however, we find the very situation Mr. Bangerter wants us to try. Re- - The Salt Lake Tribune publicans J. Bracken Lee and George Dewey Clyde, working with Republican legislatures It was during the Clyde administration and Utah's only that the nations first statewide teacher walkout occurred. Gov. Clyde appointed a committee to make recommendations on education and promised to abide by them. But when the committee called for an extra $6 million and a special session, he refused furor that He precipitated a school-fundinresulted in the walkout. If Mr. Bangerter doesn't like to use the example of Clyde in his campaign, perhaps he'd like to evoke the memory of former Republican Gov. J. Bracken Lee. His tenure, from produced Utah's most disastrous years for public education. Ill vote for a man who is sincere and honest in his desires and plans, not only for our children's education future, but for the g of the whole state. KEN ROE Smithfield n g 1948-195- mist, all but accuses the employees of the United States Postal Service of throwing his mail in the garbage simply because they dont like Reagan Be honest now. would you deliberately face 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine just because you don't like someone0 Of course not! Neither would a Postal employee. Ruffs letter though, states that since he is afraid the American Postal Workers Union is not going to allow his mail to be delivered, would you please write back to let him know that it was. (Of course he knows that if you're going to write back anyway, you'll naturally put $5 to $10 in the letter.) Utah, do not let yourself be manipulated in such a manner, if you think Reagan should be and needs money to achieve that end, by all means contribute, but do not do so because of the lies, scare tactics, and insulting manipulations used by the - Forum Rules well-bein- Reagan Gets No Respect It grieves me very much to hear some of our Presi-defl- t Reagan and to hear them moan about folks speak so disrespectfully his age. I have always been of the opinion that a man oi woman 60 or 70 years of age, if in good health, is very well prepared to serve their public. More so than when in their youthful years. Do they not have at least 20 years of accumulated knowledge to their credit and the same of aquired wisdom and understanding. MARGERY MACKERELL Beaver Opposes Disarmament Back in the 30s when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, he was always advocatand the people eagerly ing "Disarmament went along with that. no arms, nor We thought it was great war, peace forever. He also said that our boys would never again fight on foreign soil. Then the Japanese attacked, and we were in a full scale hellish war. The sad part is, all of our military and civilian personnel in the Pacific Islands and the Phillipine Islands were stuck without any military support because we had reduced the size of our armies, we had disarmed. We had no weapons for them to fight with, and what arms and ammunition they did get was defective. They had few parts for their motorized equipment and had to resort to cannibalism of other defective vehicles to keep going. It no food, no was a deplorable situation medicine, no help. They were all expendable, and their suffering was unmeasurable. My brother was one of those gallant men. Do you want that same situation for your sons, your brothers, your sweethearts, your husbands? Well, I dont want that to ever happen again to any of our men, near and dear to me or not. I even voted for Roosevelt three times he really had me hoodwinked. That means that I actually voted for my brothers death without knowing it. I still cry when I think of him, and I guess I always will. But never again will I vote for any president who advocates weakening our grand nation. Mondale wants disarmament. Reagan wants us to be strong militarily. That does not mean by any stretch of imagination that Reagan is a war monger. I feel, right or wrong, that our nation should be so strong, militarily, that no nation will dare to attack us, but never to be aggressive. I want my children and grandchildren to have a chance in case of war. PEARL W. BROOKS Mailmen Arent Politicians Are Utah voters as gullible as Howard J. Ruff seems to think they are? I personally doubt it, but if I am wrong. Voters for Reagan stands to make a heck of a lot of money out of his most obvious fund raising ploy. Ruff, a supposedly distinguished eeono- - Public Forum letters must be submitted exclusively to The Tribune and bear writers full name, signature and address. Names must be printed on political letters but may be withheld for good reason on others. Writers are limited to one letter every 10 days. Preference will be given to short, typewritten (double spaced) letters permitting use of the writers true name. All letters are subject to condensation. Mail to the Public Forum, The Salt Lake Tribune, Post Office Box 867, Salt Lake City, L't 84110. exper, albiet unscrupulous and unethical, fund raiser. In reply to Howard J. Ruff s letter (I will not go into postage rates of classes of mail that might cause his letter to be undeliverable) every member of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), and the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), is dedicated to seeing that the mail regardless or who mails it is delivered in the most expeditious and efficient manner possible. Politics has absolutely no effect upon the dedication of each and every Postal Service employee. Howard J. Ruff, I am insulted by your statements, and disgusted by your tactics! Utahns have a mind of their own, you cant work their strings like the mindless puppets youd like to they they are, and I kind of think your slanderous insinuations may just backfire on you. DONALD E. WILCOX Vice President, Branch 111 NALC Demos Cry Balance Let's talk about the balance issue. For 20 years the executive branch of Utahs government has been held by Democrats and just 10 years ago the House and Senate were also controlled by the same party .. . the Democrats. I dont ever remember the Republicans crying balance then. Wayne Owens acts as if some unforeseen force will elect men and women this November. the mentaltiy of He underestimates Utahns. Isnt it obvious that Republicans are in office because they share the same philosophy as the majority of people who live in the great state? ELAINE HANDY No Show Monson Why are we as interested and caring voters treated as though we are stupid and unimportant? Right now I am angry and feel two large groups of people were played for fools. On the evening of Oct. 25, well over 100 people were gathered at Indian Hills Middle School to hear a candidates' forum sponsored by several combined PTAs. David Monson was to appear at 7 p.m., minutes and then anspeak for about swer questions from the audience. As he was to be first on the program, everyone else was kept waiting. Finally, it was decided to begin without him. Suddenly at 7:15 p.m. a woman appeared and said that she was Julie Monson appearing for her husband. She and her husband had overheard one of their sons expressing that his dad had been too busy lately to spend time with him. Dave Monson felt an evening with his children was important so he decided at the last minute to remain at home and carve pumpkins This is very nice, but it would have been only common courtesy to have informed the hosting PTA groups of the change m plans This is indeed an arrogant way to treat others Following his appearance at Indian Hills Middle School, Monson was scheduled to debate Frances Farley at Edgemont School. Julie Monson arrived late at Edgemont and repeated the same sweet story about her husband participating with his children. The PTA president at Edgemont had been called on Tuesday and told that Monson would not be present, but that a representative would be. However, no one knew who to expect. How does a candidate for an office as important as Congress debate the opponent's wife0 It would have been ridiculous for Nancy Reagan to have tried to debate Walter Mondale in her husband's place It's very difficult to ask a candidates wife the hard questions. It was very rude for the Monson people to have swung that surprise on Francis Farley David Monson was attending a dinner at the Freeman Institute that evening, which also began at 7 p m. Many people will testify to his presence there. He gave a speech to the same group at around 8 pm. The speech was recorded by station KDYL and played on the air the next day. The engagement was planned weeks ago by the Monson campaign committee. Poor Julie, she thought her husband was home with the children. MARCIA BISHOP Monolith Is Not an Issue I have read with growing amusement the feeble attempt by the Owens campaign to use the issue of party balance as an argument to elect a Democrat governor. They regularly resurrect the spectre of the Republican monolith in these columns. I was part of that "monolith" in 1979-8and was therefore privy to those secret caucuses they seem so concerned about. I have two well-kep- t secrets to share with the public. First, the monolith is more like a three-rin- g circus, with the legislators running in a dozen different directions trying to make their voices heard above the din. Second, public access to the secret caucuses of the majority party would be about the best thing for insomniacs since the discovery of Librium. There are, for all intents and purposes, three political groups in the Utah legislature. They are the right-winlunatics, pragg cramatic (sane) moderates and g left-win- zies. Both parties are amply populated by these types, but a majority of them happen to call themselves Republicans. There were 51 of them when I was there, and it appeared to me that Norm Bangerter (then majority leader) acquired more heartburn from members of his own party in one caucus meeting than the Democrats gave him all session. And it is to his immense credit that he was able to maintain efficient control over a political atmosphere that was more akin to the French Assembly under Robespierre, than to the sinister exercise of totalitarian control the Owens campaign would like to ascribe to the majority party. In short, anyone who has actually been a member of the Legislature knows the party balance issue is untrue. And if Norman Bangeters performance in managing that political bedlam during his six years of legislative leadership is any indication of this diplomatic acumen, he should not only be elected governor, he of the should be elected secretary-genera- l United Nations as well. G. KEVIN WATT Former Legislator Gold Medal Walk 5-- I feel it is our duty to give credit where credit is due. Wayne Owens is a good walker. WANDA FISHER Enough Yes People I keep hearing these ads for Dave Mon- son asking us to vote for him because he will be another yes person for Ronnie. Now dont you think that we have enough "yes people from Utah in Washington al- ready? Maybe its time we sent somebody that will represent Utah and its people. VINCENT E. SLOAN Sandy Tyrannical Tax Practice I read the rebuttal by Sen. Orrin Hatch in The Tribune, Oct. 19, in response to Mary McGrorys attack on the National Endow- ment for the Democracy and realized that Sen. Hatch may have missed the mark. Like so many politicians today, he spouts much rhetoric but his words contain little Monday, November 5, 1984 A15 ferd by patriots of a revolutionary America not so long ago was involuntary taxation imposed for the sole purpose of generating revenue, a.id, it was done in a manner not unlike the manner it is done today in these United States the seizure of a taxpayers property without the benefit of due process of law. Consider this question Would any of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, or, framers of the U S. Constitution have smiled approvingly upon the government officials of today who jail taxpayers for refusing to sign a government form0 I see little difference between an indentured servant of an overgrown, wasteful government and the American taxpayer of today BOB H. STRAND Gov eminent Is Problem Granted, President Reagan seems to squeak and sputter when it comes to a finely tuned debate, and many delight in expounding vociferously on how wonderfully intellectual and compassionate and unselfish the Democratic program is But, as even Mondale knows, the bottom line is that someone has to pay for whatever cause and whoever "sufferer" our American government supports and the people who are creating and providing the jobs are the ones who get stuck with the taxes and all the governmental red tape. The employers know this and the employees know this. What it really comes down to in this election, thank God, is the sanity of jobs and not the sanity of polemics. When somebody provides the jobs, it's just wonderful. As with our postal employees. Nice salaries. Definite directives. Good retirement. And the guys don't even have to be saddled with Social Security. But its the ideas that pass in all that correspondence and the not the stalwart weather slogger that creates the jobs that keep America going. You have to keep that in mind when you listen to Mondale so eloquently describe how he will reorganize our government and fight communism. At least thats the reason I am still voting "dumb Republican." Dumb me. The problem is government. That we have to get together is conceded. The problem is how. CRAIG G. HANSON Waynes a Good Guy On Oct. 18, 1984, while sitting reading my morning paper, I came across an article that I could not believe anyone with any decency could possibly write about other individuals. Then at the conclusion of this degrading article I about died to see the same name my I want to tell Mr. Wayne husband has Owens, this was not us. True my husband has the same name "Dean Christensen but he is a true gentleman, and would never call any individual such mud slinging names as he. We know Mr. Owens, and know he is a sincere human being and a gentleman. I just want to say to this other person (what ever he is) stay with your profession and your pets, I do not think there is any room at the top for such people as you. JUNE H. CHRISTENSEN ... Owens Is What Utah Needs In this years gubernatorial campaign, there is an issue which is just as important as the need for political balance. Utah needs a governor who will be independent from both the federal government and the state Legislature. Mr. Bangerter falls short in both of these areas. He has so closely allied himself with the Reagan administration that I fear he will not have the strength to rebuke federal impositions on our state. I do not believe he will dare oppose a Reagan administration policy which might have detrimental effects on Utah or which is not in the best interests of this state. If the federal government wants to put in a nuclear waste dump, install a new missile system in our western deserts, or impose burdensome regulations on us, will Mr. Bangerter say no? Probably not. Thus, as ironical as it may seem, the election of Wayne Owens will be the best thing Utah can do to halt the intrusion of Washington in our lives. Utah also should have a governor who is independent from the lopsided Legislature. Public issues will be better aired if Mr. Owens is elected. Again, I do not think Mr. Bangerter will say no to the legislature. He is too close to them and he sees nothing wrong with the legislative process being conducted in secret. Bad laws come from secret deliberations. And bad policies will come from a governor who is too close to the Legislature. Again, Wayne Owens is the better candiof government date to uphold the that the people of Utah dearly hold. We need a clear separation of powers. Gov. Matheson has been independent of the federal government and the Legislature. That is why he has been such a great gover-no- r .substance I cannot believe that we, as American taxpayers, should be allocationg any amount of money to an organization that claims it promotes "democracy" and individual human rights abroad until we regain the rights we have lost here at home. The most glaring example is the way in which revenue is generated by our government confiscatory taxation. One of the most tyrannical practices suf- - Wayne Owens will be able to stand up to the federal government and the legislature when they are wrong. He does not have the baggage of having pledged his loyalty to the president, and he has not been a leader in the Legislature. He will be a great asset for Utah. I believe that Wayne Owens is the kind of governor that we want and need in Utah. RUSSELL R. CLARK The Way It Was Here are briefs from The Salt Lake Tribune of 100, 50 and 25 years ago. November 5, 1884 small advance on the price of electric light announced by the company, but it will still be cheaper in Salt Lake City than anywhere else. The company in starting had no precedents to go by and now, after some months of running, find that their profits are scarcely enough to cover the wear and tear of machinery. Hence the necessity of raising the rates. November 5, 1934 Attention of Governor Henry H. Blood A 1 was called Friday by Attorney General Joseph Chez to the fact that it may be necessary to amend the state constitution before a metropolitan water district act can be passed by the legislature. November 5, 1959 Utah must insure its share of Glen Canyon power, Sen. Frank E. Moss told a St. George audience Wednesday. "There is in a general way an allocation of power made to the upper basin states," the Utah Democrat said. |
