Sometimes legislators go against public opinion

Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 1/16/2005 | Rebecca Walsh

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

If Utah were a direct democracy, drivers would be required to wear seat belts and penalties would be harsher for crimes motivated by hate.

But the public does not make law in this state - elected legislators do. And in a representative democracy, sometimes public opinion goes by the wayside.

This year - again - Utahns are skeptical of granting tax credits to parents who send their children to private school, they pan the conservative crusade of doing away with no-fault divorce and believe most of a projected $370 million surplus should be spent on overcrowded schools.

A Salt Lake Tribune survey of 600 Utah adults Jan. 3-5 shows that many support legislation lawmakers reject year after year and disagree with some bills the Republican-dominated Legislature seems poised to adopt. What lawmakers do with that information remains to be seen as the 45-day legislative session opens tomorrow.

House Speaker-elect Greg Curtis says polls are only part of what goes into a lawmaker's judgment. "As elected representatives, we should evaluate all the information - and that includes polls, the actual language [of a bill], the costs - and then make a decision," Curtis says.

This year, as in the past, lawmakers might simply cite the public opinion statistics that bolster their view and ignore the numbers that don't. After comparing a similar poll at the start of the 2004 Legislature with its outcome, The Tribune found that legislators that year acted in line with public opinion just half the time.

Public opinion "has never stopped the Legislature before," says House Minority Leader-elect Ralph Becker, a Salt Lake City Democrat.

The Tribune poll by Valley Research found - within a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points - Utahns balk at many ideas for legislation popular with lawmakers. For example, 59 percent of those polled want Utah's divorce statutes to continue to allow couples to divorce for "irreconcilable differences." Two to one, Utahns support bumping up penalties for bias-motivated crimes against religious, racial or ethnic minorities or gays - legislation lawmakers have panned four years in a row.

More than half of residents polled would like legislators to repeal a Utah law that allows undocumented workers to obtain driver licenses. A bill to do just that failed to pass legislative muster last year.

Most - 54 percent - believe smoking should be allowed in private clubs, although several lawmakers have bills drafted to end or change that exemption from the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act. Utahns apparently are split on the idea of doing away with private clubs altogether.

And just over 53 percent of Utahns are skeptical of tuition tax credits - legislation school choice advocates gleefully expect to pass this year with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. not repeating former Govs. Mike Leavitt's and Olene Walker's threats of a veto.

Utah Education Association President Pat Rusk hopes lawmakers will represent Utahns opposed to tax credits, rather than out-of-state special interest groups pushing a "national agenda."

"My hope is that people will see through what is behind this tuition tax credit stuff and tell their legislators, 'No. We don't want that,' " Rusk says. "If we have a representative government, then I hope they're listening."

Despite Huntsman's support for legislation that would grant cohabiting adults some rights similar to those in marriage, 53 percent of Utahns oppose the idea. In that case, lawmakers apparently are in line with public opinion. Curtis and Senate President-elect John Valentine say legislators will be reluctant to approve any measure that seems to "retreat" from the spirit of Amendment 3, the voter-approved constitutional change that blocks the state from granting marriagelike rights to gay couples.

Valentine said he is not convinced there is a problem that needs to be resolved by such legislation. "State residents overwhelmingly approved Amendment 3," the Orem Republican notes.

But Don't Amend Alliance Director Scott McCoy says Utahns will agree with giving cohabiting adults end-of-life decision-making power and property inheritance rights similar to those assumed in marriage when they learn more about the legislation. "The specifics sound reasonable."

McCoy points out an apparent disconnect in Utahns' support for hate crimes legislation, but simultaneous reluctance to grant basic rights to gay couples. Utahns "don't think gays should be beat up," he says. "But if you are, they don't think you should be able to visit each other in the hospital."

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

[Publius6961]

Sometimes legislators think they were elected to play God, and are recalled...

[whee0071]

Sometimes journalists are full of crap.

[whee0071]

Here's an interesting link regarding a previous Salt Lake Tribune poll. Read the comments.

http://www.fluoride.org.uk/opinion_polls/sl_trib_op.htm

[DesertWalker]

It is well known in Utah that the polls (and most everything else) in the Salt Lake tribune are utterly, totally bogus.

[Publius6961]

We seem to have a consensus going here...

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I'll buy that. A bunch of degenerate liberals write their articles and declare that it's how everybody thinks (or else you're a maniac).

[Sam Cree]

I agree that polls are crap...often they seem to be nothing more than naked attempts to manipulate politicians.

Another way to influence them in a republic is with powerful special interest groups like the NRA, CANF, etc.

Nevertheless, it's a very good thing to live in a republic vs a "direct democracy." Not sure whether the writer gets that or not, but as a "liberal," he probably doesn't.

[moog]

Yes to a point. Having seen some of the ways legislators in Utah and some states behave, it does seem a lot of politicians look out for their own or the good old boys' political agendas at times. Sometimes it can be good, sometimes not at all.