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Official Rebuttal to Daily Herald Article

For those of you that saw last Sunday’s Provo Daily Herald front page story, the reporter claimed I made a number of statements which I did not. I understand how a reporter occasionally gets things wrong, especially from oral conversations, but in this case, I gave the Herald a letter in writing and they completely destroyed what I wrote and put words in my mouth I never said. This is my response. Please pass this on to everyone you know to help people understand how wrong the Daily Herald got my story. The original article I sent the Herald can be read here so you can see exactly what I did write.
Original Letter
Rebuttal
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Utah’s Republic Project on Air

Last Saturday I was on Red Meat Radio talking about the Utah’s Republic project (www.utahsrepublic.org) which has a goal of restoring constitutional education in Utah. Rather than repeat everything I’ve posted on that site, here’s an audio link if you’d like to hear the radio segment (14 minutes) and then a link to the post on that site. If you’re in Utah, please sign the petition to get on the email list and help effect meaningful changes in the social studies standards of the state.

Audio:

Red-Meat-Radio-Republic Segment-1-9-2010

Writeup:

http://www.utahsrepublic.org/news/radio-show-action-items/

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Utah Ethics Bombshell – Goodbye Utah if this Passes

IF THIS ETHICS BILL PASSES, UTAH WILL CEASE TO EXIST AS A FREE STATE

I attended a town hall meeting last night where Senators Howard Stephenson and Curtis Bramble went through the text of the Government Ethics Reform bill citizens initiative. Under the guise that Utah legislators need ethics reform, made popular by the press mobbing of Greg Hughes a year ago (who was innocent but the accusers got great coverage right before his election battle and almost knocked him out), this group of “concerned citizens” has drafted a bill that WOULD GIVE THEM NEARLY UNLIMITED POWER TO CONTROL UTAH LEGISLATORS.

THIS BLATANTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL BILL WILL DESTROY THE REPUBLIC AND GIVE ULTIMATE PUNITIVE POWER TO A SMALL GROUP OF NON-ELECTED PEOPLE SETTING UP AN INTERNAL OLIGARCHY IN UTAH WITH NO CHECKS OR BALANCES ON THEM

-This bill says that if Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on 20 people to potentially serve on an ethics committee, “the sponsors (those unelected people who wrote the bill)…unanimously shall select the 20 candidates.

-If the bill becomes law, the only way a member is removed is “by reason of death, disability, resignation, or disqualification” meaning there is no expiration or legislative process to remove a committee member.

-They can investigate current legislators as well as “those who have served at any time in the past“.

What is written into law is only the beginning of their powers (“This Act shall be construed liberally in furthance of its remedial goals.”)

-Further down we read the commission is vested with “power and jurisdiction…to investigate…and to do all things, whether herein specifically designated or in addition thereto.

-“The commission may employ additional staff” meaning they can self-bloat without legislative or executive oversight

-“Although the commission serves the legislature and is not an agency within the executive branch of state government, the commission nevertheless shall have the powers and shall adopt the procedures of the Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act. This rulemaking power shall include the power to make rules governing the internal processes of the commission (meaning they are self-governing with legislative and executive authority)…”

-The commission may “[issue] subpoenas in order to compel the production of documents and the attendance and testimony of witnesses” (more executive powers)

-“The commission shall meet, allocate its budget (legislative function), marshall its resources, prioritize its work, and conduct its business as it deems appropriate, and its independence in this regard shall not be abridged, impaired, or threatened by the legislature, any committe of the legislature, or any legislator.” (ULTIMATE POWER–THEY BECOME THE UNTOUCHABLES)

-Legislators will need to annually disclose “the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of any person with which the legislator has an agency relationship, including any client of a legislator…[from whom they’ve received at least $10,000 in the prior year].” (This will violate confidentiality agreements between professionals and their clients and is a violation of law)

-“A legislator may not be charged with misconduct which occurred more than 6 years prior to the date upon which the complaint is filed, provided, however, that this 6 year limitations period shall not begin to run until the misconduct in question could have been discovered by a reasonable person through publicly available information.” (ie. there is no statute of limitations until the time a violation was discovered and then it goes 6 more years for someone to bring a complaint–even the IRS only goes back in time 6 years from when the action happened)

-“the executive director may issue subpoenas for the production of documents and to compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses by deposition or otherwise.

-“The persons who filed the complaint may participate fully in the development of evidence during this investigative phase of the proceeding, and the executive director, upon request of the complainants, shall issue such subpoenas as may be necessary to facilitate that participation…The accused legislator may participate informally, but shall have no formal rights of participation, during this stage of the proceeding.”

(So the accusers can continue to participate in a witch hunt, but the accused who may have evidence to exonerate him/herself, has no rights to provide that information. HELLO SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 1692!)

-“Once a prima facie case has been established against an accused legislator…the burden of proof and risk of non-persuasion in relation to such case shall shift to such legislator, and such legislator must show by a preponderance of evidence that the legislator did not commit the violation or violations charged in the formal complaint.” (GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT)

-“there shall be no judicial review or agency review of any commission action”

-“The Attorney General for the state of Utah shall have no power or role as counsel for the commission.

Are you kidding me??? Written into the bill is a waiver of all liability for their actions. No check or balance. No legislator can threaten them, no executive can remove them, no judge can make a ruling on them. WELCOME TO YOUR NEW RULERS UTAH

These constitutional thieves should never hold office again. They should be branded with a scarlet A for seeking to adulterate the constitution and constutional principles. It’s their constitutional right to seek to do this, but the manner in which they are doing it is so deceptive to make people think this provides some form of ethics oversight when instead it’s a measure to ensure the only people who can serve in the legislature will be this committee’s hand picked stooges. Is it any wonder this committee is doing this when you realize they were the ones running the anti-voucher movement and are seeking to punish current legislators?
Go to this website for more complete information and to see the “dirty dozen” who wrote this bill and their ties to the anti-voucher movement. Burn their names into memory and help ensure they never hold public office again.

Pleadingly,

Oak Norton

P.S. Please forward this letter to everyone you can. If the sponsors fail to get 3,000 signatures in 26 of 29 senate districts, it won’t come to a vote next year, but it’s almost guaranteed to make it to the ballot since it’s not hard to ask Walmart shoppers “do you want an ethical legislature where legislators can’t take bribes? Sign here.”

P.S.S. If you’re in Utah, sign the petition at www.UtahsRepublic.org to help restore basic constitutional education to our children. Right now the word “Republic” doesn’t even appear in the K-12 standards for social studies.

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The Law

If you’ve never read the relatively short essay by Frederick Bastiat entitled, “The Law”, you owe it to your country to do so. His essay helps elucidate the basic freedoms of man and how socialism is the true path to slavery. You can read The Law online for free or start listening to it by clicking the Youtube video below. If you like it go to Youtube and search for “Bastiat The Law Griffin” and you can listen to the other 8 segments in turn. Each segment is about 10 minutes and is read by Ed Griffin (author of The Creature from Jekyll Island). I like Ed’s reading of the text better than other versions I’ve heard.

Part 1