There is a certain irony in Senate Bill 250, a piece of legislation that would allow Utah's political parties and legislators to grade its two U.S. senators. SB250, sponsored by State Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, casts a disapproving eye on our U.S. senators and seems to be critical of the 17th Amendment -- passed in 1913 -- that mandates that senators be elected by the people, rather than selected by state legislators.
Stephenson and other legislators, including Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, have been quite vocal in the past on their displeasure that U.S. senators, in their opinion, no longer care much about state governments. Under SB250, U.S. senators could be graded on their support, or non-support, for issues including federal lands, states' rights and federalism.
That's an opinion that we suspect is met with disagreement from Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett. Also, it's quite obvious, given the bill's sponsor, that the closer a U.S. senator agrees with Glenn Beck on one of these issues, the higher the grade would be.
But that's besides the point. The irony is that we have state legislators expressing disapproval that federal legislators don't care about important state issues. In our opinion, SB250, and similar bills this legislative session, indicate to us that too many state legislators no longer care much about legitimate state issues affecting Utahns.
We understand that "message bills" involving abortion, affirmative action, global warming, states' rights, trust lands and the American Antiquities Act, etc., are far sexier than providing enough Medicaid funding to keep poor children and pregnant women healthy or social services fully funded.
These sexy non-issue "message bills" get our legislators face time on radio shows such as Glenn Beck's, Laura Ingraham's, and, to Utah's great embarrassment, even Truther Alex Jones' Prison Planet conspiracy show.
SB250 is a very foolish bill. It's overly ideological, it would make U.S. senators allies of special interests rather than our state, and it accomplishes nothing other than its implied wish that the ultra-conservative Legislature could handpick a new U.S. senator every few years.
Fortunately, that's not going to happen.
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