Saintless

My friend, and fellow Christopher Stout supporter, Jason Wessel wrote a note on Facebook about why he’s supporting Stout, over Sam Granato. With Jason’s permission, I’m reposting it here.

In my opinion Christopher Stout is the better candidate in the race for United States Senate and I will be supporting him at the Democratic convention on Saturday for a number of reasons.

First, I have been aware of Sam Granato’s campaign for quite a while but I was not following it closely since I was sitting this year out of politics. My impression was that he is just another sacrificial lamb we Dems are lining up for slaughter. I have put my time in on those campaigns and I do understand the need for them. However, I caught an interview with Granato on KCPW a few months ago and as a Democrat, I was severely disappointed. He seemed to have no central message and I was shocked that he seemed to be bragging about only recently becoming a Democrat and that he donated money to the G.W. Bush campaign. From a strategic point of view that seemed like a pretty dumb thing to be talking about before he has secured the democratic nomination. From the point of view of someone who has spent my entire adult life trying to get good Democratic candidates elected in Utah I was disappointed that we could not find a better, more deserving candidate to run for one of the highest positions in the state and frankly, I think someone needs to put a few more years in to being a Democrat before we make them a leader of our party.

Then a close friend of mine became involved in the Christopher Stout campaign when he first announced his candidacy to underwhelming fanfare. Since I am in middle of a term of service with AmeriCorps I cannot work on a campaign for pay but I can offer advice. I was asked to sit down with Christopher Stout and spend a few hours discussing the details of putting a campaign together. I had no problem with this since I am a firm believer that having multiple candidates competing for the party nomination at convention leads to us having a stronger and better prepared candidate going into the general election. I went into the meeting with Christopher Stout with the intention of discussing the nuts and bolts of setting up a campaign. Things like establishing an advisory committee to establish policy/platform issues, appoint someone to handle financial disclosures, begin forming a staff, set up a calender with all the important dates and filing deadlines, etc. Just the basics.

What I discovered when I met Christopher was a pleasant surprise. He was a rookie candidate with no clue as to how a political campaign is organized but he was prepared on the issues like no other candidate I have ever met. He did not need to go through the usual process of policy/platform prep. He had his five core issues already set. I tried to dissuade him from making the treatment of veterans a core platform issue because it just is not a high priority issue to most Utahns. Christopher would not budge. To me, this demonstrated a candidate who entered this race based on strong personal convictions and he was not going to modify his position to accommodate a campaign strategy. I admired that.Furthermore, his knowledge of the issues extends beyond his core issues. He will discuss, in detail, any issue someone brings up which leads to my next point.

What I like the most about Christopher is that there is substance behind his words. It may be that he has not learned how to talk like a politician yet with platitudes and vague rhetoric without detail. It may be that he is a goal oriented man. On every issue he clearly defines what he sees as the problem, what his position on the issue is AND a step by step solution to the problem. I have never seen a candidate delineate not just what but also why and how while addressing issues and I find it refreshing.

Finally, I have seen both Christopher Stout and Sam Granato speak at a number of events and the differences between them are quite stark. Granato has been campaigning for nearly a year and he does not have a platform beyond vague, feel-good rhetoric. When asked specific questions about issues he falls back on broad generalized statements. For example, he is for health care reform (what does that mean?). In contrast, time and again I have seen Christopher Stout directly answers the question, provide a bit of personal insight into the issue then propose step by step what he will actually do to address the issue. A rare trait in a politician.

In conclusion, I think Christopher Stout is a superior candidate to represent Utah and the Democratic party in the United States Senate. He has demonstrated a firm grasp of the issues and has set forth a plan for how to address those issues. I ask anyone who is interested or plans on attending the convention that before you cast a delegate vote in this race to compare the websites of both Stout and Granato and to listen to both candidates speak at the convention. I believe you will find Chris Stout to be every bit as impressive as I do and you will agree that he is the better candidate.

Tags: Christopher Stout, Utah Senate

District 25 Debate from B S on Vimeo.

Anthony Kaye, Joel Briscoe, John Netto and Dixon Hindley participated in a debate during the Salt Lake County Democratic Convention. They are running for Utah House District 25, Christine Johnson’s seat. The vote will take place this weekend at the State Democratic Convention. This video really provides some good information about each of the candidates, and I think it’s important that any delegates voting in this race to watch.

Thanks to Bendan Smith for putting this together!

Tags: Anthony Kaye, Dixon Hindley, Joel Briscoe, John Netto, Utah House District 25

From the day that Sam Granato announced that he was seeking the Democratic Nomination for Bob Bennett’s Senate seat, I’ve felt a resistance against supporting him. There are plenty of reasons that could explain that resistance I felt, but what it came down to was a gut instinct.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I don’t dislike Sam Granato as a person. I love his Deli downtown, and I think his businesses are a great asset to our community.

I do admit that I held out hope that Pete Ashdown would run for Bennett’s seat. And it’s no secret that I really admire Pete Ashdown both as a person and as a political candidate. And that was definitely a reason to resist Granato. However, I couldn’t imagine even giving Granato my secondary support. He was a candidate I could ignore, but not a candidate I could admire.

I’ve never felt that he had any strong opinions on issues that were important to me. I’ve talked with him several times, and had conversations with Rob Miller about considering an endorsement. But, he just never had anything important to say. He wasn’t passionate about an issue, he didn’t have ideas on how to fix any of the issues that we face. In fact, the only thing I can remember him saying about economic recovery is that because he owns a business, he knows how to create jobs. And that’s just a little too presumptuous to me. There was no true plan telling how to create more jobs, how job creation will fit into the big picture, or even what sort of jobs need to be created.

The powers that be within the Democratic Party seem to have embraced Granato as a candidate from day 1. Granted, I haven’t had any discussions with Wayne Holland about the Senate candidacy, but when last year’s Vice Chair escorts a candidate to all the parties, it’s clear that at least the impression will be that the insiders of the party support him. And once the insiders support a candidate, the rest of us seem to follow along. Except that I don’t think that the delegate are quite the same crowd that they usually are. And the presence at the Salt Lake County Convention of so many Claudia Wright supporters seems to give evidence of that.

I believe that the delegates, are paying attention to the issues, and if you consider Sam Granato on the issues, he really has no stance on anything. And that lack of a position isn’t enough to convince Democratic Delegates who are paying attention, nor is it enough to convince the general Utah population that he’s a worthy candidate.

As delegates, there tend to be two things that we think about. The first, which is the most important to me, is whether the candidate is someone I believe in. Are they someone who represents my values? Are they true Democrats? Are my issues of importance to them? Can they provide leadership and reasoned opinions on issues of importance today?

And with Sam Granato’s history of donations to Orrin Hatch and GW Bush, I don’t feel like he has a history of believing in Democratic values. I don’t feel that my issues (environment, equality, health care) are issues that he really has any passion about. Issues of the day (economics, job recovery, future foreign policy) are not issues that I think that Granato has any particular experience in.

The second thing we think about is whether a candidate can win in the general election. I’ll leave that topic alone for now, and go back to the first.

A friend told me recently that Granato has “put the work in” and deserves the Democratic nomination. I was a bit aghast, because this person’s political opinions are ones I respect very much, and I felt that he was really just falling in line with the political game with this one. What I think it really came down to was that my friend hadn’t had the chance to really evaluate Stout’s opinions, and felt that even though he knew Granato would lose the primary, that at least Granato had shown up.

Now, my initial response was to point out that he couldn’t name one thing that Granato had actually done besides use donations to sponsor certain groups who later endorsed him, and show up to all the fun parties. And while that stuff is important, it really doesn’t mean a damn thing in the long run. When our next Senator begins voting, are we going to say “well, at least he was at the parties”? I know I’m not.

The thing that really sealed Sam Granato’s fate for me was a little more recent, though. Let me begin with this quote from Sam Granato’s campaign site, a portion of his address to Utah County Democrats:

I have friends who are judges, police officers, printers, paramedics, and every other sort of professional. I’m not dropping names here. I just want you to know that my first-name friends come from all walks of life. They are good people. I love ‘em all. But I would never judge them. We are told: “Judge not that ye be judged.” I believe that with all my heart.

And yes, I have friends who are gay. I have friends who have been in trouble with the law. ( I hired a few of those folks, hoping to give them a second chance.) And I have friends who have been through the trauma of abortion – including a close friend whose teenage daughter made that troublesome decision.

I do my best not to judge any of them. They are human beings. They deserve my love and concern – just as you do – just as all my friends do.

Now, this just really gets me angry. I’m a bisexual woman, and I don’t like politicians who compare me to criminals, and then offer human compassion. I typically call those politicians right-wingers. And when it comes from a candidate for a Democratic nomination, I typically call them traitors. I can’t believe that he turns around and sponsors LGBT events, and even gets the Stonewall Board’s endorsement, after spewing that trash.

And maybe most of my readers won’t get why that statement bothers me so badly. I won’t even get into the abortion thing. But, imagine that he’d said “I have friends who are black. I have friends who have been in trouble with the law.” Or maybe substitute “girls”, or “atheists” or “Catholics” or whatever else might be unique about you, but not mainstream in our society. Or, let me put it another way:

Because gays and criminals and people who have abortions are all bad people who he tries not to judge?

So, no – I can’t support Sam Granato. He’s not a candidate I can either understand or promote.

Tags: Sam Granato, US Senate

Eric Ethington, of Pride in Your Community, set up a candlelight vigil tonight. I was pleased to see that the ratio of men to women attending was about 40/60. I often bemoan the fact that in Utah, all the activists seem to be male, but we almost made up 50% this time!

I met quite a few interesting people tonight. There were at least two women from Utah County. One of which had only come out to her family last week, only to find out that they weren’t surprised. There was a woman there who brought her parents, who were very pleasant to chat with. My friend Justan’s whole family seemed to be there, including his adorable 2 year old brother.

I am really glad that I got a chance to go. I seem to have missed about 90% of the social and political events lately. And I got to meet some great people that really have made me feel very good about where our movement is going. It seems that more and more family members are standing up to support their LGBT sons and daughters and fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers. Not only supporting them, but actively taking a stand, talking to their coworkers, or their friends, and making it known that they are proud of their loved ones who happen to be LGBT.

Sometimes it’s hard to see the progress we are making. This is a fight that people like myself have been having since before I was born. And the progress from having homes and gay bars raided, and gay people sent to jail, to a more honest debate about protecting people from being fired because they’re gay, or even transgender, is a lot of progress. Although there are discouraging moments, and progress really just can’t happen fast enough, this is a battle that we are winning. And we will continue to win. The next generation, my children’s children, might not even understand that there ever was an issue. And that’s what this is all about. Equality isn’t about getting special rights for a certain group. It’s about true equality, where the difference in skin color, or who you want to fall in love with, or whether you’re male or female aren’t seen as a difference when it comes to living your everyday life. And if you can be fired, or evicted, or denied a marriage license, or arrested – your life is much different, and you are forced to hide a part of yourself because of it.

ENDA needs to pass. And it needs to pass with transgender protections. I can’t advocate for protection for myself, when my brothers and sisters who have fought for me will get left behind. And Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, has said that she the Employment NonDiscrimination Act would be her next priority. We need to make sure this happens.

Please call Speaker Pelosi at 202-225-4965. Ask that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, HR 3017, move to a vote. As always, please be polite, but firm. After you call, I’d love to know how the call went in the comments. And then get your loved ones to call, too.

As a side note, tonight was also Earth Hour 2010. I somehow missed this – I typically participate and turn my lights out for the specified hour. I’m not sure how that happened, but I wouldn’t have been home anyway, since I was up at the Capitol during that time. It was nice to talk to the guy who set this up at Capitol Hill. I can’t remember his name, but he came by and talked to us for a few minutes. It was only dusk at that point, so I hadn’t yet noticed that the lights were out (outside, though since there was a prom going on inside, those lights weren’t turned out!), but as I looked around, I did notice that all of the outside lights were out. Even though I wasn’t able to participate, this is something that concerns me on a daily basis. I always try to keep the lights and unused appliances turned off, when possible. And that’s the point of Earth Hour – to bring attention to the daily things we can do on an individual basis.

Tags: Earth Hour, ENDA, Pride in Utah

I’ll be doing a follow up on Radio Active tomorrow (Tuesday, March 9) for the Legislative Midterms. I believe Curtis Haring and Glen Brown will be there, as well. Listen in to KRCL 90.9, call in with questions or comments, or volunteer  for the Radiothon! My friend Deb Henry, the volunteer coordinator at KRCL, tells me they really need help with answering phones!

Tags: KRCL, RadioActive

Tomorrow morning (Wednesday 3/3/10) at 7:30 am, the Senate Education Committee will consider HB 150. That’s the one where the 4th Amendment goes flying out the window, and the Attorney General can skip getting a warrant from a judge in order to get your ISP or cell phone provider to hand over protected information about you.

Please consider writing to the members of the committee listed below ASAP about why this is wrong. It would be easiest to stop if we can keep it from getting out of committee. If you need a review about why this is so bad, check out Pete Ashdown’s flier against HB 150.

Sen. Curtis S. Bramble, Chair
cbramble@utahsenate.org
Home: (801) 226-3663
Fax:    (801) 812-8297
Cell:    (801) 361-5802

Sen. Margaret Dayton
mdayton@utahsenate.org
Home: (801) 221-0623
Fax:    (801) 221-2513

Sen. Brent H. Goodfellow
bgoodfellow@utahsenate.org
Home: (801) 968-0626
Cell:    (801) 556-4871

Sen. Lyle W. Hillyard
lhillyard@utahsenate.org
Home: (435) 753-0043
Office: (435) 752-2610
Fax:    (435) 753-8895

Sen. Scott K. Jenkins
sjenkins@utahsenate.org
Home: (801) 731-5120
Office: (801) 621-5412

Sen. Karen W. Morgan
kmorgan@utahsenate.org
Home: (801) 943-0067
Fax:    (801) 943-9614
Office: (801) 538-1406

Sen. Howard A. Stephenson
hstephenson@utahsenate.org
Home: (801) 576-1022
Office: (801) 972-8814

Tags: HB 150, Senate Education Committee

HB 12 is  bill that is supposed to allow a women to be charged with criminal homicide for obtaining an illegal abortion or inducing a miscarriage, whether intentionally or through “reckless” behavior. It was introduced in response to a young woman in Utah who got someone to beat her up, so she would have a miscarriage. But, the motivations behind it may not be as pure.

But, what is “reckless” behavior? Is it not wearing a seatbelt, and getting into an accident? Is it drinking alcohol, and the baby is stillborn? Is it staying with an abusive partner and having miscarriage after getting the crap beat out of her? Is it going mountain climbing, and taking a fall that results in a miscarriage?

I’ve heard some argue that “no one is going to do  that”. But, the fact that it could happen is a scary thing. If this bill is signed into law, and some one in a position to decide makes a claim that a woman who has suffered a miscarriage is guilty of criminal homicide, it doesn’t matter whether a judge and jury find her not guilty. Any woman who has gone through a miscarriage knows the pain.

I had a miscarriage long ago. The pain is long gone. It was before having my two beautiful sons, and it was so many years ago that it feels like a different lifetime. But, when a friend recently went through the trauma, I thought back to what I had felt. And I was mixed up, confused, scared, hurt, and even though it was early in the unplanned pregnancy – I mourned the loss. I cannot comprehend the feelings that a woman who is further into a pregnancy might go through. But, I know that they are devastating.

And if even once, this law were abused, it would be a horrendous thing.

Yes, the woman who had someone beat her up in order to try to cause a miscarriage did a horrible thing. But, do you think that a law against it would have changed anything? I don’t.

This bill creates a law that is ripe for abuse. That alone makes it wrong, but even more, the idea of women’s lives potentially being torn apart for something that is already such a tragedy is something we should not tolerate as a society.

I hope that you’ll write or call Governor Herbert, and ask him not to criminalize miscarriages. You can also sign the Petition at Change.org.

Tags: abortion, Governor Herbert, miscarriage

HB 150 is the Utah House Bill that attempts to ignore the 4th amendment. It was defeated in the House yesterday, but Pete Ashdown writes that Rep. Daw wants to bring it back from the dead as a slimmed down version covering kidnapping and cyberstalking.

This is NOT okay! There is a reason we have a legal system that uses warrants. Yes, kidnapping and cyberstalking are bad things. But, a warrant isn’t some kind of undue hardship. It’s a process we have in place for a reason.

So, take a look again at Pete Ashdown’s flier against HB 150, and then call/write your Representatives and ask them to vote no.

Update 2/26/10: This bill made it through the House, and it’s now in the Senate’s hands. Please, please contact your Senator!

Tags: HB 150, privacy

So, last year a bill passed into law that gave prosecutors power to get your contact information from your ISP and/or cell phone companies without a judge when they suspect a child sex crime. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, in the time since going into effect,” more than 200 such subpoenas have been issued, or slightly more than one a day.”

This year, the Utah Legislature is considering a bill (HB 150) that would extend that to include suspected felonies, as well as cyber-stalking and cyber-harassment (misdemeanors).

This bill has passed through committee, and will be voted on in the House. Rep. Brian King was the lone vote against HB 150 in committee. He asked Pete Ashdown to help him in pointing out the problems with this bill. Of course, number one was that it’s unconstitutional. The one I wouldn’t have thought of though was that it is anti-business:

It is anti-business. Burdensome regulation against Internet Service Providers, making them a wholesale detective arm of law-enforcement is punitive against small ISPs and favors large ISPs with more resources. There are no nationwide ISPs headquartered in Utah and this law will help drive the already struggling small Utah-based ISPs under. Yahoo has already published their price list for violating your personal privacy. Smaller ISPs are more likely to protect your privacy as long as the law stands with them, they don’t have the money to fight a court battle in your favor.

Pete Ashdown’s blog is definitely worth a read, and I’ll just add this as my rant:

What the hell is it with the GOP being so gung ho to violate basic rights all the time? There’s NO REASON that the Attorney General would need to avoid getting a warrant signed by a judge in order to get information like this. And last year’s bill is proof that it’s not needed. We tend to hear about it when there’s a child porn case in Utah. And I certainly haven’t heard of anywhere near 1 new case per day in the last 6 months, which tells me that it’s either being over used (and abused), or isn’t effective. And with no accountability, all I can think is: “Who will watch the watchmen?”

Contact your Representative and make sure they Vote No on HB 150. (Check your county clerk’s site if the state site doesn’t clearly show your Rep)

Update 2/25/2010: This Bill failed in the House today. Yay!

Update 2/26/2010: Rep. Daw is trying to bring this back from the dead.

Tags: HB 150, privacy

Tonight I was on KRCL’s RadioActive program with Curtis Haring and Glen Brown. I’m hoping to post about that soon, but I’ve only got one more blog in me tonight before I give out. One of the topics that came up was the compromise reached at the legislature, where it was agreed that sponsors of all pro-LGBT and all anti-LGBT legislation would back off for the year.

This was a surprising move, because I expected that we would have a fighting chance (and possibly the LDS Church endorsement again) for LGBT Housing Protections, like we had in Salt Lake City. Of course, there were plenty of other bills that would be coming up, too. But, this was one that I really thought needed to happen this year – it’s the perfect time for it, and also the most likely.

I hadn’t seen this video when I was on the air earlier, but I wish that I had. Rep. Christine Johnson explains why the truce was called for this year, including backstory that we may have only guessed at without her telling us.

Now, what I argued on the air was that I thought that this would allow for both sides to work together and possibly come to a compromise, and hopefully that the Republicans might gain more understanding for LGBT issues. I said that I thought it was a good idea.

What I didn’t say was that I was really conflicted, too. I can see the other side – I can see people wondering why we didn’t go for the housing bill while we had the best chance, and thinking we’d given in to the other side.

I didn’t say that because, although I can understand it, my gut instinct says it was the right thing to do. And that was before watching Rep. Johnson’s explanation.

One more thing I want to add – more of our Senators and Representatives need to do this. Hearing directly from her on this issue really calmed any doubts that I had. So, thank you, Rep. Johnson. I hope others follow your lead.

(h/t to Eric at PrideInUtah for the video)