In 2011, while writing for The Dixie Sun, I penned a column where I predicted that HB477, a piece of Utah legislation that virtually gutted the Government Rights and Access Management Act (GRAMA), having been narrowly defeated by repeal, was gone but would be back.
In the nano chasm of time, those four years seem like only a few days ago in light of a recent article in the Salt Lake Tribune where, “Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, persuaded the Senate Business Committee, where he serves as chairman, to approve unanimously sending SB157 to the full Senate.”
The article further inquires into the unusual nature of the proposed legislation and if the bill to change the state’s open-records law passed without first having in writing what its sponsor says the legislation eventually will say and do.
It appears that many in our country, including those at the Capital, in the wake of the NSA scandals, The Patriot Act, The National Defense Authorization Act, and why not, Julian Assange and that somewhat confused but nonetheless patriotic army private, are working vigorously to realign the governments use of power with regards to transparency and accountability to the people.
Meanwhile, here in Utah, they are working hard to do just the opposite.
I have said this before and it bears repeating, power is a magnet for the corruptible. And make no mistake, any legislator seeking to minimize transparency and accountability by way of diminishing the First Amendment rights of not only the press, but the citizenry at large, is not only corruptible, but does not have the interest of the people at heart.
The ripple affect of this will have no bounds as even third rate hack attorneys will likely try to manipulate the press under threat of litigation, not to report what they are doing, legal or not.
But more devastating will be what legislators and law enforcement will be able to do if the fourth estate is stifled from doing its job in holding those in office and in power accountable to the people.
It is time for the people of Utah to tell its government to put the pin back in the grenade before it legislates itself into a corporate conglomerate run dictatorship.
See you out there.
Dallas Hyland is a freelance writer, award-winning photographer, and documentary filmmaker with three films currently under his belt. The opinion editor of The Independent, Hyland’s investigative journalism and opinion columns have ranged in topics from local political and environmental issues, to drug trafficking in Utah, as well as the international front, covering issues such as human trafficking in Colombia. On his rare off-days, he can be found with his family and friends exploring the pristine outdoors. Listen to him live as a regular guest co-host on the Perspectives talk show on Fox News 1450 AM 93.1 FM in southern Utah.
