Slice and Dice
It was funny to hear State Auditor John Dougall and former Salt Lake County Councilwoman Shireen Ghorbani duke out the terminology between redistricting and gerrymandering. If you don't listen to Both Sides of the Aisle on KCPW 88.3 FM, you really should. Yes, Utah is a red state, but even Republicans will notice the tortured attempts to make the unreasonable seem reasonable. Only some 47% of registered voters came out in the midterms. Ghorbani said the lack of interest came from "disgust and gerrymandering." Dougall talked about the GOP picking up two more legislative seats because it's "just the nature of population growth." Ghorbani interjects: Say gerrymandering. They went on to talk about Suzanne Harrison's strong bid for a county council seat. Dougall noted that her previous legislative district had been "combined because of redistricting." What did Ghorbani say? "Yeah, gerrymandering!"
Cause for Concern
Despite a misleading headline in The Salt Lake Tribune, it's true that clerk candidates in four counties "espoused conspiracy theories about the 2020 election." Let's hand it to the mainly Republican voters that only one was a winner, although the headline made it sound like more. Maybe it was because there was no other credible candidate in Utah County that Aaron Davidson coasted to victory. The other guy was an Independent American, whose website pictures and quotes include, not coincidentally, former Latter-day Saint Church President Ezra Taft Benson. Davidson has been on a panel discussing 2000 Mules, the widely discredited "documentary" about alleged voter fraud in 2020, and he doesn't like—or trust—mailed ballots, either. So it is with despair and sorrow that we tell Utah County voters to pay better attention to their Republican candidates—if Davidson doesn't disenfranchise them.
Anywhere But Here
The Salt Lake Tribune makes it sound like a controversy over development in the high Avenues is a simple spat between east and west. You know the talk—it's NIMBYism or outright discrimination that is sending "a coordinated and all-but-unrelenting barrage of public criticism" to the Salt Lake City Council to oppose a proposed 19-dwelling development by Ivory Homes on F Street and 13th Avenue. The Trib made sure to mention that doctors, lawyers and a retired judge were among the opposition. It was a story about the elite vs. the inferior, wasn't it? A first-time councilman whined that all the heavy density is happening on the west side, and it's just not fair. Maybe not "all," but it's true that developers look for easy targets—like the inland port area. But whether it's east or west, the city should be considering traffic issues and whether the call for affordable housing is truthful. It might even consider the character of older neighborhoods before destroying it.
About The Author
Katharine Biele
A City Weekly contributor since 1992, Katharine Biele is the informed voice behind our Hits & Misses column. When not writing, you can catch her working to empower voters and defend democracy alongside the League of Women Voters.
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