Utah Allows Elected Official To Lobby... And Vote For Bill Her Company Is Pushing
from the utah-politics-at-work dept
Tim already covered some of the problems with Utah's repeated attempts to ban (or greatly limit) keyword advertising on trademarked terms. However, there were two separate disturbing issues related to this, both brought up by Eric Goldman, that seemed worth discussing. Both involve two of the legislators who voted on the bill. The first, Rep. S. Clark, voted against the bill, but for flabbergasting reasons. You see, it wasn't that he disliked the idea that companies would be blocked from advertising on competitive keywords, it was because he wanted to pin all the liability on Google:"We should be going after the Googles that are creating this problem. They're the villains." .... "If we're going to use the strength and resources of the state to go after businesses, then we ought to go after the business that is causing the harm. ... We ought to go after the Googles with the state's resources and reputation."Then, there's Rep. Jennifer "Jen" Seelig, who voted for the bill. But, that shouldn't be surprising. You see, even though she's an elected official in the state legislator, she's also still employed as a registered lobbyist for 1-800 Contacts, the company that has been pushing the bill. Apparently that sort of conflict of interest isn't seen as a problem in Utah.
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Filed Under: ads, lobbyists, trademarks, utah
Companies: 1-800 contacts
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no subject
Enough said.
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Re: no subject
What a beautiful state to visit!
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lol that makes my friday
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Well since it is Utah, the reputation is that it is a backward state that wishes it was the 1800s. Good job enforcing that image.
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The Googles
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Now that's the kind of thing I'd like to see on C-SPAN After Dark.
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Surprising?
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State's reputation?
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Utah: corrupt, backward, evil
Since 90% of Utah's population belongs to the LDS (Mormon) Church, most of their elected officials are also members. They'll tell you that religion has no influence on government actions, but they're lying. Even when the governor has opportunities to appoint non-mormons to positions that absolutely are influenced by religion (State Liquor Control Board), a Mormon is chosen over a non-LDS. It's disgusting, immoral, unethical, and probably illegal.
Utah is one of the most beautiful places in the US. Unfortunately the theocracy there makes it nearly un-liveable for anyone who isn't a member of their little club.
I advocate peaceful overthrow of the state government... It would probably be legal, and definitely would be the morally correct course of action. Instances of corruption like this article describes are commonplace and accepted there.
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Still
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Re: Still
Of course, that's nothing compared to when the article actually references the Church. There was an article a while back about a copyrighted LDS document that was published online, with Masnick calling the Church out on "Streisand Effect" for trying to get it taken down. The comment thread exploded. Guess how many were about copyright, compared to derisive comments about the LDS Church's beliefs?
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I live in utah
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disclosure
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Re: disclosure
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Error
Should read "You see, even though she's an elected official in the State Legislature,"
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Re:
...oh, wait...
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As long as we allow lobbyist money to influence politics then it seems myopic and hypocritical to point to this as an egregious example of conflict of interest. If this fact is known to the voters, and they still elect her to the legislature then that is a their choice.
Additionally, I would like to echo the disdain for people who have a knee jerk reaction of blaming the Mormon Church for a situation in which there is no evidence they (or their teachings) have any involvement. You seem to have much of the intolerance you claim pervades much of Utah's denizens.
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Put the pitchforks down
The politics are frustrating beyond belief and the hypocrisy of theocratic representatives sometimes makes me want to use a statue of Brigham Young to pummel the state legislature to death, but Utah is a great state and it's getting better. What we need are more open-minded people living in the state and fighting for common sense.
The majority of this state are sheep, but is that so different from the rest of the country? Put the pitchforks down and use your BRAINS to fight the evil you see.
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Re: Put the pitchforks down
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Google will block all access from that state.
Wow, what a waste of taxpayers money.
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snake ?
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welcome home jackie
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Utah still in the 1800's (they wish)
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