REPRESENTING MY CONSTITUENTS
Rep. Mike Morley
Each January as the holidays pass and the new year arrives, I begin another annual ritual – preparing for the legislative session. For ten and a half months of the year, I am a business owner who makes regular, though brief, forays into the political arena. Come the third Monday of January, I assume the mantle of full-time state legislator for seven exciting, grueling weeks. So, I take my suits to the cleaners and I have my truck serviced for the daily drives to and from the Capitol. I reset my alarm clock for 5:00 a.m. and hope one day to get used to climbing out of bed in what feels like the middle of the night. More difficult for me, really, is the mental shift as I temporarily transfer to others the day-to-day concerns of family and work so that I can focus my energies on the work of the State. You may imagine that keeping all of my responsibilities in check during this time is a challenge.
Part of this ritual is to try to guess what will be the hot topics of the upcoming session. Having attended interim committees and caucus meetings throughout the year, I’m pretty familiar with what issues we will face, but it’s always interesting to hear the opinions of my neighbors and friends here in the southern end of the valley. For the previous two years, I have run a legislative survey in the local newspapers and have received important, but very limited feedback. This year, I determined to target the constituents of my district in hopes of receiving a more thorough representation of opinions in our area. I mailed surveys to a large sampling of voters throughout my district including many who have attended precinct meetings and have been active in the process, and received a great response which has been very helpful and very enlightening. Let me share with you a few of the major issues:
The top legislative priorities for the 2006 Session: transportation (76%), tax reform (52%), and education funding (42%)
Funding for education should be: Kept the same (42%), Increased (36%), Decreased (22%)
Tuition tax credits - there were equal number of those who supported and opposed
Divert transportation funds to other needs? (as we have done in previous years of tight budgets): No (94%), Yes (6%)
Tax reform proposal: Flat tax (51%) and Removal of sales tax on food (29%). Other suggestions included doing away with income tax altogether.
Raise state minimum wage from $5.15/hour to $7.00/hour: Oppose (57%), Undecided (26%), and Support (17%)
Well, my sincere thanks go out to each of you who participated. If there are any who did not receive a survey and would like to voice your opinions, please contact me at mikemorley@utah.gov. If you will provide me with your address, I will be happy to send you a survey and to receive your thoughts.
In a representative democracy, my responsibility as your elected representative is to study the issues and to vote my conscience based on the principles of fiscal conservatism, strengthening families, and smaller government. That effort is made easier by great feedback from my constituency. A comment from one of the surveys read, “Best of luck in representing us as your constituents.” I think of that obligation every day as I head out into another dark, cold morning.
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