Although I received some initial interest from several students at Utah’s colleges and universities since the initial launch of the Fair Representation Challenge last summer, I have yet to hear of any efforts to make student body elections more competitive and representative.

Recently, the Salt Lake Branch of the NAACP warmly received Larry Miller in connection with the $1,000 scholarship he annually offers the organization, despite the “Brokeback Mountain” flap.

Thus, it would be ironic if the $1,000 scholarship offered by the Libertarian Party of Utah in connection with the Fair Representation Challenge – designed to promote greater inclusion of political minorities -- was left unclaimed by the student body leaders at Utah colleges and universities. The deadline to apply is April 21st.

The Fair Representation Challenge isn’t just for Utah students, however. The challenge has been issued to members of both houses of the Utah Legislature as well. As their competition approaches the finish line, how have Democratic and Republican legislators done so far?

I anticipated that state legislators on both sides of the aisle, rather than try to win the challenge, would simply ignore the problem of Utah's uncompetitive and unrepresentative elections.

Instead, it appears that Republican legislators are trying to lose the challenge.

Consider Senate Bill 156, for starters, which purported to achieve a "soft repeal" of the 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The 17th Amendment transferred the power to elect U.S. Senators from state legislatures to state residents ("the people thereof").

In fairness to those who support the concepts underlying SB 156, serious libertarians -- no less than Cato Institute chairman William A. Niskanen and Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics James M. Buchanan (and many others) -- have argued persuasively for the repeal of the 17th Amendment. (And SB 156 has since been "watered down.")

But SB 156 wouldn't make the election for U.S. Senator more competitive and representative. And to quote my former colleague Alex Tabarrok: "The main purpose of democracy is to prevent very bad ideas and very bad leaders." So, a democratic check on the office of U.S. Senator -- and other legislative actions -- is a good thing.

For several years, state representative Roz McGee (D-Salt Lake) has run legislation to create a bipartisan (which excludes most Utah voters not affiliated with either incumbent political party), independent (which is it? it can't be both) redistricting commission.

Redistricting commissions may be well-intentioned, but can't succeed if winner-take-all, single-member districts remain the dominant feature of the electoral system.

With the winner-take-all system, you can have representative districts. Or you can have competitive districts. But you can’t have both.

I've met with Rep. McGee on these and other electoral reforms (and Rep. Greg Hughes, Rep. Mark Wheatley, Rep. Larry Wiley, Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, state elections director Michael Cragun, and the editorial board of The Salt Lake Tribune), and spoken about it in public forums ... to little avail toward meaningful proposals or changes ... so far. So, I'll keep pluggin' away.

This year, Representative McGee sponsored House Bill 91, which would have required redistricting plans to be approved by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the state legislature.

Because it would require a greater number of legislators to approve of the redistricting plan, HB 91 would arguably encourage the kind of the dealmaking that spawned a "safe seat" incumbent protection plan in California.

"Safe seats" are also arguably more representative. But they're not so nice when you find yourself orphaned in such a district.

During the committee discussion of HB 91, state representative Craig Buttars (R-Lewiston), asked Rep. McGee: “Do you feel that the composition of the legislature closely represents the political philosophies of the state?”

State representative Greg Hughes (R-Draper) also asked a question, then answered it: "Are we being represented? Or is the state being represented fairly in this process? I think when you look at the makeup of Democrats and Republicans in our body, I believe that you do see fair representation." (Debate audio from 0:00 to 23:55.)

No, Rep. Hughes, thanks in large part to election-rigging Republicans the Utah Legislature is not fairly representative of Utahns.

The way most of the world's democracies -- including ones being created at the behest of the U.S. government in Afghanistan and Iraq -- have achieved genuinely competitive and representative elections is through proportional representation electoral systems.

It's too bad that the effort by Democrats to increase political diversity in Utah have been so pathetic. But, it's something.

Therefore, if I were to cast my vote right now in the Fair Representation Challenge, it would be to spoil Republican candidates running in swing districts. However, there’s still time left for Republican legislators to surprise us with a bill that makes Utah’s elections more competitive and representative, so stay tuned.

But don't hold your breath.

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Call for candidates

I am pleased to report that an impressive group of Libertarians have indicated their intention to become candidates for elected office in 2006.

If you want to explore a Libertarian candidacy, the LPUtah's executive director or I would be delighted to speak with you. We've been through the process before, and want to help you make the right decision.

And if you don't want to be a candidate, but want to support a candidate, we can put you in touch with a candidate in your area.

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As you begin to prepare your Utah income tax return for 2005, please remember to write an "L" in section 3 of Form TC-40 (PDF file). This does not change your refund or the amount of tax due. The Libertarian Party of Utah receives two dollars for every "L" entered, and these contributions are a major source of our funding.

With sincere appreciation, I am

Yours in liberty,

Rob Latham, Chairman
Libertarian Party of Utah