I tend to hesitate before jumping on a bandwagon. Most of the time it’s still stationed, waiting there for me if I decide to hop aboard.
In February, after some consideration as to whether I could be called a sellout, I accepted my invitation to a Facebook group my friend created called “People for the defeat of Chris Buttars.” Sometimes a bandwagon is just good company.
However, I discovered Monday that the vessel I joined wasn’t as crowded as I had once imagined. In fact, the rival posse that favors the state senator had a 2-to-1 advantage on us.
A poll by Dan Jones & Associates done for the Deseret News and KSL-TV found that Buttars, a Republican from West Jordan, has a faithful 55 percent while his Democratic opponent, John Rendell, is supported by 27 percent of the Senate District 10, which includes parts of West Jordan, Herriman and, embarrassingly, my home town of South Jordan. Buttars can still sit comfortably with a margin of error of plus or minus 7 percent.
Buttars’ lead is disturbing. Even after the brouhaha following his blunders, people still support him. His most recent foot-in-the-mouth experience came in February, when the state senator, referring to a bill, said: “This baby is black, I’ll tell you. This is a dark, ugly thing.”
Even after giving him the benefit of the doubt that his remark was not meant to be racial commentary, his attitude throughout the event was uncalled for. When people called for his resignation, he said those people had turned into a “hate lynch mob.”
Buttars touted his experience working with troubled teens at the Boys Ranch, which is one of the reasons he says he doesn’t see race. He then said: “I’ve dealt with black kids, red kids, brown kids at the Boys Ranch more than half of my adult life, and I’ve never been accused of racial anything.” Buttars managed to contradict himself in a single sentence.
Buttars’ run in the Senate has been filled with intolerance. He introduced two bits of legislation suppressing gay rights: One to eliminate the domestic partnership registry and the other to get rid of gay-straight alliance clubs in public schools.
I’m not saying Buttars has to support an issue like gay marriage if he feels so strongly that his morality would crumble for doing so. But it is wrong of him to alienate a group of people to the extent that he has. That is something he has lost sight of. People are still people after all. Show a little compassion for diversity.
Commuters who live in Senate District 10 should research Buttars and Rendell, then honestly decide whom to support.
An advertising professor taught me last year that the biggest factor in deciding an election is name recognition. Scary, but true. But I think I almost prefer the reason for Buttars’ lead to be that people just remember his name (or likely his political persuasion) rather than believing in him as a person.
In any case, there’s plenty of room in my wagon. Feel free to come for a ride.
Anne Roper