Sutherland Newsletter 11/12/2009

SUTHERLAND STATEMENT ON SLC NONDISCRIMINATION ORDINANCES AND LDS SUPPORT

In response to the November 10, 2009 decision of the Salt Lake City Council to adopt changes in Salt Lake City's nondiscrimination ordinances, and to comments presented that evening by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Sutherland Institute issued the following statement: 

We have learned from California and other states that the meaning of marriage will die by a thousand cuts.  Each new inclusion in the law of such vague terms as "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" represents a mounting threat to the meaning of marriage.  Of course, each one, singly and in isolation, does no violence to the meaning of marriage.  However, the legal debate is far ahead of such parochial analysis.  Unfortunately, homosexual activists seeking to redefine the meaning of marriage - as well as activist courts seeking to do the same - do not view these types of ordinances singly or in isolation but as a pattern of public opinion to justify radical changes to law as we saw in California. 
  
As we have stated previously, we hold that the approved ordinances are vague, dangerously broad, and unjust to the parties they seek to regulate.
  
We, once again, call on the Utah State Legislature to overturn these local ordinances on the basis of sound public policy.

On October 12, 2009, Sutherland Institute published a statement addressing the then-proposed changes in Salt Lake City's nondiscrimination ordinance.  Read it by clicking here.

FIRST MOVIE NIGHT A SUCCESS

With standing room only, Sutherland Institute hosted it’s first-ever, no-charge Movie Night on Friday evening, November 6, 2009. The featured film was the recent and increasingly-popular documentary that disputes global warming, Not Evil Just Wrong.

Produced and directed by Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer – who were guest presenters at Sutherland’s Earth Week 2008 and 2009 events – the documentary challenges former Vice President Al Gore’s Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, with a focus on the nine “significant errors” in Gore’s movie, as found by the British High Court in 2007. 

We invite you to plan now to attend the Institute’s next free Movie Night on Friday, January 15, 2010.  Sutherland will feature Pacific Research Institute’s new documentary, Not As Good As You Think: The Myth of the Middle Class School.  The film exposes the fact that middle class schools are not always as good as parents think, and highlights promising solutions and ideas for improving educational opportunities for all children.

To learn more and see a trailer for the film go to, http://www.notasgoodasyouthink.com/.

TRANSPARENCY WEBSITE NOW INCLUDES PAYROLL INFORMATION

The latest information to be included on the transparent.utah.gov website is payroll information for state government employees.  When searching through the payroll section of the website you can find information like this: of the $1.5 billion spent on personnel in the state in fiscal year 2009, about 1/3 of that was in benefits, which means that for every $2 in wages a state employee receives, on average they get another $1 in health insurance, retirement benefits, etc.  Also found on the website: in 2009, State Superintendent Patti Harrington’s salary was $160,000, her benefits totaled an additional $64,000, and she received an additional $77,000 in “miscellaneous earnings.”  As for Utah’s Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, he had a $104,000 salary, with $46,000 in benefits, and was paid an additional $193 in “miscellaneous earnings.”

To find more such information, go to the transparency website and select “payroll” from the transaction-type drop-down menu in the upper right of the screen.  Then select “2009…” from the fiscal period drop-down menu.  Then click the “start” button.  You’ll see a list of state government departments from which you can choose to see specific payroll data.  After you click the department you’re interested in, click on the drop-down box at the top of the window and select “vendor/payee/customer search.”  Click in the search box and then click “search” (leaving the box blank – if you don’t actually click in the search box, it won’t work).  This will give you a list of all employees in the department and their total compensation.  If you click on a name it will give you a breakdown of their salary, benefits, overtime pay, leave paid, etc. 

Alternatively, if you want to search for a specific person whose name you know, after clicking “start” on the home page you can use the “vendor/payee/…” search function from the drop-down menu at the top of the list of state departments that appears.  Just key their last name in the search box and click “search” and their data should pop up.

INSTITUTE PRESIDENT TO SPEAK TO U OF U COLLEGE REPUBLICANS

Sutherland Institute President Paul Mero will be addressing the University of Utah College Republicans on Wednesday, November 18, from 4:00-5:00 pm.  Although hosted by the College Republicans, the meeting is open to any and all who would like to attend.  The title of Mero’s remarks will be “Why I Am a Conservative.”

The event will be held in Room 1150 of the Marriott Library on the campus of the University of Utah.  A map of available parking can be found here.

There is no charge to attend the event, and interested persons can RSVP to Dave Kimball at Sutherland Institute via telephone at (801) 355-1272, or by email at dkimball@sutherlandinstitute.org.

JOB OPENING: DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Sutherland Institute is seeking a Development Manager who will serve as part of the Institute's development team.  Qualified candidates will have excellent interpersonal skills, take initiative, seek opportunities to expand Sutherland’s development opportunities, demonstrate solid grant-writing skills, and possess the ability to set and achieve fund-raising goals. 

For more information about the position, and to read the job description, click here.

Interested individuals should send their resume to Liv Moffat, director of development, at lmoffat@sutherlandinstitute.org.