"We already knew that bill [HB 241 — banning partial birth abortions] wasn't going to pass, and so there was no point in... stopping other bills when you knew that bill wasn't going to pass...  I suppose you could go back and do things differently, but when you knew the bill wasn't going to pass and there were other bills, then why..." — Sen. Parley Hellewell, defending his vote on the last night of the session to move an illegal immigration resolution (HJR 28) and other bills ahead of HB 241.

Not one senator offered so much as an audible no when several bills were moved ahead of the anti-infanticide bills.  Hear their cowardly silence from senate audio tape clips: HJR28, HB306S2, HB309, and HCR14. (These are .wav files.  If you have a really slow connection, right click on the desired link above and select "Save Target As" to save the file to your hard drive before you play it.)
Source: Conversation between Parley Hellewell and citizens Daniel Newby and Terry Trease at the Weber County Republican Party Convention on May 9, 2003. See our Infanticide Report for additional background.

"They die because House leaders don't prioritize them so we don't deal with them. They die because the sponsors don't get them moved through the process fast enough. And they die, quite frankly, because they aren't important enough." — Utah Senate Majority Leader Michael Waddoups, explaining why two anti-infanticide bills died in the senate.

Waddoups repeatedly made motions to delay and postpone the anti-infanticide bills from being heard — see our Infanticide Report for details.  Also see Waddoups congratulating his filibustering partner and fellow abortion proponent, Democrat Senate Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich.
Sources: "Conservative groups ranks GOP Senate worst-ever," Bob Bernick Jr., Deseret News, May 13, 2003; and "LEGISLATURE: 2003 Session Wrap Up," Salt Lake Tribune, March 8, 2003.

"Ok, I'm gonna interrupt this debate while you're having a good time." — Utah Senate President Alma Mansell, interrupting the boisterous laughter of the Utah State Senate as anti-infanticide bills were filibustered and killed on the last night of the session.  Hear the shameful exchange for yourself.
Background: With less than 5 minutes remaining in the session, one anti-infanticide bill, HB 241, was briefly "debated" in the Senate. Democrat Ron Allen proposed to gut HB 241 with his own substitute bill.  Republican Chris Buttars, senate sponsor of HB 241, could not seem to find his copy of Allen’s substitute.
See our Infanticide Report for additional background. (This is a .wav file.  If you have a slow connection, right click on the laugh link above and select "Save Target As" to save the file to your hard drive before you play it.) You can also try this smaller file.

Beware, you dastardly property owners!  Step aside, Batman and Robin!  Salt Lake County has its own caped vigilantes: councilmen Steve Harmsen and Randy Horiuchi.  Read and tremble:

"I don’t place a big importance on the first bid. The ace that nobody else has is the C-word. The fact they know that can happen gets us in the door." — Salt Lake County Councilman Steve Harmsen, during a private discussion with county officials over offering a low bid to a private property owner and then threatening to condemn that property if the owner didn’t play ball.  The "C-word" he's referring to is "condemnation," or the theft of desired property by government.

"Let’s show some guts, baby. Let’s condemn the crap out of them..."  — Salt Lake County Councilman Randy Horiuchi, who relished Harmsen's daring scheme.  BAM! ZOWEE! POW!  Let's hear it for our dynamic duo of property confiscation!
Source: "County Releases Candid Talks on Failed Bid," Thomas Burr, Salt Lake Tribune, September 13, 2002.

"I want to live to fight another day." — Sen. Greg Bell, on March 4, 2003 (the second to last day of the session).  This was Sen. Bell's excuse for refusing to make a simple motion to bring the anti-infanticide bills [HB 123 and HB 241] to the Senate floor.  Unfortunately, the infants who will be murdered in the womb because of his refusal to act will never live to fight at all.
Source: Eyewitness account of David Hansen, AU investigator and citizen of Davis County, Utah.  For more information, see our Infanticide Report.

"Our agencies have nothing to gain by doing forfeitures. In fact there is a disincentive for doing them when you consider costs we will suffer and can no longer recoup under the law." — David Yocom, Salt Lake County Attorney. Yocom neatly sums up what opponents of confiscation abuses have been saying all along: Forfeiture provides perverse incentives for police agencies to pad their own budgets.  To really bend your mind out of shape, try applying this reasoning to other aspects of law enforcement.  Should police not respond to a homicide because they receive no financial reward?
Source: "Law makes forfeitures a hot potato," Kirsten Stewart, Salt Lake Tribune, July 4, 2003.

"Forfeiture has been part of the law for centuries. There is nothing about it which is unconstitutional or lacking in due process." — Kirk Torgensen, chief deputy to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.  Sieg heil!  Shurtleff's office now sees things quite a bit differently than he did in his 2000 campaign literature.
Source: "Forfeiture law rightly denies criminals their ill-gotten gains," Kirk Torgensen, Salt Lake Tribune, July 6, 2003.

"Is that all?" — Sen. Howard Stephenson, head of the Utah Taxpayers Association, responding to the sad news that the Internet sales tax bill he voted for (Senate Bill 147) would only net $30 million to Utah government. Sorry, Stephenson, you can’t pilfer any more money from the taxpayers right now. With flip-flopping taxpayer advocates like this, who needs enemies?
Source: "Taxes on Internet sales to net Utah $30 million," Deseret News, June 21, 2003.

"Forfeiture is an important crime fighting tool, but must only occur within Constitutional limits.  While I oppose civil forfeiture, I support criminal forfeiture, once an individual has been found guilty." — Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff on his 2000 campaign literature.  Shurtleff now leads the charge to gut the innocent owner protections enacted by citizen's Initiative B, passed by 69 percent of voters in 2000.  My, how time flies.

"We really have very little—to my knowledge no—abortions being performed in the state of Utah." — Sen. David Gladwell at the May 9, 2003 Weber County Republican Party Organizing Convention, during a debate on a resolution chastising the Utah State Senate for its failure to act on anti-infanticide bills during the 2003 general session. In 2001 alone, over 2,389 infants were murdered in Utah. See our abortion counter.

"It deserves an 'R,' but kids need to see that movie.  Not all 'R' movies are bad... especially the ones I act in." — Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, referring to the movie "Traffic," which is Rated R for sexual scenes, violence, pervasive drug content, and swearing.
Source: "Hatch Gives School a Boost," Laura Sanderson, Deseret News, May 29, 2003.