I’m just another Utah retiree, long out of the loop on government, where I once toiled, now enjoying my life traveling.
Visiting 22 countries, I’ve barely set foot in the U.S. these past few years — I treasure the freedom of no politics. So I come to this story as something of an outsider, which may be exactly why it struck me so hard.
The Tribune reports that the U.S. Department of Justice sent Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson a letter threatening her with criminal prosecution for resisting the department’s demands for private voter data — demands that have already been ruled illegal by more than a dozen courts. Henderson epitomizes the very best of the “Utah Way,” standing up to an overreaching federal government trying to crush our state.
Henderson stood her ground. That kind of courage — standing up to feds coercively usurping state power — is exactly what politicians in Utah have grandstanded about for years. But the lieutenant governor didn’t do so for political gain; quite the opposite. Almost alone, she did so at real professional and personal risk.
Today I nominated Lt. Gov. Henderson for the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, given annually by the JFK Library Foundation to public servants who show political and moral courage. I nominated Sen. Mitt Romney for the same award in 2020 for his outspoken truth-telling; Romney won it in 2021. Lt. Gov. Henderson deserves that same recognition. She is a hero!
Utah, and the country, need more leaders willing to do the right thing even when it costs them. Let her courage be an example.
Now, after a two-letter jump back to the quagmire, it’s back to an exquisite sunset here in Peru.
Retirement — what a delightful thing! Not so bad my friend, Sen. Adams!
Jim Dabakis, Salt Lake City