I’m excited about this episode because we get to talk to Katie Matheson, the Communications Director of Alliance for a Better Utah, but before we talk about the great things the Alliance does, Jeremy tells us about the rat community stealing chicken food and compost. This past weekend, they grabbed a pellet gun and took care of eight of them with no end in sight! Chungus may be gone but he’s left quite the legacy.
Chris took a lunch break to finally visit Dawgz N Leenks. They often set-up for lunch at Southtowne Volkswagen (yes, this is where we used to tell you to take Jessica socks and porn). Chris opinion is that he wishes he’d had a second and plans to make time to go back! Must’ve been yummy.
Jessica is signed up to get her COVID vaccine and Chris is on the waiting list. The governor has announced they will open vaccinations to everyone starting April 1, 2021. Get yourself on a list because I suspect many of us won’t get an appointment right away.
With the Utah State Legislature’s recent completion of the 2021 session, it’s apropos that we talk to the folks at Alliance for a Better Utah. Katie’s family has a long history of politics as she is related to the famous Matheson’s and to WW Phelps, who was the first speaker of the house. Katie is a native Utahn who was born in Provo but moved to NYC while she was still an infant. They moved back to SLC for a while before moving to California and New Jersey. New Jersey is where she found her husband and as they began to start a family, they decided Utah was the best place they could be.
Katie has a degree in music from Westminster Conservatory of Music and is a trained opera singer and used to sing at the Cathedral of the Madeline when she first moved back to Utah. After working in music for a while, Katie got her start in activism after she had a medical emergency and was without healthcare. Not only did she have to worry about her health, but now she had to worry about medical bills. She had always been interested in communications when an opportunity arose at the Alliance.
So, in December of 2017, Katie became the Communications Director and hasn’t looked back. She explains that the Alliance is there to project advocacy and pollical action by translating policies into everyday language that the average person can understand. The Alliance maintains a spreadsheet during the Legislative Session where you can go to track bills that have significant impact on the community. It’s through this tracker that they can call the community to action. Sometimes the flood of information provided is as much of a way to hide something as working behind closed doors. Katie says, “old legislative habits won’t translate into our future.”
We go on to discuss the independent redistricting commission and the Legislature’s own redistricting commission. We talk about the need for a full time Legislature and the fact that our citizen legislature lends itself to older white and wealthy people who can take 45 days out of their work schedule to serve. Katie says that a more dedicated Legislature would mean more thoughtful and less sloppy legislature because they wouldn’t be so rushed.
She reminded us that we have made changes and that we can’t let ourselves become apathetic. Katie says the most unique things about Utah are the landscape and the culture. She wants to specifically remind people that even though our elected officials tend to be more conservative they tend to be a little more understanding and not as far right as the rest of the country.
You can follow Alliance for a Better Utah on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram @BetterUtah. They just started on TickTock @BetterUtah
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