Letter: Gayle Ruzicka should have no more i..

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

I have a question that's puzzled me since I came to Utah. Exactly who the hell is Gayle Ruzicka and her Eagle Forum? Every time I read of a bill being introduced in the Legislature that sounds as though it should at least be discussed, the shadow of Gayle Ruzicka darkens a committee hearing and, if she disapproves, it never sees the light of the voting process ("Rolly: Did the ghost of Eagle Forum kill adoption bill again?" Opinion, March 12).

I've checked the records and she doesn't hold any elective office. Nor is she listed as some official overseer of legislative proposals. I suggest our senators and representatives remember they are supposed to be the voice of their constituents, to bring forth issues they feel honestly express the wishes of those who voted for them.

To allow this person and her group, whomever they might be, to influence our state Legislature in this manner is a violation of direct representation of the electorate. Giving an unelected group such influence is a boil on the buttocks of our state's constitutional process.

James F. Oshust

Salt Lake City

Letter: Gayle Ruzicka should have no more influence than any voter