GOP leaders play dirty, Walker says

The gloves came off in the Utah GOP governor's race Monday, the same day lawmakers voted to override two of Gov. Olene Walker's vetoes.

At an evening news conference after the override session, Walker accused Republican legislative leaders of dirty dealings and underhandedness — even going so far as to say they threatened her staff.

"That is absurd," said House Speaker Marty Stephens, who is challenging Walker in the governor's race. "To my knowledge, no threats were ever made. Let her come forward" with specific allegations, he said.

Walker said Utahns were poorly served by the Legislature's overrides, done in a two-hour session Monday afternoon where Stephens tried to steer unhappy House GOP conservatives away from debate on other Walker-vetoed bills.

"This is pure, pure politics," said Walker, who several times slammed her fist down on the podium in anger. House GOP leaders "even threatened my staff to keep me quiet" over her complaints that any of her nine vetoes should be overridden.

"I will not be cowered. I'm very, very disappointed. And now Utahns will have to live with two bad laws."

Confronted with Walker's allegations of threats as he walked from the Capitol, Stephens appeared stunned. He strode to Walker's office, where he was ushered in to meet with the governor.

Stephens appeared a few minutes later saying Walker wouldn't meet with him but had promised to call him later. "I have nothing to say; it wasn't me" that made any threats to Walker's staff, he said.

The near-confrontation ended weeks of mounting tensions between Walker, seen as a moderate in an eight-person race for the Republican nomination, and the conservatives who want her office.

While Walker said the session "cost taxpayers $20,000," which could have been better spent elsewhere, Stephens said legislators just did their constitutional duty.

Before the session, Stephens said only bills that had the two-thirds (50) votes in the House would be debated. But several conservative Republicans tried Monday to thwart that plan, calling for 15 minutes debate on all the vetoed bills, whether they had 50 votes or not.

After complaining and a few angry comments, House members rallied around Stephens. And they adjourned without debating the Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship bill — effectively a private-school voucher for parents of children with special needs — nor a parental rights bill; both of which Walker vetoed, bringing conservative grousing.