Buttars broke vow of silence, senator claims

Controversial Sen. Chris Buttars was stripped of his Senate committee posts not because he went on an anti-gay tirade in an interview with a documentary filmmaker but because the West Jordan Republican broke a deal with Senate leaders not to talk about gay issues.

That's what a Senate colleague revealed on a conservative radio program Saturday.

"I have to tell you publicly that most of what Sen. Buttars said — I agree with," Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said on the weekly radio program "Inside Utah Politics" on KTKK-AM. "However, my concern is that we, as a Senate caucus, had an agreement that because Senator Buttars has become such a lightning rod on this issue, that he would not be the spokesperson on the issue."

Buttars violated that agreement, Stephenson said, adding that the comments undermined "everything we've done" in the last three weeks of the legislative session.

"It happened not because he said a lot of things wrong, although I don't agree with some of the things he said, but because he decided to be the spokesman again when we had decided, as a caucus, and he had agreed, that he was such a lightning rod, that it wasn't productive for him to be the spokesman on this issue," Stephenson said.

"I think the bulk of people in Utah agree with 90 percent of what he said," Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan, chimed in on the radio program. "He is a lightning rod, and I'm afraid the gay community's using him a little bit to get more publicity."

Stephenson disagreed with Buttars' claim that he alone killed any gay-rights bills, noting that much of the legislation was killed in the House.

"For him to claim the glory for that, truly he's delusional on this issue," Stephenson said.

Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, did not return a call seeking comment Saturday. Attempts to reach Buttars for comment were also unsuccessful. The voice mailbox on his cell phone was full.

Buttars was stripped of his leadership posts in the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Judicial Confirmation Committee on Friday, in response to a storm of controversy surrounding the outspoken senator. In an interview with documentary filmmaker Reed Cowan about California's Proposition 8 on gay marriage, Buttars compared gay-rights activists to Muslim terrorists and called them "the greatest threat to America going down."

Defiant, Buttars said his ouster wouldn't stop him from defending marriage from "an increasingly vocal and radical segment of the homosexual community." Asked about apologizing to the gay community for his comments, Buttars told reporters on the Senate floor on Friday: "Well, they ain't gonna get one."