Uproar over Buttars' anti-gay remarks mars session

Another legislative session, another controversy surrounding comments from Sen. Chris Buttars.

This year, the West Jordan Republican sparked intense scrutiny for a series of anti-gay statements made to a documentary filmmaker, including comparing gay-rights activists to Muslim terrorists and calling them "the greatest threat to America going down."

And, just as happened in 2008 when he was accused of making a racist statement on the floor of the Senate, Buttars became the center of media attention, frustrating many of his colleagues who didn't want to be associated with what he'd said.

Although Buttars apologized last year, this time he remained defiant even after Senate President Michael Waddoups took the unusual action of publicly stripping him of two committee chairmanships. When told the gay community wanted an apology, Buttars said, "Well, they ain't going to get one."

That attitude resulted in a closed Senate GOP caucus where members vented their feelings about the latest controversy and how leadership was handling it. Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, acknowledged that asking Buttars to resign was discussed.

Senate Majority Assistant Whip Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, spoke for many of his fellow Senate Republicans when he said that while they all support traditional marriage, there was also the feeling that "the tenor, the examples, some of the phrasing Sen. Buttars used in his controversial comments were intolerant and immoderate."

Buttars declined to comment on the controversy in the final days of the session, asking a reporter why it was still of interest.

He was re-elected last November, despite an effort to oust him at the polls over a statement made during the 2008 session. Buttars had used the word "black" to negatively describe the "baby" being divided by a bill, saying, "This baby is black, I'll tell you. This is a dark and ugly thing."

That statement was deemed a breach of decorum by then-Senate president, Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, and Buttars apologized. Valentine later removed Buttars from his judicial chairmanships over an unrelated incident involving a letter to a judge complaining about a ruling.

Waddoups defeated Valentine for the Senate's top spot largely by campaigning on how Buttars was treated.

But Waddoups, too, had to take action against Buttars after parts of his as yet unaired interview for a documentary on California's anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 were broadcast by KTVX Ch. 4 last month.

Senate Democrats, who hold just eight of the 29 seats, called for Buttars to also lose his remaining committee positions, including on the powerful Senate Rules Committee. Waddoups, who said he and Buttars are good friends, declined.

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