Majority of Utahns support Senate actions against Buttars

Utahns support Sen. Chris Buttars being stripped of key legislative assignments over anti-gay statements he made to a documentary filmmaker, according to a new poll.

Sixty-three percent of Utahns surveyed for the Deseret News/KSL-TV said they favored the action taken against the West Jordan Republican by Senate President Michael Waddoups, while 31 percent opposed it.

The poll by Dan Jones & Associates of 400 Utahns statewide was conducted March 17 and 18, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, criticized the poll as an attack on a man he considers his best friend. He said the controversy ignited during the 2009 Legislature was no longer an issue.

"All you're going to do is make it nasty again for someone who doesn't deserve it," he said, describing Buttars as "an intelligent man. He has convictions that he stands up for. He understands his job is to represent his people and he does it the best he can."

Buttars, whose statements including comparing gay-rights activists to Muslim terrorists and calling them "the greatest threat to America going down," declined to comment.

When he was removed as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee, Buttars released a statement saying he was disappointed but would continue to defend traditional marriage against "an increasingly vocal and radical segment of the homosexual community."

Buttars also said then that he "would rather be censured for doing what I think is right" than celebrated "for bowing to the pressure of a special interest group that has been allowed to act with impunity."

Senate Republicans were split on the best way to deal with Buttars, who is no stranger to controversy. During the 2008 session, Buttars was accused of making a racist statement on the floor of the Senate when he used the word "black" to negatively describe the "baby" being divided in a bill.

Buttars quickly apologized for saying, "This baby is black, I'll tell you. This is a dark and ugly thing" and won reelection to a third term last November. This time, though, he remained defiant after statements he made during an interview for a documentary on California's anti-gay marriage Propostion 8 were broadcast on KTVX Ch. 4.

"Some wanted to do more and some wanted to do less," including asking Buttars to resign, Waddoups said of the majority caucus. "I handled it the way I felt best and I think the caucus supported what happened."

At least some GOP senators were frustrated at being associated with what Buttars had said, even though they support traditional marriage.

Senate Majority Assistant Whip Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, publicly declared after an emotional caucus meeting at the height of the controversy that "the tenor, the examples, some of the phrasing Sen. Buttars used in his controversial comments were intolerant and immoderate."

Waddoups continues to decline to be specific about where he disagrees with Buttars' statements. "I'm not going to say," the Senate leader said "There's no need hurting someone needlessly."

E-MAIL: lisa@desnews.com