The Republican lawmaker who represents House District 54 now says he voted for a controversial bill that amends the state's open records laws because he feared retaliation from leadership in the state House of Representatives.
Rep. Kraig Powell, R-Heber City, used his weekly Keeping House column in the Uintah Basin Standard and a call to a Heber City radio program to express his personal shame for voting in favor HB477 — which he called an "abomination" — and to offer an explanation for his actions.
"In the last week of the session, leadership's power becomes supreme," Powell wrote. "This is because all bills still pending with one week remaining in the session are removed from consideration and selectively replaced on the House or Senate agenda simply at the pleasure of leadership.
"Legislators are completely at the mercy of leadership during this time and must do everything they can to stay in leaders' good graces," he added.
The column was sent on Sunday, four days after Powell called KTMP when the legislative session was in its final hours. The second-term lawmaker was asked almost immediately by the show's host, Paul Royall, to explain the speed with which lawmakers passed HB477.
"I think it was too much one-party control in our state," Powell answered.
