This week in Utah politics: dark money, taxpayer funded PR campaign and a massive homeless campus.
- Mega “service campus” for the homeless near SLC airport: 16 acres, up to 1,300 beds, involuntary commitments, forced treatment. Civil liberties alarms vs. “we have to do something.” Cox does damage control via a friendly outlet, swatting Nazi comparisons.
- House PR machine on your dime: Speaker Schultz’s glossy videos produced by a paid outside firm (Northbound Strategy ~$6k/month, >$215k since ’23). Posted first to his personal accounts, then amplified by official channels. ROI? Shrug. Also: his video flirting with threats against the judge.
- Dark money creeps local: National Liberty Champions PAC drops into an Alpine school board race. The Mike Lee orbit—Thomas Datwyler (treasurer), Dan Hauser (L4 Consulting, lives in-district)—connects the dots. Same network fueled attacks in UT-2 primary via Constitutional Conservatives PAC.
- Ogden City Council shenanigans: Candidate takes ~$15k from “Taxpayers PAC,” blowing past $1,500 limits. Money trace: AZ Christian nationalist pastor/funder → PAC → candidate → consultant. The consultant? He set up the PAC routing the cash back to himself. Illegal overage likely returned.
- Conspiracy-to-policy pipeline: Gold-as-currency schemes pushed by fringe “experts,” and yes—another chemtrails bill incoming.
Heads up: Election Day is Tuesday. If your ballot’s still on the counter, fix that.
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