The Utah Democratic Party and Joshua Hardy, candidate for House District 1 in the state legislature, yesterday called on Rep. Joel Ferry to resign his seat in the legislature and have his name removed from the ballot. Currently, Mr. Ferry is Acting Director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources and a state representative. This is a clear violation of the Utah Constitution.
“Mr. Ferry is clearly no longer eligible to serve in the legislature since he accepted Gov. Cox’s appointment and began to work for DNR. Yet he insists he can sit in two branches of the state government at the same time because he isn’t taking his legislature salary. His actions are not only unconstitutional, they are also fundamentally undemocratic and unfair to voters,” said Mr. Hardy.
“We Democrats believe voters should pick their legislators, not a small group of extremist Republican delegates.” Diane Lewis, Utah Democratic Party Chair, said.
The Party and Mr. Hardy made a written demand of the Utah Director of Elections through counsel, pointing to legal authority demonstrating that Mr. Ferry cannot serve in the executive and legislative branch simultaneously without violating the clear dictates of the Utah Constitution. A copy of the letter can be found here.
“If Mr. Ferry won’t step down from his seat and have his name removed from November’s ballot, we will make the Lieutenant Governor do it for him.” Chair Lewis added.
Original source can be found here.
