Not sure voters will take a bite of what Sen. Reid is cooking
 
Opinion
The Spectrum
 
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is a mover and shaker, but I can't figure out what he's trying to cook up. What does he actually hope to accomplish by launching a federal probe into the polygamist communities of Hildale, Utah, Colorado City, Ariz., and other polygamous sects in the Western United States? Is he grandstanding because he's up for election?

The Senate Minority Leader sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales last week that is being reviewed by the Justice Department. In it, Reid asks Gonzales to appoint a task force to investigate interstate activities of the "modern day polygamy movement" and prosecute when appropriate.

While it is admirable that Reid has recognized the problem and brought national attention to the issue, Utah and Arizona law enforcement and legal teams have been doing exactly what he's proposed for decades - and with federal support. So adding a dash of federal salt for flavoring seems unsavory.

Neither state, nor the U.S. for that matter, will benefit from an added governmental layer of oversight into what has taken years of painstaking perseverance and unprecedented patience with the insulated communities, which has made it extremely difficult to protect victims or pursue perpetrators.

Although disavowed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some fundamentalist groups still practiced polygamy as a religious right and situated themselves quite nicely by the Grand Canyon, nestled 100 miles from the nearest law enforcement in Kingman, Ariz. Because freedom of religion is protected by the U.S. Constitution, a fine line had to be walked when attempting to infiltrate the practice and uncover any improprieties and blatant disobedience of state and federal laws - basically because of huge mistakes made in the past.

Utah and Arizona did not want to repeat failed attempts, such as the FBI raid of Short Creek (today, Hildale) in 1944 and the Arizona police raid of 1953, that were primarily conducted to disband any one man from being married to multiple wives. The result was a logistical nightmare in trying to discern who was related to whom. Incarcerated men from the invasions who promised to stop practicing polygamy went right back to it when released. Their appetites certainly weren't quashed.

A feeding frenzy of negative publicity from the national exposure of children being separated from their parents kept law enforcement from interfering for the sole purpose of enforcing anti-polygamy laws. That was, until courageous victims of the practice began to come forward with accusations of tax evasion and fraud, physical and sexual abuse and forced child labor.

A lack of resources kept prosecutors' hands tied and mouths shut. They only were able to do so much with the reports, which admittedly was minimal in Utah, since the state Legislature only allocated enough funding for one investigator. That is where the real need lies with funding and resources, not a duplication of what is today an effective partnership with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office.

This collaboration is what put fugitive Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints leader Warren Jeffs on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted list. That alone made people aware Jeffs was wanted for felony counts of arranging marriages between underage girls to older men, and eventually led to his peaceful capture by the Nevada Highway Patrol during a traffic stop Aug. 28.

Utah Attorney General's public relations specialist Paul Murphy said in a phone interview Thursday that additional resources would be welcomed from the Internal Revenue Service to look at tax issues.

But a few more ingredients should be added in the form of federal grants to hire more investigators and prosecutors, provide education assistance to young men exiled from the polygamous communities and, in all fairness, enable FLDS members or others access to the same means of justice as everyone else is afforded.

Reid is an astute man. He should know that creating one more layer-cake of government in the form of a task force to perform a function already in existence in the states of Utah and Arizona - but in dire need of more financing - will be misdirected and unproductive.

That type of action won't get the criminals he seeks but will grab taxpayers' attention who will end up feeding the cause either way. When given the choice of seasoning what is already brewing or baking one more federal pie to be devoured by inefficiency and intrusiveness, I doubt taxpayers will swallow the later choice easily. Now that's cooking up something in the pot I'm not so sure Reid wants to stir up because voters may choose not to take a bite.

Contact Editorial Page Editor Jennifer Weaver at 435-674-6202 or e-mail jeweaver@thespectrum.com. For more commentary on this issue visit www.southernutahblog.com.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published September 18, 2006
 
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