(Article by Jim Hoft republished from TheGatewayPundit.com)
For many of Sophie’s requests, Bailey said the Guv’s email and texts were “publicly accessible”. Other times Bailey lists them as “protected”. This prevent any search from being conducted so the requests are denied. In another example, Sophie asked for messages (text, email, SM) spanning 8 years including words: election(s), absentee ballots, overseas ballots, and so on. DGC Bailey denied the request with the misdirection “we do not maintain records relating to elections”. It’s an insulting response.
“No Records Found” is the Governor’s Office most common response. The Moms sensed a rigged game. So they tested GRAMA using a known message involving the Governor. Jennifer provided precise details, between May 11-14th, the singular term “quarantine”, in any of the Governor’s texts or emails. The request was denied multiple times, not “specific enough”. A tourism newsletter that mentioned “quarantine” is what DGC Bailey provided. This proved Governor GRAMA requests are a farce and likely violate Utah laws.
This saddest example is when Sophie asked for all coms from 2006-17 with former Governors. Her search terms included key developments during those years, and listed 31 words including “Trump”. Again, the GRAMA was denied with “No Records Found”. It’s absurd to believe none of the 31 words were ever mentioned during those 11 years: (Trump, ES&S, ERIC, Diebold, HAVA, Dominion, Governors Association, ranked choice voting, voter rolls, EAC, Democracy Fund, Rock the Vote, Pew, Tides, CTCL, referendum, NCOA, etc.).
The counties play a different shell game with GRAMA. Salt Lake County demanded a massive $95,859 for Jen’s first 4 GRAMA requests. These were election officials communications over just 3-4 months with terms: fraud, voter rolls, drop box, Dominion, adjudicate, and so on. Once the County’s Chief Administrative Officer of Appeals got involved, she said “the fees are excessive”. She lowered them 90.2% to $9,397. County election officials were using outrageous fees to prevent records releases. In two cases the searches were never even performed, fees were pulled out of thin air.
Jennifer submitted a GRAMA request to learn how often her name was mentioned by Salt Lake Clerk Sherrie Swensen (D) and other key staff during a short 2 month period. They found a whopping 698 communications (see image below). The county then demanded an astronomical fee of $9,489 to process the records. After many appeals steps Jen got the fee lowered this to $1,663. SLC knew they the entire time they allowed to provide the results for free, because the search was Jennifer’s own name.
Sophie and Jen have done an astonishing job understanding the maze of GRAMA laws and the games the agencies play. Their opponents with teams of lawyers have cited over 17 different statutes and ordinances intending to frustrate these ladies and convince them to give up. Sophie and Jen’s research and analysis of previous GRAMA cases has helped them stay in the game. The stakes are much higher now and why they hired a law firm. They very much appreciate any donations and have interesting merchandise too.
Note: Jennifer recently won an appeal to obtain a few GRAMA requests for free. The public interest outweighed the need to charge her any fees. Salt Lake County sued to prevent the release, said it creates a dangerous precedent. These people at Salt Lake County are flat out scoundrels. The left has taken advantage of the courteous nature of Utah families and their faith for way to long. Look for “Utah Part 2” in the coming days. There’s more to discuss.
Read more at: TheGatewayPundit.com
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