Common ground

Ken Salazar was in the neighborhood last week and dropped in to visit with Utah officials and Gov. Gary Herbert's Balanced Resource Council. By all accounts, the Interior secretary, representing President Barack Obama, got along just fine with the Republicans who are so dominant in Utah government. Some might have predicted there could be no such meeting of the minds after the spectacle some Utahns were making a few weeks ago when an Interior Department memo was leaked that included some parts of Utah on a list of possible future national monuments. Some might have been surprised that Salazar would venture into the country's reddest state when anti-government, anti-Democratic feelings have been running so high. The Legislature in March passed a law allowing the state to use eminent domain to take federal land and secure state access to coal and other resources. But Salazar said he got the message from this "message legislation" and will work to open dialogue about access. And he promised to listen to Utahns "on the ground" before designating more national monuments. He said he is willing to collaborate to resolve the question of whether the feds or Utah counties have authority over roads on public lands. "Maybe we can figure out a way to move forward," Salazar said, pointing out he is not only a former Colorado Democratic senator but also a Colorado rancher. Collaboration aside, current law requires local governments to prove their right-of-way claims in court, and that law should stand. It seems Salazar did much to soothe the anger and lay groundwork for Utah and federal agencies to work together on the myriad issues of public-land management. Or, at least, to talk to one another...more

Salazar was doing pretty good till I got to the "collaborate" part. Then to top it off The Salt Lake Tribune editorial pulls out the old "build consensus" pablum, but then shows their true colors by closing with, "Salazar has an obligation to tip the scales back toward environmental preservation."

Wiktionary gives us two definitions for collaborate:

1. To work together with others to achieve a common goal.

Let's collaborate on this dictionary, and get it finished faster.

2. To cooperate treasonably as with an enemy occupation force in one's country.

If you collaborate with the occupying forces, you will be shot.

Wikipedia further instructs us:

Since the Second World War the term "Collaboration" acquired a very negative meaning as referring to persons and groups which help a foreign occupier of their country—due to actual use by people in European countries who worked with and for the Nazi German occupiers. Linguistically, "collaboration" implies more or less equal partners who work together—which is obviously not the case when one party is an army of occupation and the other are people of the occupied country living under the power of this army.

Since the feds occupy 57% of Utah, I'll just let you guess which definition me, Gus and Woodrow would apply in this case.

The primary actor for the state is the Governor. Will Utah's Herbert become a "collaborator"?

Probably so.

I'll have the bullshit detector ready for the next time Herbert & Salazar get together, and for any Trib editorial about it.