If you live in the Sandy/Draper area and one of your friends or family members anywhere in the state has been kicked out of their rental place, it’s likely that your state senator had something to do with it. In fact, this past week that same state senator exerted his influence to kill a bill requiring landlords give tenants 90 days’ notice before raising the rent by $100 or 10% of the current rent amount. Then, in a seemingly unrelated item last week, he proposed the Legislature dissolve the impartial panel for nominating judges in Utah and give themselves the power to choose judges, using the governor as a proxy.

Sandy’s state Sen. Kirk Cullimore, while sponsoring eviction law and blocking renter protection bills at the Legislature, is a partner at the firm responsible for the most eviction lawsuits in Utah. And while this is an egregious conflict of interest, it is almost negligible compared to Cullimore’s effort to make Utah’s judiciary a puppet of the Legislature. Cullimore’s father, Kirk A. Cullimore, has played an outsized role in crafting eviction law at the Legislature that has kept The Law Offices of Kirk A. Cullimore expanding for decades — averaging more than one eviction notice per hour for every hour the courthouse is open.

With such a sweet deal making easy bank, why would Cullimore call attention to himself with a court-packing bill. Greed? Grievance? Opportunity? By all accounts Utah’s vetting process for nominating impartial judges is a national model and was commended by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

So then, why now? This isn’t the first time Cullimore has tried eliminating the seven-member nominating panel and the rules that ensure accountability and commitment by the potential judges. But it is the first time since Rep. Brady Brammer, whose House district overlaps with Cullimore’s Senate district, pushed through a resolution that undermines the independence of judges and heaps power into the state Legislature’s trough. Brammer’s bill doesn’t just change procedure, it gives the Legislature the power to undo a judge’s injunction.

Essentially, these two lawyers are legitimizing judge shopping — which is one of the more flagrant ways to turn courts into partisan cesspools. Determining who gets to be a judge without impartial vetting mechanisms is the playbook for one-party rule.

Cullimore and Brammer both have personal gripes with certain judges. And if they can just get rid of the independent nominating commission and use the two-thirds majority Legislature to override any decision the governor makes, their judge shopping scheme is complete. In other words, the judicial branch is about to get rolled, just like everything else in Utah — public schools, sovereignty of local governments, private businesses, county officials, Utah’s Executive Branch to name a few.

Brammer reasons that if voters in his and Cullimore’s districts weren’t happy with these kinds of policies, citizens would vote them out. Is he right? Should legislators like Cullimore personally profit from the laws they make? Should judges be picked by the same politicians whose power they are responsible for checking? Are you happy with this stuff, or did you just not know about it?

Kathy Adams was the dance writer at the Salt Lake Tribune (2002-2019) and has written about dance for Salt Lake Magazine, Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher Magazine and more.