Governor Bangerter Significant issues correspondence, 1985-1993.

This series contains letters to the Governor on issues which generated large quantities of mail from constituents wishing to register their opinions or lobby for a particular action on the part of the Governor. Generally the Governor's office replied with a form letter. At times no attempt was made to respond. Only in the case of the Great Salt Lake flooding issue was an attempt made to respond individually.

Funding issues are a common topic. Construction of a dance building at the University of Utah in 1985; threatened cut-backs in funding to aging services and senior centers in 1986; threatened tax increases, particularly to fund education, and the allotment of funds to dislocated Geneva steel workers in 1987; and arts education funding in 1991; all generated numerous letters from the public. Social issues--abortion legislation in 1991, hazardous waste disposal in 1991, and the call for a constitutional amendment regarding public prayer in 1992--were other common topics. Publicprayer letters take up a third of the series. Flooding brought numerous suggestions for remedies from the public, beginning as early as 1983 under Governor Scott Matheson's administration. The subsequent West Desert Pumping Project increased the amount of public comment. While form letters were sometimes used to respond to this topic, even in those instances considerable effort was made to individually tailor the response.