At Wednesday’s Inland Port Authority board meeting — as the Utah Highway Patrol was removing protesters — Jeff Hartley, an oil and gas lobbyist, decided to be an official arbiter of what is news.
As Deseret News reporter Katie McKellar was following the scrum, Hartley inserted himself between McKellar and the action and started lecturing her for giving the protesters coverage.
There it was. A never-elected Utah power player mansplaining away other people’s rights. Block a public meeting, and you’ll get hauled off and arrested. Block a member of the press from her constitutionally protected duty, and no one lays a finger on your Mr.