Showing posts with label Jean Hill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jean Hill. Show all posts
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Thursday, April 03, 2008
From Jean Hill: Utah needs an attorney general who will focus on people, not politics and do something to curb usuary
By Jean Welch Hill
Democratic Candidate for Attorney General
As an educator and a first time candidate for a statewide office, I find the campaign process to be a fascinating learning opportunity—one that should be shared for future aspirants to public service. As a part of a shared learning process, I will try to at least occasionally post some observations from the campaign trail.
While on the trail this week, I have been inundated with voice and emails of support. The kind words of so many friends and colleagues have been inspiring, and much needed as a face the, at times daunting, task of both raising $1,000,000.00 (so many, many zeros) and doing research on issues.
Thus far, the research portion of campaigning is my favorite part. Case in point: yesterday, a typical spring day that kept teasing me with moments of worth amidst gray skies, I walked to Crossroads Urban Center to meet with its director. In an hour of great import, I filled in several gaps in my knowledge about pay day lenders and the effect these extremely profitable businesses have on their far less prosperous clientele. Imagine paying anyone 10% PER WEEK interest on a loan. Times that by 52 weeks in a year, and you pay a whopping 520% interest in one year. Remember those early lessons in credit card debt that showed it would take the rest of your life to get out of credit card debt at 17% if you just made the minimum payment? Yet somehow a pay day loan at 520% is supposed to be a benefit to low income individuals.
What is less well understood, but potentially more costly to society at large, is the pay day lenders commitment to getting paid. A court in one city indicated to Crossroads that it had to hire three full-time employees just to handle the pay day lender collection cases; cases which make up 87% of the court’s cases. Those three employees are paid by taxpayers, as is at least one judge whose time is spent hearing pay day loan cases.
My meeting at Crossroads addressed other issues as well, and convinced me again of the very real need for an attorney general who will focus on people, not politics and do something to curb usury (charging outrageous interest rates on loans) in Utah (one of very few states that does not regulate pay day lenders in any substantive manner).
As an educator and a first time candidate for a statewide office, I find the campaign process to be a fascinating learning opportunity—one that should be shared for future aspirants to public service. As a part of a shared learning process, I will try to at least occasionally post some observations from the campaign trail.While on the trail this week, I have been inundated with voice and emails of support. The kind words of so many friends and colleagues have been inspiring, and much needed as a face the, at times daunting, task of both raising $1,000,000.00 (so many, many zeros) and doing research on issues.
Thus far, the research portion of campaigning is my favorite part. Case in point: yesterday, a typical spring day that kept teasing me with moments of worth amidst gray skies, I walked to Crossroads Urban Center to meet with its director. In an hour of great import, I filled in several gaps in my knowledge about pay day lenders and the effect these extremely profitable businesses have on their far less prosperous clientele. Imagine paying anyone 10% PER WEEK interest on a loan. Times that by 52 weeks in a year, and you pay a whopping 520% interest in one year. Remember those early lessons in credit card debt that showed it would take the rest of your life to get out of credit card debt at 17% if you just made the minimum payment? Yet somehow a pay day loan at 520% is supposed to be a benefit to low income individuals.
What is less well understood, but potentially more costly to society at large, is the pay day lenders commitment to getting paid. A court in one city indicated to Crossroads that it had to hire three full-time employees just to handle the pay day lender collection cases; cases which make up 87% of the court’s cases. Those three employees are paid by taxpayers, as is at least one judge whose time is spent hearing pay day loan cases.
My meeting at Crossroads addressed other issues as well, and convinced me again of the very real need for an attorney general who will focus on people, not politics and do something to curb usury (charging outrageous interest rates on loans) in Utah (one of very few states that does not regulate pay day lenders in any substantive manner).
Thursday, March 13, 2008
School Board attorney files to run for attorney general
SALT LAKE CITY— Jean Hill, an attorney for the State Board of Education, has filed to run for state attorney general."I am running for Attorney General of Utah because I believe in protecting the public interest,” said Hill. “When the AG and vast majority of the Legislature are from the same party, the public interest gets lost in partisan politics. However, with the combined talents of the attorneys in the AG’s office, the AG can do more, such as protect the vulnerable from predatory lenders or overzealous developers, or protect teens from dating violence, or protect the public coffers from legislation that does little more than generate useless and expensive litigation.
“I am running to protect the public interest and restore the balance necessary for good government.”
Legal advice Ms. Hill provided the Board of Education regarding implementation of a controversial voucher law was upheld by the Utah Supreme Court in June of 2007. The ruling paved the way for the November vote that threw out the law.
Comment from Democratic Party of Utah
“Democrats have struck gold. Jean has been at the top of our list of AG candidates for almost a year,” said Wayne Holland, chairman of the Utah Democratic Party. “Jean demonstrated her integrity and leadership last year when she took a stand against implementing vouchers and against the politically tainted opinion of the current attorney general.
“The current attorney general has politicized the office in service of his own ambitions,” said Holland. “Jean will bring a fresh spirit to the office; she will work for Utahns.”
Biography
Jean Welch Hill is an attorney for the State Board of Education. Since 1999 she has provided legal counsel to the Board, school districts, school administrators, teachers, parents, legislators and any one else with questions about public education law in Utah.
Ms. Hill also prosecutes educator misconduct cases before the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission, ensuring that educators who violate the public trust are no longer permitted to teach in this or any other state. She is a member of the National Council of State Education Attorneys and the State Advisory Board on Children’s Justice. She also serves on the Boards of Directors of Wasatch Community Gardens and the Law-Related Education Project.
Before joining the State Office, Ms. Hill worked as a high school history teacher at Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake and was an editorial writer and columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune. She attended the University of Utah, receiving a Bachelors of Science in Political Science and in Geography. Ms. Hill graduated from the University of Utah College of Law in 1995.
Ms. Hill has three children, Noah, Nathan and Samuel, and will celebrate her 16th wedding anniversary in May. Her husband, Ron Hill is a history teacher and coach at Judge Memorial.
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