News Highlights

Gov. Huntsman's support for John McCain over Mitt Romney doesn't faze most Utahns, according to new poll (Deseret Morning News). See list of Utah leaders and presidential candidates they support. 

Making college education harder for children of undocumented immigrants doesn’t make sense, says Salt Lake Tribune op-ed essay by George E. Brooks and John Florez column in the Morning News.

Quote of the Day

“State lawmakers often rail against federal mandates. Now they're trying to impose their will on duly-elected local government officials, and strong-arm the governor. These Capitol privateers need to take note of the contradiction, preserve the autonomy of local governments, and defeat these bills.”

-- Tribune editorial encouraging the defeat of HBs 75 and 76, which could result in local government recreation facilities being privatized.

The Week Ahead

Week three (and remember there are only six-and-a-half) of the legislative session begins. Here is the House schedule and Senate schedule and the legislative calendar with committee notices and agendas.

Utahns get to vote in Tsunami Tuesday, the biggest day so far in the presidential nominating sweepstakes. By Tuesday night the nominee in each party could be all but crowned, or the races could be even murkier.  

Check out all the week’s political events in the UtahPolicy.com calendar, which now includes numerous 2008 political activities, including Jefferson-Jackson and Lincoln Day dinners and county conventions.

Monday Musing

Clearing Out the Cobwebs

Early Saturday morning I took my poor, neglected dog, Hayduke, for a nice long walk along the dikes at the Farmington Bay Wildlife Refuge. I hadn’t spent much time outside for a few weeks and it was great to see the sun and do something physical.

Off the main road, we trudged through about six inches of fresh snow on top of older hard-packed snow. It was a chilly, but beautiful, morning and we saw at least 30 bald eagles, other hawks and owls, and lots of fox and rodent tracks. The ponds between the dikes are mostly hard-frozen, but water still flows among them, providing habitat for carp, which in turn provide food for the eagles. It was nice to forget about politics for a while and enjoy winter in the wetlands.   

Utah Foundation Research Report
The Utah Foundation has released a research report on funding for Utah's public school facilities. The report "examines Utah's current school facilities financing situation, focusing on equity and adequacy of facilities funding across Utah’s 40 school districts. It also evaluates a number of reform concepts for how they would impact adequacy of school facilities and equity for students and taxpayers. Finally, it provides a model, showing how eight potential funding reforms would impact each district in the state, compared to the current funding system" (see press release and Executive Summary).

Taxpayers Assoc. Newsletter
The Utah Taxpayers Association has posted its February newsletter. This month's edition looks at the increase of state sales tax earmarks and features a column by Royce Van Tassell on the virtues of the "Yellow Pages Test."

Washington Watch

Hatch: Boost Geothermal Energy
Sen. Orrin Hatch joins a bipartisan group of senators "to push for the accelerated development of geothermal electricity in the U.S. In a letter to Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman, Hatch and his colleagues pointed to new authorities and funding Congress has provided to the Department of Energy for the advancement of this clean renewable energy" (see press release).

Bishop Endorses Romney
AHN News: Rep. Rob Bishop says Mitt Romney is the only presidential candidate "who talks about the significant role that state and local governments play in solving people's problems. Everyone else talks about expanding the role of the federal government. Governor Romney is the only candidate with executive and administrative experience."

Regional Politics

Whither the West o Tuesday?
New York Times: "[A]s Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Utah prepare for their moments in the political spotlight on Tuesday (caucuses in Colorado, Idaho and Montana, a primary in Utah) the numbers of cross-voting, label-rejecting and downright crotchety voters make the event hard to predict, or probably to make sense of even when the results are in."

Today in Political History

Feb. 4, 1783:  The United Kingdom declares a formal end to hostilities in the American Revolutionary War. (Source:  NBC5) 

Feb. 4, 1846:   Mormon Church leader Brigham Young, who replaced the murdered Joseph Smith, leads his followers out of Nauvoo, Illinois, for points west on what becomes known as the Mormon migration. (from the Encarta® 2000 New World Timeline © Copyright 1998, Helicon Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.) 

Feb. 4, 1945:  President Frankling D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Marshal Josef Stalin meet at Yalta in the Crimea to plan the final defeat and occupation of Germany. (Source:  Perspicuity) 

Wise Words

“We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”

-- Winston Churchill (Source: Petrie’s Collection) 

Leadership Tip

Give the Right Kind of Praise

1. Don't praise ordinary performance.

2. Be specific about what you are praising.

3. Skillfully use praise to improve poor performance.

4. Put praise about excellence in writing.

5. Don't assume praise is all that is needed (Source: NCSU.edu) 

National Politics

Best Stories From . . .

-- Los Angeles Times: "Facing the biggest day in the history of presidential primaries, White House hopefuls scattered Saturday from Los Angeles to the Deep South, promising results and offering reassurances on the last weekend before nearly half the country goes to the polls."

-- Washington Post: "As Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama clash on multiple political fronts heading into Super Tuesday, [Bill] Clinton's record as president has emerged as a key battleground. How Democrats define his legacy could determine which presidential candidate they choose: Hillary Clinton, to extend it, or Obama, to make a clean break from it."

-- Weekly Standard: Columnist Fred Barnes says conservatives should "grow up" and vote for John McCain.

-- New York Post: Sen. Joe Lieberman crosses party lines and endorses McCain.

-- Associated Press: Mitt Romney wins the Maine GOP caucuses.

Blog Watch

-- Jeremy Manning says: "Republicans on the House Law Enforcement Committee, in blatant disregard for public safety on our highways, approved HB239, a bill that would revoke driving permits for illegal immigrants. They claim that they fear that the permits will be used as ID ... Good policy creates incentives for those being regulated to behave in a way that benefits society. How does HB239 benefit society? Sure it punishes illegal immigrants who are breaking the law by being here ... but it makes drivers in our state less safe and will inevitably result in an increase in auto insurance premiums. Should Utahns really be so afraid of illegal immigrants that we're willing to be less safe and less wealthy? Why?"( For more on the Legislature, see The Senate Site,  Salt Lake Crawler, David Fletcher, Pete Ashdown, Woods Cross Citizen, and Utah Moms Care.)

Lighter Side

"We must learn to distinguish morality from moralizing."
-- Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State (Liberty Tree)

Utah in the National News               

Los Angeles Times: A clash between Mitt Romney and John McCain over Olympics spending in 2000 may help "explain some of the acrimony that now characterizes the race between the two front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination. ... 'It may be a source of the sniping between the two,' said Quin Monson, assistant director of the Center for Elections and Democracy at Romney's alma mater, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Kelly Patterson, the center's director, agreed: 'People have long memories in politics.' ... In the background of the dispute lies a long-simmering argument in Utah over whether Romney has overstated his role in saving the Olympics."

Romney Watch

Reuters: New Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll in California has Romney ahead of McCain 40 percent to 32 percent. Says pollster John Zogby: "Romney is widening his lead in California and has a really big advantage with conservatives. Romney winning California would give some Republicans pause when they look at McCain as the potential nominee."

Check out the mildly funny YouTube spoof, “Mitt Romney’s Inauguration”, which contains a lot of Mormon insider jokes.

Local Headlines

Salt Lake Tribune

- Utah law on liquor modern?

- Utah's primary vote to count

- Food-tax cuts in deep freeze

- East-west fight rages as board divvies cash

- Mobile home owners lobby on Capitol Hill

- Rolly: Making, breaking the rules

- Unlike for other elections, liquor stores open Tuesday

- Editorial: Teacher pay: Legislature should give across-the-board raises

- Editorial: Privatization: State targets local government services

- Op-ed: Denying education to undocumented immigrants doesn't make sense

Standard-Examiner

- Editorial: A feckless health board

KCPW

- Relicensing Teachers Could Become Less Cumbersome

- West Jordan Representative Pushes for Property Tax Ammendment

- Lawmakers May Ease Alcohol Restrictions for Event Holders

- What Happens Between Super Tuesday and the National Conventions?

Daily Herald

- Cost of tuition in Utah goes up

- Lawmakers want amputees covered

- Jim Tynen: Sore knees and sympathy

- Editorial: Guns in the parking lot

Logan Herald Journal

- Valley man painted Capitol murals

Deseret Morning News

- Campaign hits Utah, finally

- Unpaid taxes amount to 'cheap loan'

- Sweeping migrant bill rushed to hearing

- Huntsman's presidential endorsement doesn't faze most

- Teaching American Indian languages touted as tool

- Immigration measure detailed

- Elderly-driver issue moving on to House

- Which candidates are Utah leaders backing

- Editorial: Ethics and public trust

- Op-ed: Legislators shouldn't punish immigrant children

Please submit calendar items to Daily@UtahPolicy.com

- Feb 4: In-office absentee voting ends for Utah Presidential Primary

- Feb 4: Mailed absentee ballot post mark deadline for Utah Presidential Primary

- Feb 4: Legislative meetings scheduled throughout day. See Legislative calendar for details.

- Feb 4: Midday Metro at 10 a.m. on NPR Utah, KCPW 88.3 FM: Delta Airlines is in merger talks. Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker says he’ll do everything in his power to keep the carrier’s hub in the Capital City. But he wants to use airport passenger fees to help build a TRAX extension to the airport – a move Delta opposes. Who’s got the upper hand in these negotiations? Midday Metro talks with Mayor Becker.

- Feb 4: RadioWest on KUER FM 90: "The Gen Y Vote," 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. A recent Time Magazine poll found that 7 out of 10 Americans under-30 are paying attention to the presidential race. And the candidates are taking notice. RadioWest looks at the Youth Vote - and what difference it will make in the 2008 election.

- Feb 4: Governor Huntsman to meet with the Utah County Republican Women, 2 p.m., Utah State Reception Room.

- Feb 4: Desert Greens meeting, 7 p.m., Coffee Club, just south of 4800 S. Redwood Road (east side of the road). Desert Greens is Utah's national affiliate of the Green Party of the U.S. and meets on the first Monday of the month. For more info call Eileen at 801-201-0219.
- Feb 5: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah Republican and Democratic Primaries and Caucuses.

- Feb 5: Legislative meetings scheduled throughout day. See Legislative calendar for details.

- Feb 5: Super Tuesday Doug Wright Show Live Broadcast, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., University of Utah Hinckley Institute of Politics, Hinckely Caucus Room, OSH 255.

- Feb 5: Sutherland Institute Open House with Edwin J. Feulner, president and founding trustee of The Heritage Foundation, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sutherland Transcend Conference Room, Crane Building, 307 West 200 South, Suite 5005. Dr. Feulner will present the keynote address at 12:30 p.m. RSVP to Liv Moffat at 801-355-1272 or email.

- Feb 5: Governor Huntsman to attend the Power in You Luncheon, 12 p.m., Governor’s Mansion.

- Feb 5: Meet and greet with Libertarian presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root, 7 p.m., Mo's Neighborhood Grill, 358 South West Temple, Salt Lake City. For more information, visit WayneROOT.com.

- Feb 5: Super Tuesday Election Night Party, 8 to 10 p.m., University of Utah Hinckley Institute of Politics, Hinckely Caucus Room, OSH 255.

- Feb 6: Lt. Governor Herbert to speak at the Sevier County Lincoln Day Breakfast, 7 a.m., Frontier Village Restaurant, Richfield.

- Feb 6: Governor Huntsman to attend the Teen Dating Violence Breakfast, 8:30 a.m., Governor’s Mansion.

- Feb 6: Governor Huntsman to attend the Women’s State Legislative Council Meeting, 11:45 a.m. West Building, Suite 130.

- Feb 6: Sevier County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner

- Feb 7: Governor Huntsman to visit University Brain Institute, 8:30 a.m., University of Utah.

- Feb 7: Governor Huntsman to attend the Questar CNG Station Open House, 10:30 a.m., R&B Phillips 66, 700 West 527 South, Woods Cross.

- Feb 8-9: We the People Winter Conference, University of Utah. A conference focusing on: U.S. war/occupation of Iraq; National healthcare reform; Global climate change and environmental sustainability. Other issues may be taken up on the initiative and decision of participants at upcoming meetings.

- Feb 8: Salt Lake County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner Honoring Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., 6 p.m., Little America Hotel. For reservations or sponsorship contact Patti Florence 801-580-8824.
- Feb 9: Kansas, Washington and Louisiana Republican Primaries and Caucuses

- Feb 9: Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington Democratic Primaries and Caucuses

- Feb 9: The Davis Democrats Monthly Breakfast, 8:30 a.m., Granny Annie's Family Restaurant, 286 N 400 W, Kaysville. The general public is invited.  Special guest speaker.

- See the entire calendar

Elected Officials Birthday List

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