News Highlights

Republicans Marty Stephens and Joe Cannon lob a few shots at Rocky Anderson in The Salt Lake Tribune stories about NCSL getting underway and the Salt Lake County mayoral race. Orrin Hatch says John Edwards rarely shows up for Judiciary Committee meetings in Deseret Morning News story. Standard Examiner editorializes in favor of higher teacher pay.

College Tuition Vouchers

School choice may be a hot issue in Utah 's gubernatorial race this year, but Colorado has taken the matter to an even higher level -- to college. The July edition of School Reform News reports that Colorado lawmakers and Gov. Bill Owens have approved legislation that will distribute $600 million directly to Colorado college students in the form of vouchers worth up to $2,400 a year.

Previously, the funds were appropriated as block grants to higher education institutions to subsidize tuition. Owens said it makes sense to place the money "straight into the hands of the beneficiaries." Supporters say it will make students more discriminating consumers of higher education and make colleges more attuned to their needs because colleges will have to recruit students to receive the state funds. The article reported that Utah Rep. Ron Bigelow is interested in looking at whether college-level vouchers might make sense in Utah.

ULCT and Taxes

Leaders of Utah 's cities and towns have submitted a very thoughtful and substantive 30-page report on the state's tax structure to Gov. Olene Walker's Tax Reform Committee. While not recommending specific solutions at this time, the report outlines flaws in the tax structure that cause problems at the local level.

Municipal officials accept part of the blame for the current out-of-balance tax structure because they came to rely too heavily on the highly volatile sales tax and moved away from the less popular, but more stable, property tax. Reliance on the sales tax has created perverse incentives, such as "zoning for dollars" and less effort to recruit businesses that provide high-paying jobs. The report should be must-reading for state legislators and anyone who wants to understand the state's tax structure.

Utah League of Cities and Towns Executive Director Ken Bullock has been working on this issue for years. ULCT Tax Team members include co-chairs Tom Dolan, Sandy; and Tom Hardy, Bountiful; members Janice Auger, Taylorsville; Gil Miller, Bear River; Charlie Roberts, Tooele; Alex Jensen, Layton; Jan Wells, Murray; Ken Bassett, Vernal; Nate Pierce, Ogden; Tom Bakaly, Park City; Wayne Pyle, West Valley City; Larry Ellertson, Lindon; Fred Panucci, Syracuse; Suzanne Allen, St. George; Gary Uresk, Woods Cross; Jim Reams, Orem; Lee King, Midvale; Rocky Fluhart, Salt Lake City; Wayne Parker, Provo.

- LaVarr Webb

Casual Tuesday

Normally we publish something amusing or off-the-wall on Fridays. We can't wait until Friday to share this item because (a) it's too good and (b) by then someone else will tell you about it, if they haven't already.

Go to www.JibJab.com and watch the Bush vs. Kerry “This Land Is Your Land” spoof. We wish we could be there when President Bush and Senator Kerry watch it.

It takes a while to download but it's worth it. You may get a page that explains that their servers are being overwhelmed with people trying to see the animation. Just keep trying. According to The Seattle Times it's a big hit:

"The pair released the short July 9 and told the 200,000 people they have on their e-mail list. Viewership has tripled nearly every day since, Gregg Spiridellis said, reaching more than one million viewers last Friday. That's not hard to believe, as www.jibjab.com has ricocheted around the Web, with friends and co-workers gathering around computers to watch and giggle before sending the link off to far-flung friends. (Folks getting frustrated trying to see the free version can download the cartoon for $2.99 and get immediate gratification.)"

This is a dramatic great example of the type of viral marketing that's possible via email. If you have something that's good enough, people will forward it to friends and associates and it can grow from there.

- Bart Barker