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To Stay Informed, Read a Newspaper
The weekend newspapers were full of excellent stories, editorials,
columns and essays about government and politics. Check out the
links on the right. While politicians have a love-hate relationship
with the news media, Utah’s newspapers, overall, do a good job of
covering the major stories.
Despite a lot of new competition, newspapers will be relevant for
many years to come if they perform their core mission of publishing
stories that illuminate, place important issues in context, and
provide in-depth information. It’s great to read bloggers and stuff
floating around the Internet, but newspapers still have by far the
largest reporting staffs and the most objective coverage. They may
be declining in circulation, but they are still read by opinion
leaders, which gives them a lot of influence.
Fight Over Balance of Power
The disagreement between Gov. Jon Huntsman and GOP legislative
leaders over HB97 is a classic separation of powers clash, and the
governor isn’t likely to give in. Every governor I’ve watched, from
Cal Rampton to Jon Huntsman, has been highly jealous
of executive branch constitutional and statutory power, and has
fought to avoid seeing executive power diminished on their watch.
It’s almost like an obligation they have to their successors.
By allowing previous year’s budget levels to continue in the event
of a budget veto, HB97 would reduce the incentive to compromise
on budget matters. But I believe the impact of the legislation would
actually cut both ways, not just in favor of the Legislature. If,
for example, the Legislature wanted some budgeted item really badly
(such as $85 million for highways this year), the governor could
simply veto the item, refuse to compromise, and just allow last
year’s budget levels to continue. Other times, the Legislature could
use the provision to its advantage.
The reality is that this is a big enough change that it requires
a lot more discussion and input than is possible with it being introduced
well into the 45-day session. It needs interim study to understand
all the ramifications.
Legacy Parkway Blog
If you’re mad at the Sierra Club (and who isn’t?) for delaying
the Legacy Parkway by several years and increasing the cost by multi-millions
of dollars, you can calm your blood pressure by reading the Legacy
Parkway Hotsheet, a Weblog dedicated to supporting construction
of the highway and beating up on opponents like the Sierra Club
and Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson. While the bloggers use
pseudonyms, you can see who they really are by clicking on their
profiles.
Millionaires in Utah
How many millionaires are there in Utah? More than 12,000, according
to Dunhills, a mailing list company. And where do these millionaires
live? See a county-by-county breakdown on Paul Allen’s Internet
Entrepreneur Weblog.
Mitt Romney vs. John Kerry
Boston Globe columnist Scott Lehigh writes
about the possibility of Massachusetts fielding two candidates
for president in 2008: “In some ways, the next presidential election
seems as distant as Mars. And yet it's already starting to dawn
on the political world that three years hence, Massachusetts may
become one of the historically rare states to field not just one
White House hopeful, but two.” He also writes about the bad blood
between Kerry and Romney and notes that Gov. Romney might have a
tough re-election campaign in 2006.
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Utah
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