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The week ahead:
Ambitious legislators can start filing bills for the 2006 General Session
today. On Wednesday, Attorney General Mark
Shurtleff holds his big Law Day fundraiser, featuring former
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
On Friday, Democrats hold their major fundraiser, featuring U.S. Senate
Minority Leader Harry Reid.
And on Saturday, Democrats choose new party leadership at their State
Organizing Convention. (For event details, see calendar in right column.)
Transportation Watch
The Morning News on Saturday
published a story about Utah Transit Authority salaries that is
sure to exacerbate the already-rocky relationship between the Transit
Authority and many state legislators.
The
truth is, UTA runs a very good transit system. The agency win all kinds of
national awards and ridership exceeds expectations. But for a variety of
reasons, UTA top management and its board aren’t trusted by a lot of
legislators. When I talk to UTA leaders about this matter they say they
don’t see a big problem. But when I talk to legislators and other
knowledgeable people, they say it’s an enormous problem.
We
badly need a stellar transit system. Many municipalities, developers and
even the LDS Church are counting on new light rail spurs, bus rapid transit
and commuter rail to bring people to their city centers and developments.
Citizens and the business community support transit. I believe UTA is fully
capable of delivering a great system, but it’s not going to happen unless
there’s a lot more trust developed between UTA leaders and state lawmakers.
The gulf separating the Transit Authority and state legislators has to be
bridged or the Legislature will never step up and provide the funding
mechanisms that UTA needs to fulfill its vision.
Blog Watch
Will you soon be able to read blogs written by your favorite newspaper
reporters? Yahoo News has an interesting story about traditional news media getting more
involved in blogging. It’s inevitable that newspapers and other news
outlets will begin to exploit the potential of this new communications
channel.
Davis Lincoln Dinner
Sen. Orrin Hatch, Rep. Rob Bishop, and Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert fired up the party
faithful at the Davis County Lincoln Day Dinner last Friday evening. Hatch
said Senate Republicans will probably have to use the “constitutional
option” (Democrats call it the “nuclear option”) to end obstructionism by
Democrats on judicial appointments. Hatch said that traditionally judicial
appointments have been voted up or down without filibustering, so in
exercising the constitutional option the Senate will be reverting to its
traditional way of operating.
Bishop
poked the Democrats on Social Security with a little dry humor, saying the “Titanic
was just fine until it hit the iceberg.” It would have been wise to make a
course correction a little earlier. Social Security, likewise, is headed
for an iceberg and President Bush is valiantly trying to change course to
avoid disaster. With every year of inaction, another $600 billion is added
to the deficit, he said.
Herbert
joked that Gov. Huntsman during the campaign promised to end the drought.
Mother Nature obliged a little too enthusiastically, he said. Herbert said
solutions to the major problems of the state and nation won’t be quick
fixes, but will be long-term efforts. There aren’t any easy answers to tax
reform and economic development he said, but the Huntsman Administration
has a laser-like focus on them.
Back to the Ranch?
Michael Sibbett, one of the
really good guys in state government, is retiring after 15 years on the
Utah Board of Pardons and Parole (See Saturday Morning News story and Tribune
story. There’s
not a tougher job than the one he’s been doing. The great thing about
Sibbett, very much a cowboy at heart, is that he always used plain,
old-fashioned common sense in making tough and momentous decisions. He’s as
down-to-earth as they come and he has served his state well.
Leadership Tip
How Do You Stay Informed?
It’s vitally important for people holding positions in public policy to
stay informed and be up-to-date on current events. Citizens expect their
leaders to be knowledgeable about what’s happening locally and in the
state, and also be up to speed on national and international events.
Policymakers need to be reading the same things their constituents are
reading.
In
addition to being generally informed, reading widely helps policymakers
come up with new ideas and find solutions to problems. You find out what
others are doing and you can better “connect the dots” among things that
are happening in various industries and at various levels of government.
So,
how do you stay informed? So much information exists out there in so many
different media outlets, that you could spend all day just reading the news
and never accomplish anything else. I am a certified news junkie, so I read
a lot, but I also am always pressed for time, so I have to go through a lot
of stuff quickly. I’ve come to appreciate good index pages and content
summaries.
Utah Policy Daily helps me, as I
hope it helps you, stay up-to-speed on all the day’s political news.
However, I’m interested in more than just political news, so I also try to
scan the Morning News or Tribune (sometimes both) every day to
pick up on other information that interests me. I also like to read good
in-depth journalism focused on national political and business topics, so I
scan the New York Times (I
get the daily e-mail news summary), the Wall
Street Journal, and I check out a few blogs. On a weekly basis I
try to scan Time and Newsweek and National Journal. That sounds like a
lot, but I scan through these publications very quickly because I don’t
have much time. I haven’t taken the time to try the Google or Yahoo news
aggregating services. I also really like Wired
magazine. I listen to KSL Radio
news while driving; I hardly watch any TV, but I try to watch the 10 p.m.
local news (I flip around all three channels, which drives my wife crazy).
I’d
be interested in hearing how you stay informed, what you read on a daily
and weekly basis, and whether you’re using any Web services or other tools
that help. If you have something you’d like to share, e-mail me at lwebb@exoro.com.
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