Back
to work after the Memorial Day break. I came home smelling like
a campfire, so it had to be a good weekend. It was cool, crisp and
even the rain was beautiful on the north slope of the Uintas.
The Week Ahead
Today, an important meeting of the Utah Technology Commission begins
at 9 a.m. in room W110 of the West Capitol Building. See
agenda. The meeting will focus the state’s U-STAR economic development
initiative, which seeks to bolster basic research and development
programs on key subjects at the state’s research universities. The
state’s effort to consolidate and centralize IT functions and governance
as required by HB109 will also be discussed, with new State CIO
Stephen Fletcher and Huntsman Chief of Staff Jason Chaffetz
appearing before the commission. See the Legislature’s calendar
for other legislative meetings this week.
In 2008, Will it Be Mormon In America?
The Weekly Standard, in its June 6 edition, has published
one of the better pieces on Mitt Romney and his chances of
becoming president. The lengthy article
by Terry Eastland, publisher of the Standard, goes into great
detail about Mormonism and whether Romney will be accepted by evangelical
Christians.
Latino Political Clout Rising
Latinos make up only 5% of Utah’s population, according to Newsweek
magazine, but the state’s Latino population is growing rapidly and
will have a big impact on politics in coming years. Newsweek
did a cover
story in its May 30 edition on the election of Antonio Villaraigosa
as mayor of Los Angeles and how Latinos are making their mark on
politics. While Latinos make up only 14 percent of the U.S population
(2003 numbers), they accounted for 40 percent of all U.S. population
growth since 1980. Thirteen states have higher Latino populations
than Utah, led by New Mexico, 32%; California, 21%; Texas, 20% and
Florida, 15%. Sixteen states have Latino populations of 1% or less.
The Latino vote is already crucial in presidential politics, and
is become more and more important in congressional and local races.
Transportation Watch
Conservatives for Transit
As Utah grows rapidly and grapples with a huge transportation problem,
mass transit, particularly rail transit, will more and more be in
the spotlight. While it is generally thought that conservatives
tend to oppose mass transit, that isn’t necessarily the case. One
of the big national advocates of transit, especially rail transit,
is Paul Weyrich, who for many years has been one of the stalwarts
of the national conservative movement.
Through his Free
Congress Foundation, which advocates conservative positions
on a variety of issues, Weyrich has published a number of studies
supportive of rail transit. A study
in 2003, co-authored by Weyrich and his conservative colleague
William S. Lind, demonstrated how transit benefits even those
who don’t ride it. The study includes a forward by Utah Sen. Bob
Bennett, who says, “I am a pro-transit conservative. I see public
transportation as part of the infrastructure no different from water
lines and highways and services such as the policy and the fire
department. If infrastructure is inadequate, everybody suffers.”
Toll Lanes Winning Acceptance
Utah’s DOT is studying high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, and Utah
isn’t alone in looking carefully at the concept. As gridlock gets
worse and technology improves, the use of toll lanes and other market-based
tools to regulate rush-hour driving is gaining acceptance. Governing
Magazine published an excellent
article in its May edition on the topic. An excerpt:
“Historically, it was free-market conservatives who gravitated
to the idea of using tolls to manage congestion. Economists have
been talking about it since the 1950s; (Milton) Friedman
himself once co-authored an essay on the topic. Through the 1990s,
the conservative Reason Foundation made congestion pricing one of
its most celebrated causes, promoting it as a market-oriented tool
for dealing with traffic. Lately, however, the idea is catching
on with the political left--not just in the United Kingdom but in
the United States, too. Environmentalists have come to see congestion
pricing as a way to improve air quality by keeping traffic moving.
Transit supporters see toll revenues as a source of funding for
public transit systems. And advocates of ‘smart growth’ see any
movement to put a price tag on driving as a good thing--hopefully
inspiring more people to use transit or to buy homes located closer
to where they work. ‘Road pricing 15 years ago was a bit of a gleam
in an economist's eye,’ says Michael Replogle, a transportation
specialist with Environmental Defense. ‘Today, we see that it works,
it's efficient and it can produce a lot of winners.’
Viewpoint: An Assault on States’ Rights
The New York Times editorialized
Monday in favor of new federal legislation that would supposedly
end gerrymandering and ensure “fairness” in congressional redistricting.
I’m all in favor of fairness, but I’m adamantly opposed to federal
legislation prescribing to the states how redistricting is done.
Redistricting has always been a particularly important prerogative
of the states, and federal legislation establishing national standards
and creating non-partisan redistricting commissions in every state
would be an enormous usurpation of states’ rights. States already
abide by court guidelines ensuring minority rights and that every
vote counts equally. Allowing Congress to take over redistricting
would be a spectacular retreat from the whole notion of federalism.
Campaign Tip
Giving a Speech
(From How to Win a Local Election, by
Judge Lawrence Grey)
Everybody knows how to talk to people, yet almost everybody
is terrified of giving a speech. Think in terms of casually talking
to people even when you are on a podium looking out at several hundred
people “giving a speech.” Be relaxed, be yourself, and just tell
them what you think. There are a few things that make the speech
go easier:
- Speak to your audience’s concern. When you prepare your
talk, start with your basic speech but tailor it to suit that
particular audience by adding material that is relevant to their
problems.
- Be brief. Make your point in as few words as possible.
When dealing with complex a complex issue you can bore people
to death, and you are there to get votes.
- Be upbeat. Your audience knows what the problems are;
they have come to hear your solutions. Be confident. Tell them
how you are going to work on the solutions.
- Take a high tone. Your opponent may be a sleazy, lying
dog who is in cahoots with, and on the payroll of, every special-interest
group. If he is, let voters find that out for themselves. Tell
then what you are about, and what you are for.
- Always return to your theme. In closing, always go back
to your campaign theme. You have given your basic speech, you
have added the details for this particular audience, and you want
to leave them with that basic theme.
- Always ask for questions. If you are speaking to a very
large group, asking for questions from the audience may not be
practical, but for small groups it is almost always a good thing
to do. First, it makes you look like someone who wants to hear
from the people. Secondly, you might have inadvertently misspoken
and created some confusion in your speech, and it is good to have
that straightened out. Most important, it allows you to talk about
what the audience is most concerned about.
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