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The Week Ahead
- Today, KCPW (1010AM, 88.3FM, 105.3FM) features 40 years of politics at the Hinckley Institute in a special edition of Midday Metro at 10 a.m.
- Today, Gov. Jon Huntsman kicks off the international Broadband Cities Conference at 9 a.m. in the E Center, co-sponsored by UTOPIA.
- If you see a Utah legislator in a school classroom, it’s because the Legislators Back-to-School Program runs all this week. See all the details here.
- Lots of important legislative activity this week, including Interim Committee Day on Wednesday and the Health Care Task Force on Thursday. See calendar for agendas and meeting notices.
- Retirement party for Holly Parker, 1 to 2 pm, House Chambers, celebrating 30 years as Office Manager in the House. Drop by and say hi.
- Friday, SL County GOP Lincoln Club features Sen. Orrin Hatch, 7 pm. More info at www.lincolnclub.net.
- Saturday, Republican State Central Committee Meeting, 10 am, Salt Lake County offices.
New Communications Director for Demos
Utah Democrats have a new communications director, Jeff Bell, and he is publishing a weekly newsletter full of information. (See latest edition.) Party vice chair Rob Miller encourages Democrats to sign up for the newsletter at the party Web site.
Blog Watch
Interesting New York Times story on blogers tracking personal financial matters . . . How do radio reporters come up with story ideas? KSL Radio’s Lance Bandley tells how on KSLBLOG (and Grant Nielsen bites his tongue).
Scott Wyatt Teaches Democracy in Ukraine
By Hayden Hill 
Imagine a place where courtrooms are affixed with cages, defendants are guilty until proven innocent, and juries – at least as we know them – are nonexistent. Although seemingly a snapshot of 19th century Russia, this scene is all too familiar to the newly-democratic nation of Ukraine. While Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and instituted its own republic-style constitution in 1996, democracy has remained elusive as a legacy of state control and corruption stalls reform efforts.
To bridge the gap between 20th Century communism and 21st Century democracy, groups of Americans are traveling abroad to reach out and educate Ukrainian leaders on the democratic process – including Utah’s Rep. Scott Wyatt. Invited by the American Bar Association to fill in for a last-minute no-show, the Logan Republican got a call one Monday last June and found himself halfway across the Atlantic by the weekend.
Wyatt, an attorney, along with a U.S. judge, a Ukrainian Supreme Court justice and a handful of translators, jumped into a Mercedes van and for two weeks traveled across western Ukraine giving seminars and training on the democratic judicial process.
“They’re accustomed to a system that’s just not independent,” said Wyatt. “Whatever the executive branch wants them to do, they do it – just like in Soviet times. Our goal was to help the judiciary become independent and strengthen the defense side so there is a little bit more balance.”
Ukraine’s traditional legal system is overwhelmingly stacked in favor of the prosecution, says Wyatt. Defendants are arrested on little or no evidence and confined to prison for the entire span of the so-called trial. Defense attorneys play next-to-insignificant roles as it is illegal for them to investigate circumstances of an alleged crime.
Judges and criminal attorneys – whose extent of western legal practices included little more than what they learned from watching the O.J. Simpson trial – gathered daily at the Obelisk to hear Wyatt and his colleagues explain both philosophical and practical applications of a democratic judicial system. Wyatt said, “One woman raised her hand and said ‘I watched the defense challenge the credibility of testimonies. Does that happen often in America?’ They had no concept that questioning a witness would be acceptable.”
Wyatt’s arrival to Ukraine was only months after political unrest erupted in a mass protest in Kiev, resulting in current President Viktor Yushchenko’s historic rise to power. “It’s amazing,” says Wyatt. “Rules are changing and being revised. They’re amending their constitution and their criminal laws. Their country is changing, no question about it.”
While Wyatt hopes the fledgling democracy will continue to make strides for balance and independence, he admits the road will be long. “We just tried to be most helpful; help them realize the role they could have, the role they should have.”
Asked how the experience would affect his role as a legislator, Wyatt replied that he has a greater respect for the role of judicial independence in democracy and that “some of the things about the judicial branch that have always bugged me, don’t bug me quite as much anymore.” He still thinks, however, that there should be a “healthy tension” between the judiciary and the legislature.
Along with a re-energized gratitude for the American political system, Wyatt was also able to take back a taste of the Ukrainian culture. Weekend events included sightseeing Polish castles, experiencing the Ukrainian version of Dutch oven potatoes (essentially a bucket with whole potatoes loaded down with lard) and tasting caviar “for the first and last time.”
When our Utah representative isn’t traveling the world teaching democracy lessons, he enjoys reading biographies and history novels and mountain climbing (he’s climbed both Kilimanjaro and McKinley). Right now he’s reading John Adams by David McCullough and recommends His Excellency by Joseph Ellis, a book on the life of George Washington.
Washington Watch
Med Center Receives Downwinders Grant
Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George is receiving a $322,000 federal grant to help with screening and education of individuals who were exposed to radiation downwind of the nuclear test site in Nevada, says a press release from Sen. Orrin Hatch.
Senate Bill Hits Counterfeits
A National Association of Manufacturers press release says it is backing Senate legislation co-sponsored by Sen. Hatch that would crack down on counterfeit goods by strengthening criminal penalties and enabling law enforcement to seize and destroy counterfeited goods, along with equipment used to produce them.
$500,000 Grant for Utah Wind Power
Wasatch Wind, LLC will receive a USDA grant of $500,000 to help fund phase one of a wind energy generation project to be located at Spanish Fork Canyon. USDA Secretary Mike Johanns made the announcement prior to a Farm Bill Forum in Salt Lake City last week. Combined with matching funds, the grant will result in the construction of a 1.5 megawatt wind generation tower, the first of 10 towers planned for the site. "Renewable energy is also a major growth area for American farmers and a top priority for USDA. Energy conservation and renewable fuels are good for the environment, the economy, and farmers' bottom lines," said Johanns.
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